I recently published two articles on very different topics that may be of interest to you.
The first is titled βAmericaβs Mental Health Crisis and the Loss of Meaningβ and was published at The Dispatch. For those of you who have read Disruptive Witness and You Are Not Your Own, the themes should be familiar:
Our nature is to avoid ourselves and lifeβs big questions. Our modern environment enables this avoidance through technology. But the result of this avoidance is not peace, but as Pascal calls it, βmisery,β and the current mental health crisis affecting so many Americans is an example of this misery. To overcome this misery, we need to work against our environment, discovering that the world is resonant with meaning imbued by a loving God who calls us to Him.
The second was an article Iβve been working on for a while for The Gospel Coalition on what I call βsocial myths.β I started working on this idea when I started this substack, but this article is the fullest articulation of the theory. Iβm still working out the details, but I think itβs a helpful idea:
Social myths are a disordered way of engaging with legitimate cultural issues relevant to our public witness as Christians. The problem isnβt that weβre engaging in what some call the βculture war.β Certain causes are worth fighting for, like the right to life. The culture war usually deals with causes that are serious and require bold, faithful advocates to fight for them.
I hope to have a new substack article published Friday. Today I fly out to Nashville to speak at the Rabbit Room tomorrow night. If you are in the area, get a ticket!
"memeification"
Did you just coin a word?