Joshua Pauling

Joshua Pauling is headmaster at All Saints Classical Academy and vicar at All Saints Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Charlotte, NC. He is author of the book Education’s End and co-author with Robin Phillips of the book Are We All Cyborgs Now?. He has has written for CiRCE, Classis, Forma, Logia, The Lutheran Witness, Mere Orthodoxy, Merion West, Modern Reformation, Public Discourse, Quillette, Salvo, and Touchstone. He is a frequent guest on Issues Etc. Radio Show/Podcast. Josh also taught high school history for thirteen years and makes custom furniture. He studied at Messiah College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Winthrop University, and is continuing his studies at Concordia Theological Seminary.
Articles by Joshua Pauling
Man’s Meaning Crisis and The Road Back to God: A Conversation with Joe Barnard
Offering a way forward.
When Humans Prefer a Machine: Warnings from a 1960s Chatbot Creator
Chatbots aren’t new. Joseph Weizenbaum created one in 1966. And what happened next led him to become a vocal critic of his own creation. What did he see that we…
An Economist’s Take on the Age of AI: A Review of Robert Skidelsky’s Mindless
Skidelsky’s expertise is on full display as he tells the story of the impact of machines on the human condition.
Steel-Manning the Amish: The Wisdom of Communal Discernment
What the Amish understand perhaps more than we do is the necessity of maintaining and protecting domains of embodied human agency in our lives.
From Building Things to Building Institutions
What struck me most in reading the book was the role of risk-taking and personal leadership in an organization’s founding phase, and the necessity of consolidating and institutionalizing its vision,…
Reality’s Bite: Responding to the Reality Privilege Argument
Are those who question transhumanist progress or Metaverse predictions just knee-jerk Luddites whose visceral reactions are worthy of only a patronizing pat on the head for not seeing their own…
Your Brains are in Your Hands: Doug Stowe on Forming Mind, Hand, and Culture
Stowe’s book is both timeless and timely. Our physical embodiment as human creatures is always essential, but it is especially so amid increasing digitality. The last two years of pandemic-related…
What are Hands For? Technology, Hands, and the Wounds of God
Christ touches. With his hands he heals the sick, opens mouths, unstops ears, blesses the children, and raises the dead. And ultimately it is the marks in Christ’s hands that…
The Classroom as Sanctified Space: Human Formation away from the Screen
For the sake of human formation and flourishing, it is essential to carve out sanctified spaces of peace and refuge away from the mesmerizing pull of screens.
When Innovation Runs Out: The Vindication of Maintenance
The Innovation Delusion goes a long way toward demystifying and destigmatizing the ordinary yet essential work of maintenance.
Jacques Barzun’s 1937 Critique of Race-Thinking
On the heels of a consequential election, and the accompanying commentary demonstrating the continued pervasiveness of race-thinking, Barzun’s message of honoring each human individual’s value while recognizing our shared common…
Cultivating the Skills that Freedom Requires in Matthew Crawford’s Why We Drive: Toward a Philosophy of the Open Road
Human driving requires unending mutual predictions and constant accommodations for each other. It is in such experiences that we end up with something meaningful for life in the physical world…


