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
Wendell Berry Conference Videos
Video recordings from our 2019 conference on the legacy of Wendell Berry are now online. We hope those of you who weren't able to join us in the flesh will…
Ellul, Land of Hope, and Opting Out
“Book Review: The Household and the War for the Cosmos by C. R. Wiley.” Jake Meador reviews The Household and the War for the Cosmos by C. R. Wiley, in which Wiley argues that…
Holy Warriors, Brain Gain, and Children and Climate Change
Several people have written reflections on last week’s conference. If you weren’t able to make it, you can read what Russell Arben Fox and Scott Richert made of the gathering. “Academia’s Holy Warriors.” Jon…
“Be Happy!”–Thanks for an Excellent Gathering
Thanks to all who came to Louisville this weekend for our annual conference. We had about 300 people join us for the day, making this the largest FPR conference yet.…
Berry’s Dissent, Procreation, and Rotten STEM
“A Shared Place: Wendell Berry’s Lifelong Dissent.” Jedediah Britton-Purdy writes a long and thoughtful review of Berry’s essays and body of thought. He avoids many of the lazy critiques of…
Support Local Culture: A Journal of the Front Porch Republic
The Front Porch Republic is launching a print journal! We've set up a GoFundMe campaign to help support this project. Please consider contributing to fund production costs and to join…
Homesickness, Landscape of Despair, and Mass Barbecue
“Wayfaring in America.” Brian Smith reviews The American Road Trip and American Political Thought, by Susan McWilliams Barndt—a book that reflects on what Americans’ fondness for travel narratives suggests about our…
George Herbert, Simone Weil, and Front Porches
“What a Famous Poet Can Teach Rural Pastors.” Stephen Witmer looks at George Herbert’s classic and asks, “what if we were to read Country Parson for its original purpose: as a guide…
Learning to Read “the Book in Front of Us”
As the fall semester looms, the minutia of meetings and syllabi revisions threatens to drain the excitement from my impending return to the classroom. As a way of warding off…
Educating Nones, Water, and Killing Umps
“5 Questions with Gracy Olmstead.” Gracy Olmstead talks about rural communities, seasonal rhythms, and more. “Inhabiting Memories and Landscapes.” Brecon Cathedral in Wales is hosting a conference next summer on…
Air Conditioning, Modern Friendship, and Rooftop Farming
“The Great Land Robbery.” In the Atlantic, Vann R. Newkirk II narrates a tragic story about black land ownership in the Mississippi Delta. Between racist lending practices, global commodity markets,…
Addictive Technology, Land Use, and Saving the Amazon
Most of my reading time this week went to poring over proofs for the first issue of the FPR print journal. We should have copies fresh from the press at…
Beyond Capitalism, National Conservatism, and Millennial Nuns
“Going Home with Wendell Berry.” Amanda Petrusich corresponded with Berry and then spent two days in Port Royal continuing their conversation. The result is a rich and wise conversation in…
Convenience, Abortion, and Friendship
I’ll be taking a break from the internet for a couple of weeks to recreate (and to get some writing done). I’m not sure when I’ll resume these weekly Water…
Plastic, Local Feasting, and Family Farms
“Book Review: Dignity by Chris Arnade.” Jake Meador uses Patrick Deneen’s recent work to frame a reading of Arnade’s photographs and stories. In a book that does not shy away…
Pelagians, Lithium Mines, and Progressive Occultism
“The Politics of Dystopia.” Ross Douthat seems to be thinking about Deneen’s book these days: “On right and left, it has become easier to imagine ways the liberal order might…
“Free America,” Work Colleges, and Seeds
“The Small and the Human, and ‘Free America’.” The University Bookman ran an excerpt from Allan C. Carlson’s forthcoming book, Land, True Liberty & Democracy: The Story of ‘Free America.’ It narrates the story…
Mythical Mammals, College Libraries, and David French-ism
“More Than Mildly Amusing.” I heartily second Elizabeth Bittner’s recommendation of Mr. Mehan’s Mildly Amusing Mythical Mammals; it’s a children’s book that rewards re-readings, and the glossary combines wit and wisdom. “How…
What Are People For? Control or Love?
The arguments that Deneen and Shatzer advance are really two sides of the same coin; as one interpreter of Marshall McLuhan put it, “We make our tools, and then our…
A Hidden Life, Carbon Credits, and the American Solidarity Party
“Has Our Food Become Safer in the Last 10 Years?” Four experts discuss food safety regulations, consolidation, and local food systems for Civil Eats. “Starting Seeds.” Darby Weaver surveys some of…
Back Row America, Marilynne Robinson, and Peter Maurin
“Our Unsexy Future.” Joseph Bottum reviews Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity by Jamie Metzl, drawing attention to “an underappreciated principle of any new technology as it starts to…
Underrating Humans, John Lukacs, and the Digital Town Square
“James Matthew Wilson on What Poetry Is, and Isn’t.” Mary Spencer interviews James Matthew Wilson for National Review about his work as a poet. “Are Robots Really Coming for Your Job?” Bill…
Aaron Wolf, Kansas, and a Treasonous Meritocrat?
“‘It’s a Groundswell’: The Farmers Fighting to Save the Earth’s Soil.” Matthew Taylor reports for The Guardian on how no-till farming, or “conservation agriculture” can help to improve soil health. On Easter,…
Underland, 737 Max, and Earth Day
“What Lies Beneath: Robert Macfarlane Travels ‘Underland.’” Robert Macfarlane writes about his new book and the subterranean journeys it traces. “Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson and David Kline.” Listen to the…