Jeffrey Bilbro is an Associate Professor of English at Grove City College. He grew up in the mountainous state of Washington and earned his B.A. in Writing and Literature from George Fox University in Oregon and his Ph.D. in English from Baylor University. His books include Words for Conviviality: Media Technologies and Practices of Hope, Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry into the News, Loving God’s Wildness: The Christian Roots of Ecological Ethics in American Literature, Wendell Berry and Higher Education: Cultivating Virtues of Place (written with Jack Baker), and Virtues of Renewal: Wendell Berry’s Sustainable Forms.
Jeffrey Bilbro
Articles by Jeffrey Bilbro
Identity, Mundanity, and Vaccines
Matthew Crawford points out that much new technology today only adds layers of friction rather than actually solving a problem.
Ivan Illich, Byung-Chul Han, and Cloning
Bianca Bosker dives into the weird and disturbing world of making creatures.
Reflections on Alasdair MacIntyre
Dependent Rational Animals offers both a satisfying philosophical exclamation point and a sorely needed ethical and political vision appropriate for the struggles of our own day.
Seamus Heaney, Oakland Ballers, and Frugality
"In fact, MacIntyre’s work is extreme, but we live in extreme times."
MacIntyre, Classical Music, and Diapers
“Remembering Alasdair MacIntyre (1929-2025).” Christopher Kaczor remembers the life and legacy of his teacher: “I have never met, nor do I ever expect to meet, a philosopher as fascinating as…
Alasdair MacIntyre (1929-2025)
I don’t see how any English-speaking student of politics or philosophy from the past half-century could have avoided being shaped by After Virtue, his short and explosive argument against the…
The Census Taker in a Church Pew, Part 7
His hands remind me of a topographical map. Even now with their nail scars, do Jesus’ hands bear also the marks that come with age and years as a craftsman?
Leaving the Keys in the Truck: Trust, Tension, and the Rural Bargain
Trust in rural places isn’t built on virtue; it’s built on visibility. It’s knowing you’ll see the person again.
From the Editor: Local Culture 7.1
There is no law preventing us from being worthy pupils of the spring rains, the dead, and the plants. We can mind first principles; we can keep our hands off…
Remodeling the Porch
Amateur operations are fragile and tenuous. But we’re grateful for a much-improved virtual home.
Agrarian Voices Lecture
FPR's own Jason Peters will be giving an Agrarian Voices Lecture later this month at the Berry Center. If you're near New Castle on Jan. 23rd, consider going in person…
Milton, Babbitt, and Auden
“AI and All Its Splendors.” I continue my mulling on AI and its underlying temptations in this lengthy essay for Christianity Today. I aim to craft a book proposal this…
“As I Know by Love”: Wendell Berry’s Another Day
One might think that after forty-four years of writing these Sabbath poems, Berry would run out of things to say. But it seems that as long as the trees continue…
Progress, Tyson, and Messiah
I'll be taking the next couple of weeks off for the Christmas holidays. Look for these to resume in January. “Can a Phone-Free Learning Environment Work? This College President Emphatically…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
Grimsby, Bureaucracy, and Brave New World
“Left Behind in Grimsby.” Simon Cross narrates the tensions he experienced ministering in a neighborhood where he wasn’t stuck: “There’s a feeling of inadequacy that comes with knowing how little…
Syncretism, Saints, and Childhood
“Against Syncretism, For Christians Building Like Christians.” Jake Meador provides a good summary of and response to Paul Kingsnorth’s recent lecture: “Bucer's measure of judging a Christian society was not…
Dinosaurs, Screens, and Symbols
“Dinner with Dinosaurs.” In a wide-ranging and probing essay, Lauren Spohn considers what kind of narrative we need to motivate human action and guide our technological and cultural project: “It’s…
Voting for a President Won’t Save the Republic
A democracy is not kept by filling in a ballot bubble once every four years. It’s kept by responsibly and virtuously exercising our freedoms in our homes, communities, and institutions…
Boethius, History, and Charm
“Love Letter to America.” A.M. Hickman takes a hard look at America’s many dysfunctions: “Then the realization sinks in like news of a dear old friend’s death: There beneath the…