Dale M. Coulter

One of the natural loves that humans possess is a love of place. Bubbling up from love for home and love for creation, the love of place shapes humans, conforming them to the topography of the landscapes they inhabit. As C. S. Lewis notes, to speak of a love of home is to conjure up images . . . . Continue Reading »

Recently the Intercollegiate Review republished John Zmirak’s attack of Christopher Dawson’s criticisms of the bourgeois mind. Zmirak’s essay, however, just like Jeffrey Tucker’s “In Defense of Bourgeois Civilization,” misses Dawson’s fundamental points . . . . Continue Reading »

The recent release of Switchfoot’s new project Fading West led to more questions for lead singer Jon Foreman on how his band can be Christian when its songs lack explicit Christian content. Foreman’s answer has basically remained that his songs are Christian because they are deeply . . . . Continue Reading »

As an adopted child I experienced a slow, unfolding consciousness of dissimilarity. It began with an awareness of distinctions in physiology and continued to differences in behavior. There was always an inner sense, an inchoate yet nagging suspicion that “maybe” such differences . . . . Continue Reading »

With the movement into the Easter cycle on the liturgical calendar, the churches enter into an extended period of reflection on their mission in the world. Continue Reading »

There is a realism about history and historical progress that a Christian vision of life brings. This realism stems from what Christopher Lasch referred to as an awareness “that the contingent, provisional, and finite quality of temporal things finds its most vivid demonstration not just in the death of individuals but in the rise and fall of nations.” Such an awareness does not deny a telos to the history of life, but it does remove its fulfillment from the realm of mere human activity, whether economic, political, or otherwise. Continue Reading »

During my youth, on more than one occasion, I recall ministers declaring that Christ entered into hell’s dungeons after his death on the cross, ripped the keys out of the hands of a cowardly devil, and set the captives free. This declaration would conclude with the words of Christ, “fear not, I . . . . Continue Reading »

The recent Christ at the Checkpoint Conference has a number of evangelical groups concerned about waning support for the nation of Israel among Evangelicals (see here and here ). David Brog of Christians United for Israel even wonders whether the end of evangelical support for Israel has come . . . . Continue Reading »

A few years ago John Piper created some controversy over his declaration that Christianity had a masculine feel. The claim raised several issues, one of which was the way a divorce of theological reflection from Christian tradition leads to a lopsided and impoverished theology. The impoverished . . . . Continue Reading »

J. R. R. Tolkien begins The Silmarillion with Ilúvatar (the “Father of All”) engaged in the act of creation. Creation unfolds according to the theme of the Great Music that Ilúvatar inspires in each of the Ainur (“Holy Ones”) through the Imperishable Flame. For . . . . Continue Reading »