Culture

What Is Advent and Why Does It Matter?0
- Culture, Featured, Religion
- December 4, 2023
Sunday, December 3 marks the beginning of Advent for 2023. But what exactly is Advent, and why does it matter? Advent comes from the Latin adventus, which means “coming.” In simple terms, Advent is the period on the church calendar directly preceding Christmas. Within the Christian worldview, Advent is a special time of preparation and
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Some Sunshine in This Early Winter: Good News Near and Far 1
- Culture, Politics
- November 30, 2023
Every day brings another storm of bad news. More corruption in high places, all too often unpunished. Wars and rumors of wars. The ongoing failure of our large cities to protect their residents and of the federal government to protect our borders. Collapsing public education, collapsing morals, widespread ennui. Catastrophic declines in physical and mental
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Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year – Authentic – Reflects Growing Concerns Over AI’s Ability to Deceive and Dehumanize 0
- Culture, Science
- November 30, 2023
When Merriam-Webster announced that its word of the year for 2023 was “authentic,” it did so with over a month to go in the calendar year. Even then, the dictionary publisher was late to the game. In a lexicographic form of Christmas creep, Collins English Dictionary announced its 2023 word of the year, “AI,” on
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The Selfishness of the World-Saving Antinatalists 9
- Culture, Featured, Philosophy
- November 30, 2023
Have you encountered the antinatalists yet? This is a growing phenomenon in contemporary America, especially among the young. We might call them the “No Children Movement,” as they advocate a rejection of parenthood as a conscious political act, saying it is morally wrong to have children. You have only to plug the search term antinatalist
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Speaking Truth in an Age of Deception 0
- Culture, Featured
- November 29, 2023
“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows,” says Winston Smith in George Orwell’s 1984. Later in the novel we read, “In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it.” In 2020, our
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What We Can Learn From ‘Beowulf’ About Monsters, Gratitude, and Culture 7
- Culture, Literature
- November 28, 2023
In the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, set around A.D. 500, King Hrothgar of the Danes builds an immense hall, Heorot, ornate yet sturdy, a bulwark against the fog and darkness and barbarism of the age. Under its beams, the King and his thanes and their families can gather, smoke great slabs of meat, and pour out
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