Category Archives: Culture

Rough Thoughts on ‘Wokeness and Myth on Campus’

Posted on December 30, 2017 by Alastair Roberts

Alan Jacobs has a thought-provoking piece in The New Atlantis in which he explores some of the underlying dynamics of protests surrounding controversial speech on campus. You should read his piece before you read the rest of this post, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Politics, Sex and Sexuality, Society | 12 Comments

Weightless Words on the World Wide Web

Posted on December 27, 2017 by Alastair Roberts

Guy Debord, writing in the 1960s, analysed the supplanting of the active and directly lived life of society by the ‘spectacle’, with which members of society passively identify and which they consume. Debord made clear that the spectacle—the mediation of … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Ethics, On the web, Politics, Society, The Blogosphere | 25 Comments

Schrödinger’s Cat Person

Posted on December 21, 2017 by Alastair Roberts

“Cat Person”, a short story from the New Yorker, recently achieved viral status. Within it, Kristen Roupenian tells the tale of a brief yet ill-fated ‘relationship’ between Margot, a twenty-year-old college student and the story’s protagonist, and Robert, a man … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Ethics, Sex and Sexuality, Society | 21 Comments

Video: Do We Need an Ecumenical Council on Homosexuality?

Posted on December 19, 2017 by Alastair Roberts

My latest Davenant Institute video has just been published. Within it, Brad Belschner and I discuss the question of whether the Church should set up an ecumenical council on the question of homosexuality.

Posted in Church History, Controversies, Culture, Ethics, Sex and Sexuality, Society, The Church, Theological | 1 Comment

No, Black Women Didn’t Save Evangelicalism

Posted on December 14, 2017 by Alastair Roberts

Freddie deBoer describes a particular sort of unhealthy progressive politics as the ‘politics of deference’: I have personally taken to thinking of a particular kind of misguided progressive political engagement as the politics of deference — that is, the political theory that suggests … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Ethics, In the News, Politics, Society | 24 Comments

Social Media and Subsidiarity

Posted on December 11, 2017 by Alastair Roberts

A video of a crying young boy describing his experiences of bullying in school has gone viral over the last day or so, being shared by many millions of people. Dozens of celebrities have responded, and have received glowing press … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Ethics, In the News, On the web, Society | 21 Comments

Ethical Reflection Upon Violence in American Football

Posted on December 10, 2017 by Alastair Roberts

My friend Tony Reinke invited me, along with a number of others, to give some brief thoughts on this issue. Considering what is coming to light regarding the long-term effects of collisions in the game upon the brains of its … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Ethics, Guest Post | 6 Comments

The Strangeness of the Modern Mind

Posted on December 7, 2017 by Alastair Roberts

The question of how things that were once inconceivable can become conventional and even majority viewpoints is one we far too infrequently ask ourselves. How is it possible, for instance, that the norm of marriage as a male-and-female institution is … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Controversies, Creation, Culture, Ethics, Galatians, Genesis, NT, OT, Politics, Science, Sex and Sexuality, Society, Theological | 47 Comments

Podcast: Awaiting the King, with Davey Henreckson

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Alastair Roberts

The final volume in James K.A. Smith’s Cultural Liturgies trilogy, Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology, has just been released. In this week’s episode of Mere Fidelity, Davey Henreckson joins us to discuss Smith’s book. This is, I believe, our … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Ethics, Podcasts, Politics, Reviews, Society, The Church, Theological | 1 Comment

Review of Todd Wilson’s ‘Mere Sexuality’

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Alastair Roberts

I’ve just reviewed Todd Wilson’s Mere Sexuality: Rediscovering the Christian Vision of Sexuality for the Gospel Coalition website. I think Wilson’s attempt to provide an account of “mere sexuality” suffers on account of his taking current debates about homosexuality as … Continue reading →

Posted in Apologetics, Culture, Ethics, Guest Post, My Reading, Reviews, Sex and Sexuality, Society, Theological | Leave a comment