Jeffrey Bilbro

Jeffrey Bilbro
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http://jeffbilbro.com
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 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.

Recent Essays

Practicing Authentic Conversation

If I attempt to follow Berry’s underwater route too closely, I’m afraid I will drown. Rather than try to summarize it, then, I will instead distill from it a set of guidelines for improving the quality of our language. The shouters who dominate our public discourse are unlikely to heed Berry’s advice, but those of us who are weary of shrill denunciations have much to learn from Berry’s sanity.

Conference Recap, Chess, and the Waste Land

The FPR conference this weekend was a great delight. The only problem is that I wanted to have long conversations with everyone who came....

Lippmann, Property, and Swamp People

“Labor, Land, and Racism.” Brian Volck reviews Berry’s new book, which comes out next month: “For Berry, there are no autonomous people and no...

Mourning, Coffeehouses, and Water

“The Work of Mourning.” Roger Scruton probes the necessity and value of mourning with his characteristic range and insight: “Until the work of mourning...

Property, Work, and Hillbilly Thomists

Have you registered for our fall conference taking place in two weeks at Grove City College? Registration closes on the 17th, so don't delay!...

Love, Landmarks, and Chestnuts

“Can Love Take Sides?” The new issue of Plough is full of worthwhile essays, but Porchers will want to start with this essay by...

Expertise, Facebook, and Friendship

“The Good Death in Psalm 73.” Timothy Kleiser draws out the wisdom regarding mortality and human finitude in Margaret Edson’s moving play Wit with...

Compliance, Bourbon Tourism, and Sequoias

“No More 'Normal.' How to Live after the COVID Apocalypse.” I reflect on the themes of our upcoming conference and Chris Arnade’s book in...

Rare Earths, Canning, and Exhaustion

“David McCullough, Master Chronicler of American History, Dies at 89.” Glenn Rifkin remembers a remarkable storyteller who made forgotten aspects of American history come...

Leftovers, Dumb Phones, and Waiting Tables

“Hoping for Doomsday.” I’ve been savoring the summer issue of Plough. Peter Mommsen’s opening editorial is, as usual, excellent: “In the interim of the...

Illich, Finitude, and Authority

“The Corruption of the Best: On Ivan Illich.” Geoff Shullenberger takes the occasion of David Cayley’s intellectual biography of Ivan Illich to offer a...

Sympathy, Weeds, and Brutal Friends

“How Foreign Private Equity Hooked New England’s Fishing Industry.” Will Sennott has an in-depth report on the ways the local owners and fishermen in...