What more can be said?

It has to be costly to mean something.

Robert Farrar Capon on the goodness of creation.

What does a poem see?

Optimism ain't no substitute for resurrection hope.

Martin Laird's strange little book on the path of contemplation.

C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the gift of meaning-making friendships.

Painting on leather, and other strategies for resisting dehumanization.

Detractors wanted more useful poems. Seamus Heaney knew better.

A poet on the mutually inciting forces of solidarity and joy.

A “conversation in poetry,” briefly noted.

Jimmy Carter took the long view. It cost him.

Reflections on Marilynne Robinson’s early essay collection.

A winsome, grounded collection of “good news” sermons.

Learning to notice when things look bleak.

Here they are, friends, my favorite books of the year.

A many-sided novel, briefly considered.

Subtle considerations of a polarizing saint.

Jemar Tisby on the faithful witness of the Black church.

Reflecting on Timothy Snyder’s warnings from the twentieth century.