I’m convinced that bad art derives, like bad literary theory, from bad theology. To know God falsely is to write and paint and sculpt and cook and dance Him falsely. Perhaps it’s not poor artistic skill that yields bad Christian art, in other words, but poor Christianity… …The worst Christian novels seem to forget Oswald […]

So noir exists as the fiction of moral breakdown, the fiction of corruption, and yes, the fiction of reprobation. To its practitioners, this also makes it realistic fiction, because it depicts the world—this side of Christ’s coming—as it truly is: not a realm of Newtonian regularity on the path to an ever brighter future, but […]

This photo was taken in my hometown which was originally founded under the name Bethlehem by a German Catholic priest. His project was to plant parishes in the midst of immigrant farming areas which had no central township. He also founded a town named Nazareth about 30 miles from home: Nazareth and Bethlehem, naturally. When […]

Donate to Joplin Tornado Relief

Our friends at Mystery Church in Joplin have been housing, feeding, and healing victims of the tornado. You can donate by clicking the Title of this Post. Donate to Joplin Tornado Relief

Published in Narrative

I had a story published in Narrative Magazine this week. If you’re interested in literature, follow this link and take a look around the site. They publish some great authors that I attempt to emulate. Maybe you’ll find something there as inspiring as I’ve found. If you’d prefer to just read the story, here’s a […]

An Open Letter of Recommendation for Ryan Culwell

Around this time of the academic year, I am flooded with requests for letters of recommendation. Students need an authority to be witness to their character and aptitude as they apply for scholarships and internships. It’s in this spirit that I write the following, unsolicited recommendation for the songwriter Ryan Culwell. May 13, 2011 To Whom […]

All of this fiscal year’s influences collided in one moment. Like a super-collider of influence.  In the picture: James Smith commenting on songwriter Josh Ritter’s forthcoming book on Josh Ritter’s website. Not to mention Josh Ritter’s book is next to a set of Graham Greene books. If Robert Penn Warren’s books had been on the […]

Conditions of Ambition #1

If my ambition, for my family; for my work; for my time is the kingdom of God, then my ambition becomes more an icon, and less an idol. If my ambition is the kingdom of God, then my family, work, and time must be a sign that points to something that ultimately gives my family, […]

On the second day of a trek into the Sawtooth Wilderness, in Idaho, we were all invited to spend twenty-four hours by ourselves…very soon, although the day was bright and unthreatening, I was cowering in my tent. Apparently, all it took for me to become aware of the emptiness of life and the horror of […]

Easter Poem

The Mistaken Gardener by Seth Wieck There was reclamation to be doneThe path being overrun with runnersMy foot having caught in the matrixof vines to skin my palms in the thorns that received me. Read the rest of the poem here.