Megan McArdle, WaPo, What the push for legal-until-birth abortion tells us about the abortion debate
Alexandra DeSanctis, The Atlantic, Democrats Overplay Their Hand on Abortion
Abigail Favale, Church Life Journal, Confessions of a Feminist Heretic
Mary O'Callaghan, Church Life Journal, The Devastating Fallout from Prenatal Testing
Sarah Klitenic Wear, First Things, The Ancients on Abortion
Matthew Lee Anderson, CT, Infanticide Debate Reflects a New Era for Abortion Politics
And some articles on somewhat related issues of gender, sex, and life rights:
Christopher Shannon, Front Porch Republic, Gender Is a Social Construct
Russell Moore, Personal Blog, Southern Baptists and the Scandal of Church Sexual Abuse
Christopher de Bellaigue, The Guardian, Death on demand: has euthanasia gone too far?
Joshua Heavin, MereO, A Christian Ethic of Sex in a Pornographic Age
Wesley Hill, CT, Nadia Bolz-Weber’s Gospel of Shame-Free Sexuality
Tish Harrison Warren, CT, The Church Made Vagina Sculptures Long Before Nadia Bolz-Weber
Rachel Gilson, CT, I Never Became Straight. Perhaps That Was Never God’s Goal.
Ross Douthat, NYT, Why Celibacy Matters
Also somewhat related, some parenting pieces (on adoption, fatherly commitment, and children's relationship with technology):
Ashley Fetters, The Atlantic, The Hardship of a Very Open AdoptionAnna Machin, Aeon, The marvel of the human dad
Pamela Paul, NYT, Let Children Get Bored Again
Parents need the right ordering of priorities to balance their work and households, and public policy is a tool that should be used to allow for these rightful balances:
Hannah Anderson, Public Justice Review, Cultivating a Work-Wise FamilyCandice Gormley, Shared Justice, Time to Care: Joy, Rest, and Recovery
Matthew Loftus, Shared Justice, Time to Care: Time to Heal
In a similar way, urban planning has an effect on how practical (or even possible) it is to be a parent in a city:
Nolan Gray & Lyman Stone, CityLab, How ‘Vasectomy Zoning’ Makes Childless Cities
Alia Wong, The Atlantic, Cities Aren't Built for Parents
Claire Tran, CityLab, Accessibility Advocates Rally Over Mother’s Death on Subway Stairs
Alia Wong, The Atlantic, Cities Aren't Built for Parents
Claire Tran, CityLab, Accessibility Advocates Rally Over Mother’s Death on Subway Stairs
Modern politics and ethics:
Bonnie Kristian, The Week, Our political obsession with shameElizabeth Bruenig, WaPo, What the Liam Neeson case teaches us about evil
Samuel James, National Review, We're All Fundamentalists Too
Ewwww...more politics:
Emma Green, The Atlantic, These Are the Americans Who Live in a Bubble
Raymond Bonner, The Atlantic, America's Role in El Salvador's Deterioration
Andrew G McCabe, The Atlantic, Every Day Is a New Low in Trump's White House
Raymond Bonner, The Atlantic, America's Role in El Salvador's Deterioration
Andrew G McCabe, The Atlantic, Every Day Is a New Low in Trump's White House
What is the Church? Reflections on liturgical and worship practices, Hillsong, celebrity evangelicals, and our understanding the ekklesia itself:
Andrew Wilson, CT, Our Churches Are Either Sacramental or Charismatic
Kathryn Watson, The Curator, The He(art) of WorshipLaura Turner, Vox, The rise of the star-studded, Instagram-friendly evangelical church
Krish Kandiah, Church is a Family, Not an Event
Emma Green, The Atlantic, Conservative Christians Just Retook the United Methodist Church
Jerry B Kulah, Juicy Ecumenism, African United Methodists Won’t Trade Bible for Dollars
Theology:
Joshua Heavin, MereO, On Theological Education and the Church’s HealthViktor J Toth & Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, CT, ‘A Theology of Everything’ for a Pluralistic World
Brad East, Commonweal, The Specter of Marcion
Jen Pollock Michel, CT, Move Over, Sex and Drugs. Ease Is the New Vice.
Alstair Roberts, Theopolis Institute, Learning Wisdom From the Serpents
David Mathis, Desiring God, Here I Raise My Ebenezer
Justin Frank, Mere O, The Real Place for Conflict: On Keeping Controversy Close to Home
Justin Frank, Mere O, The Real Place for Conflict: On Keeping Controversy Close to Home
Church-related profiles and interviews:
Matthew Loftus, CT, Why a Compassionate Baptist Pastor Led a Revolution
Rodney Clapp & Eugene Peterson, CT, Eugene Peterson: A Monk Out of Habit
Philip Hoare, New Statesmen, John Ruskin: a prophet for our troubled times
Philip Hoare, New Statesmen, John Ruskin: a prophet for our troubled times
Jemar Tisby & Wesley Hill, Comment, The Future of Church-Race Relations
David Heim & Kathryn Tanner, Christian Century, Can Christianity be a counterforce to finance capitalism?
Tara Ann Thieke, Front Porch Republic, The American Bookstore: Prologue
Jeffrey Bilbro, Front Porch Republic, Fierce Velleity: Poetry as Antidote to Acedia
Mary McCampbell, TGC, 8 Works of Contemporary Fiction Christians Should Read
Trevin Wax, TGC, Reading When You're Really Busy
Mairead Small Staid, Paris Review, Reading in the Age of Constant Distraction
Haley Stewart, Church Life Journal, The Wayward Daughters
Amanda Wortham, CxPC, Tethered to the World: Remembering Mary Oliver
Rebecca Onion, Slate, Wild and Precious Life
Book-adjacent – Did Obama's bookishness have any effect on his willingness to engage in war? What would Auden say about today's social media campaigns of censorship?
Teju Cole, New Yorker, A Reader's WarEdward Mendelson, NY Review of Books, Auden on No-Platforming Pound
The Grammar Guy:
Sarah Lyall, NYT, Meet the Guardian of Grammar Who Wants to Help You Be a Better Writer
Maris Kreizman, Vulture, Grammar Guru Benjamin Dreyer Talks Twitter Style, Denounces ‘Onboarding’
Benjamin Dreyer, Paris Review, Three Writing Rules to Disregard
Book reviews:
Justin Lee, First Things, The Art of Spiritual Warfare
Brad East, Christian Century, An anti-Enlightenment ax to grind
Peter Boumgarden, Christian Century, Christian humanism in a technocratic world
Eric Miller, CT, Submit to God, Not the Market
Kathryn Tanner, First Things, Theology's Umpire
David Crumm, Read the Spirit, In ‘For the Life of the World,’ Miroslav Volf argues: ‘Christian theology has lost its way …’
Adam Kirsch, Tablet Mag, The Alter Bible
James KA Smith, LARB, A (Not So) Secular Saint
Jason Byassee, Christian Century, Loving the creed, loving God
Nathan Goldman, The Nation, Wellness Is Always a Scam
Anthony M Barr, Kirk Center, Reclaiming a Place for Conversation
Anthony M Barr, Kirk Center, Reclaiming a Place for Conversation
A great four-part, multi-author review of Jill Lepore's These Truths (and two recent pieces from Lepore herself):
Craig Bruce Smith, Kirk Center, A Conflicted Idea of AmericaDaniel N Gullotta, Kirk Center, What Hath Lepore Wrought
Robert Greene II, Kirk Center, Citizenship and the Fitful History of the American Way
Lauren F Turek, Kirk Center, Recent Domestic History
Jill Lepore, Foreign Affairs, A New Americanism
Jill Lepore, New Yorker, Does Journalism Have a Future?
Jill Lepore, New Yorker, Does Journalism Have a Future?
Miscellaneous cultural criticism:
Megan Garber, The Atlantic, Apocalypse Is Now a Chronic Condition
Vinson Cunningham, New Yorker, How the Idea of Hell Has Shaped the Way We Think
Matthew Walther, The Week, Marie Kondo and the rise of clutter shaming
Claire Armistead, The Guardian, 'Identity is a pain in the arse': Zadie Smith on political correctness
Emily Raboteau, NY Review of Books, Climate Signs
Eugene McCarraher, Commonweal, Undemocratic by Design
Two pieces from Agnes Callard – What would it look like to think things through better? Is pop philosophy really philosophy?
Agnes Callard, Boston Review, Don't Overthink ItAgnes Callard, The Point, Is Public Philosophy Good?
Tech stuff:
Oliver Sacks, New Yorker, The Machine StopsEduardo Porter, NYT, Tech Is Splitting the U.S. Work Force in Two
Kate Wagner, The Baffler, 404 Page Not Found
Niko Maragos, Popula, The Extremely Online Nun
Kashmir Hill, Gizmodo, I Cut the 'Big Five' Tech Giants From My Life. It Was Hell
Patricia Lockwood, London Review of Books, The Communal Mind
Casey Newton, The Verge, The Trauma Floor
Daniel Parsons, Baltimore Sun, Baltimore teacher: 'Our city is slaughtering black children'
Jessica Anderson, Baltimore Sun, 'It’s heartbreaking,' Baltimore attorney says, recalling two former clients killed in recent spate of violence
Jean Marbella, Baltimore Sun, When violence lands at your feet: bullet from Baltimore shooting ricochets past woman, 80, in her dining room
Brandon Soderberg, The Outline, In Baltimore, the future of film culture is an old-school video store
Weird vocal music:
Stacey Anderson, The Guardian, Is Caroline Shaw really the future of music?
Burkhard Bilger, New Yorker, Roomful of Teeth is Revolutionizing Choral Music
Burkhard Bilger, New Yorker, Roomful of Teeth is Revolutionizing Choral Music
Pets:
Rosaria Butterfield, TGC, That D*** Dog: How Pets Can Be a Catalyst for EvangelismSarah Zhang, The Atlantic, Why We Think Cats Are Psychopaths