The Foxy Essayist

I will be taking a brief hiatus from the blog for the next two weeks because of the death of my grandmother last week and the wedding of a sister-in-law this coming weekend. I hope to get back to blogging more regularly the second week of June.

What are the most helpful ways to think about how we live in community if we are to understand our place in the world?  I have been pondering this question a lot over the past couple of months as I have been working through one of the oddest reading experiences I've had. Several years ago I was introduced to the work of James K. A. Smith, a professor of philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I have found each of his books helpful, and was excited to read his most recent book ( Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology ) on the way in which political activity is a formative practice. I also hoped for some guidance as to how Christians could engage in that activity more faithfully. The high expectations apparently set me up for disappointment. Marcella had time to begin reading it first, and we both had the similar confusion and frustration with the book. We both found a deeper tension in Smith's thought that seems to undermine much of the work he has do...

After Lisa's brief  (and accurate!) summary of my post, I realized that there are a few broader issues that I'd like to make clear, too. First of all, this applies to all political participation regardless of the election or party affiliation. All of us are subject to the "follow the leader" effect, and there is evidence that those who are best informed regarding politics are the most susceptible to it. Those who voted for Clinton (or anyone else in the last election) would be subject to the same tendencies to have their views shaped by that person. As I understand Achen and Bartels, however, the much lower visibility of losing candidates gives them much less ability to shape their supporters. So, ironically, voting for the lesser evil is less dangerous if one votes for a losing candidate. So why does this matter? I take from it that the old conservative argument that character matters for holding office is meaningfully vindicated in practice. Which brings me to...

Since Donald Trump became the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party in the summer of 2016, I have struggled to understand the way in which many evangelicals have responded to his nomination, both during the election and in its aftermath. I grew up among the “Theologically Orphaned Generation” that was steeped in a culture that emphasized the necessity of virtue and moral character for those who would serve the public, both in the church and in politics. That background left me bewildered by the willingness of so many evangelical leaders to support Trump despite acknowledging his lack of virtue. When I have asked evangelical friends and family about their choice to support Trump in the election, I have encountered a consistent response. That answer was summarized well by Os Guinness in an interview with Collin Hansen of Beeson Divinity School during the spring of 2017: Collin Hansen: …what would you say that you learned, perhaps about yourself or about evangelicals, in the ...

At the beginning of the Metaphysics Aristotle declared that all humans have a natural desire to know. Whether curiosity is as universal a desire as he claimed or not, the desire for knowledge has certainly shaped my life. This quest has been both complicated and facilitated by my faith. As a Christian raised in an evangelical home, I was brought up to expect the world to be comprehensible and that truth about the natural and social worlds would ultimately fit with the Christian faith. At the same time, much that was common knowledge to most of the world was off-limits had to be acquired late in life—I was woefully ignorant of the life sciences because of a commitment to young-earth Creationism, for example. Hope has proven stronger than fear and humility stronger than pride in enough cases, thankfully, that I have found my way out of some of my prior false dogmas. I remain committed to my faith, optimistic in the ability of humans to grow in wisdom and knowledge, and curious to le...