Archives

The Failure of the Modern Project: Part 3 of 4

“We are nothing; let us be everything!” Across the first ten chapters of The Kingdom of Man, Rémi Brague has charted modernity’s grand project: the systematic effort to establish human sovereignty over nature, knowledge, and morality. From Bacon’s vision of restoring man’s “lost dominion” to Descartes’s methodological conquest of certainty, and from Locke’s labor-driven theory of […]

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Conferences and Papers

Two recent calls for papers piqued my interest. I’ve submitted abstracts to both and will share them here. While I don’t yet know if they will be accepted, I intend to write the essays regardless and potentially submit them to a journal or magazine. Call for Papers: Notre Dame Conference The de Nicola Center for […]

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Metaphors, Mysticism, and Modern Misreadings

William Placher and Denys Turner, though separated by geography and academic focus, converged on a shared mission: to confront modernity’s relentless effort to shrink the mystery of God into categories palatable to human reason or emotion. Placher, an American theologian and philosopher of religion, spent much of his career at Wabash College in Indiana, where […]

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Why the Science-Faith Dialogue Needs Souls, Not Just Syllogisms

In a recent post, I argued that the future of the science-faith dialogue depends less on physicists and more on theologians—those trained to grapple with Scripture, tradition, and the existential dimensions of belief. One reader, in a rather cheeky tone, urged me to “catch up” on philosophers like Bas van Fraassen, Hans Halvorson, Alex Pruss, […]

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Why the Future of Science-Faith Dialogue Needs the Theologians, Not Just the Physicists

In the modern dialogue between science and Christian theology, two names loom large: John Polkinghorne and Wolfhart Pannenberg. Both sought to reconcile faith with the empirical rigor of the natural sciences, yet their approaches diverge in ways that reveal a deeper, often unspoken tension in the conversation. Polkinghorne, the physicist-turned-theologian, is frequently cited as a […]

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A Pedagogy of Love

Despite my continued failure to secure a full-time university position—a reflection of broader challenges in higher education—I have spent considerable time reflecting on the nature and purpose of education, particularly within my Intellectual Foundations course at Carthage College. In this post, I explore Augustine’s thought and its implications for modern education. His Confessions, particularly the […]

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Wisdom of the Ages

David Curtis Steinmetz (1936–2015) was a distinguished historian of Christianity, renowned for his pioneering work in the field of Reformation studies. Born in Schenectady, New York, Steinmetz earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University under the mentorship of the eminent church historian Heiko A. Oberman. His academic career was defined by a commitment to understanding the […]

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Natural and Supernatural Worlds in the Age of Revolution and Empire (1789–1920)

Between 1789 and 1920, the relationship between Christianity and the concepts of the natural and supernatural underwent dramatic transformations. As most historians have contended, this period saw the rise of modern science, the secularization of society, and a resurgence of supernaturalism in new forms. Understanding how Christianity navigated these shifts requires a careful consideration of […]

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“It is love that believes the resurrection.”

I finally finished Wright’s History and Eschatology, based on his 2018 Gifford Lecture. Wright takes us on a jaunt through 18th-century optimism about nature and divinity—a time when thinkers like Joseph Butler thought the natural world sang of a benevolent, orderly God. But then comes the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, a disaster that tore through […]

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Milton’s Theological Process

Jason A. Kerr’s book, Milton’s Theological Process, offers a method for interpreting Milton’s De Doctrina Christiana as a reflection of his evolving theological thought process, rather than merely a compilation of his established doctrinal views. Kerr gives a close examination of the manuscript’s complex material state, as well as Milton’s diverse ways of engaging with […]

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