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Articles Archive

William James’s Grief

Decades of sorrow and searching for clinical evidence have strengthened his resolve, tempered now by experiences that add up to more than disparate bits of empirical data.

Confessions of a Caffeine Addict

My addiction, rather, is of a more respectable variety.
December 16, 2024

Civilization, Family, and Charity

“Against Christian Civilization.” Paul Kingsnorth’s Erasmus Lecture is now out in essay form: “I believe there is wisdom to be found for us, in this disintegrating age, not in crusading…
Jeffrey Bilbro
December 14, 2024

Life in the Cyborg Age: A Conversation with Josh Pauling

And Robin and I really hope that this book can be part of that movement to help people get outside the Machine, throw sand in its gears, and live as…
December 13, 2024

The True Face of Justice is Compassion

He took the words of Jesus to heart—he rarely judged others. When he passed this year, he left a memory not of condemnation, but of mercy.

Black Friday, Affluenza, and the Election

Instead of appreciating the local and the staggering beauty of our God-given world, as FPR suggests we do, the good life requires million-dollar jaunts into outer space.

A Defense of College Football Rivalries as Local Culture

College football is a local endeavor that should be enacted by those with a connection to that place.

Wheeler Catlett, the Study, and Democracy

“The Berry Center Journal.” The fall issue of the Berry Center Journal includes an opening letter from Mary Berry, a 1989 speech by John M. Berry Jr., and more, including…

Away From Politics with Kathleen Raine (Then Back Again)

Are we capable of that on a scale that will regenerate our political life? Perhaps not, at least for now, but we can take heart from the knowledge that, over…

Mary Shelley’s Grief

Mary writes with gentle pathos, patience, and calm—traits common to those who have endured terrible loss. Her observations on life’s many ironies offer catharsis for author and reader alike.

Saying No to AI in Education

To rush AI into the classroom or into daily life is to put student well-being at stake. And as Kingsnorth reminds us, refusal to accept certain forms of technology can…
December 4, 2024

The Student’s Dilemma

The promise of AI is utopian and seems futuristic, but its effects on the educational landscape will make students nostalgic for the pre-ChatGPT days of yore.

Hope Out of Despair: A Review of Byung-Chul Han’s The Spirit of Hope

But I suspect that this stirring book will strike a chord with many readers of Front Porch Republic.

Local Sports, Being Homeless, and the Reading Wars

"An Education in Thanksgiving." Rachel Alexander Cambre gives a very perceptive reading of Hannah Coulter: "Stories that bring the past to life, on the other hand, pass down memories of…
Jeffrey Bilbro
November 30, 2024

Fighting Loneliness and Polarization with Chili

I am not sure if Garfield ever made chili for his supporters. The men and women who descended on his property were there to meet a future president. What Garfield…

Do-able Simplicities: On Letter Writing and Fountain Pens

Holding the letters was a delicate experience, noting the brittle nature of the paper, being careful not to let them tear at the aged folds, and yet the blue ink,…
November 28, 2024

Moana Revisited: A Better Disney Princess

Rather than forging a new identity, she returns to old paths. Moana is not following her inner voice. She is listening to the echoes of her ancestors.

Shopping Local in a Storm

I mourn the storm. It’s far from over. But I also do not mourn without hope.

The Very Online Culture Wars

The Very Online Right might be riding high now, but I anticipate that the election jackpot of the moment will not last and that this victory will soon look more…
November 25, 2024

RFK Jr., Hunting, and Prison

“The Moses Option.” Paul Kingsnorth writes against the dangerous allure of activism: “What is the ‘solution’ to our modern ‘problem’? For a start, it is to stop thinking like that,…
Jeffrey Bilbro
November 23, 2024

The Liberal Charity Model

Our need for privacy has been accentuated by the way we live, in which goods and services arrive seemingly out of the ether, things we’ve bought to consume, throw away,…

Jordan Peterson: From America’s Dad to America’s Guru

Christianity spread because people actually believed Jesus was their Lord and Savior. They believed in miracles not metaphors.

What is a Nation, Anyway?

Proper forgetting depends on the idea of a nation itself. For Renan, “a nation is a soul, a spiritual principle” built on two things, the past and the present.
November 20, 2024

Ode to Gettysburg at 161

To prove the American proposition, we must dedicate our lives to its truth with our deeds every day, and maybe someday with our lives themselves.