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Articles 356

Forbidden Questions

Whenever we see such an avoidance of questions like these, we are witnessing someone protecting an ideological dream world.
December 31, 2024

Where Can Wisdom Be Found? -Gambling Pigeons, the Quest for Wisdom, and the Irreducibility of Poetry

Poetry must be experienced, and the experience of poetry is itself a means of searching, a kind of hunting, for wisdom.

College Radio

We can gain something from the Ike Carters and the student DJs of our communities: a human connection, a community connection—not to mention great music.

Why We Need Christmas Trees

Rituals are our allies in sorrow. They help us appreciate what brief time we had with our loved ones while acknowledging the years we will face without them.

Welcoming a Baby in Advent

Like Mary and all Israel waiting for the Messiah, like a mother welcoming a child, we are to “wait for it with patience.”

Against Bigness, Not Against Health Insurance

I believe in personal responsibility; insurance companies believe in impersonal responsibility.
December 23, 2024

Lead Kindly Light

And so, feeling blessed by the rich experiences of my ministry, I stand at the start of a new year in the dying days of the old one.

The Writing on the Wall

The writing may still be on the wall, but a different story is being written in our block.
December 18, 2024

Tri Robinson Looks Back in Thanks  

After a life of physical and spiritual adventure, an innovative homesteading teacher and pastor turns green with gratitude.
John Murdock
December 17, 2024

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

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.
December 10, 2024

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.

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…
December 6, 2024

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.
Steven Knepper
December 2, 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…
November 29, 2024

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.
November 27, 2024

Shopping Local in a Storm

I mourn the storm. It’s far from over. But I also do not mourn without hope.
November 26, 2024