coronavirus 43
Failing in a Pandemic
The whole mode of online education screams that now I must be the source of attraction. But I’m not entertaining. In fact, I’m pretty unentertaining. If you ask most of…
Feeling Claustrophobic in the Big Wide Open
I worry about our ever-expanding cult of safety and nod in agreement with so much of sociologist Frank Furedi’s description of the “Paradox of our Safety Addiction.” He argues that…
The Pandemic and the Primacy of the Household
We have been thrown back into our own small worlds, but these are worlds we are free to shape. Within the household we have considerable power over how our lives…
The Diseases that Kill Republics: Insights from Ancient Rome’s Epidemics
Italy’s tragic status as one of the worst-hit nations is a reminder of its predecessor, the Roman Republic, which endured dozens of epidemics in a history that lasted from 509…
Wendell Berry and Zoom
While the futurists and transhumanists and purveyors of educational technologies would have us voluntarily cut off our arms so we can enjoy their fancy new prostheses, our priority should be…
Brass Spittoon: Digital Fatigue and Pastoral Care During a Pandemic
Jay Y. Kim reflects on pastoral care during the pandemic in light of his recent book Analog Church: Why We Need Real People, Places, and Things in the Digital Age.
Common Good or Common Fear
In times of crisis a common fear can elicit behavior that appears similar to actions born of a commitment to the common good.
Coming Home, COVID-19 Style: A Moment to Reconsider the Natural Family
The lengthy drift from family to individual as the primary social unit carries an alluring promise of autonomy and individualism which sounds so good, so freeing, but it comes up…
Here I Stand: Order and Beauty in a Time of Chaos
Front Porch Republic readers all adhere in some ways to principles that are good and true and beautiful: local authority, productive work, and community involvement. Simply fighting against government action…
Love in a Time of C̶h̶o̶l̶e̶r̶a̶ ̶S̶c̶u̶r̶v̶y̶ Coronavirus: A Bar Jester Chronicle; or, A Tragi-Comedy in One Act
Says here malaria treatments work on COVID-19.
After Apple-Planting
Our trees are unlikely to make a measurable difference in global carbon dioxide levels, and they will not do anything to hasten the end of the coronavirus pandemic, but according…
With Students At Home, Let’s Make America Local Again
Perhaps we ought to hope that things won’t quite go back to what’s normal: rootless young folk siphoned away by elite universities and groomed to lead the managerial bureaucracies and…
Remembering After Coronavirus
Shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks, Wendell Berry wrote, “The time will soon come when we will not be able to remember the horrors of September 11 without remembering also…
The Silence of the Bells
The war on coronavirus is silencing vital cultural and cultic rhythms in America. Easter reminds us that what comes after silence can make it worth the wait.
Flatten the Curve and Respect the Experts
The issue is not the the health care experts versus the ordinary American who doesn’t like the way this shutdown is going. It is actually a question of expertise worthy…
Pandemics, Power, and Holy Week
On Good Friday, Pilate and nearly everyone else thought that he was in control. He wasn’t. And on this Good Friday, Pilate’s heirs have much less power than they think…
COVID-19: Crisis and Opportunity
Perhaps this crisis, while revealing the fragility of many aspects of American society, can at the same time provide opportunities for a recovery.
With One Eye Squinted: R.R. Reno and Living Life in a Time of Death
Let us not, however, in our haste to condemn Reno for his imprudent practical advice, ignore the truth of the underlying point. Religious believers hold that there is more to…
Cities, Common Spaces, and the Coronavirus
To be isolated from one another, and in particular from those third places where the rich possibilities of community are most regularly realized strains urban interdependence as nothing else.
