How the Jesuit Media Empire Applied a Double Standard to Disenfranchise Military Families, a federally protected class. In August 2024, America Magazine — the flagship Jesuit publication in the United States — published my opinion piece criticizing Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance for accusing Tim Walz of "stolen valor."

I. The Soldier Who Became a Saint In 1521, a Spanish soldier named Íñigo López de Loyola stood defending the fortress at Pamplona when a French cannonball shattered his right leg and wounded his left. He was 30 years old, a soldier who dreamed of glory, a man who had

This is part of a series on “The Gospel of Rutba” I’m calling #NotMyGospel. On February 26, 2012, Greg Barrett finally sent me the manuscript for The Gospel of Rutbah. I'd been asking to see it for months. My own book, Reborn on the Fourth of July,

On Primary Sources and Public Gods When Jesus outlined conflict resolution in Matthew 18, he prescribed a progression: go privately, take witnesses, tell it to the church. What he didn't say, but the text assumes, is what happens when each prior step fails. The progression isn't

When Iraqi Peacemaking Became Celebrity Posturing In January 2010, I returned to Iraq as a wannabe peacemaker, following what I genuinely believed was the Spirit of a living God leading me back to my (still active) theater of combat. In emails leading up to the trip, I told my fellow

In 2014, my partner babysat Esau McCaulley's children in Scotland so he and his wife (a Navy Reserve medical officer) could work and teach. When Esau organized a prayer vigil after Mike Brown's murder, we showed up. That's what military families do for each

In April 2022, Chris Smith, editor of The Englewood Review of Books, declined to review my book God is a Grunt (Hachette). His reasoning was explicit: "the primary audience for this book (active military/veterans) is narrower than the previous books, and doesn't intersect well with our

I've been sitting with something that makes my skin crawl. In October 2011, I interviewed Stanley Hauerwas at Duke. We talked about moral injury, about the church's complicity in sending people to war without adequate formation, about Veterans Day pageantry and the people who "put

*I am unable to record for Advent 3 today for personal reasons, but I will get to it tomorrow. In the meantime, here is an essay on the Matthew 11 reading, the parallel of which is Luke 7. There's a familiar pattern in our cultural moment. Someone builds

Every November 11th, a ritual plays out that’s supposed to honor veterans but somehow manages to cheapen what service actually means. The coupons. The free pancakes. The smiling servers in flag shirts. Even the VA has joined the chorus, promoting where veterans can “celebrate” with a free meal—as

When theologian George Kalantzis joined me on Grunt God, he said something startlingly honest: “What I want to propose is that actually for families, we should have services of lament and repentance—not for them to repent and lament—but our complicity that makes it necessary for their children to

The A.S.K. Stereotype is playing out in real time. When Pete Hegseth stood at Quantico and told America’s generals to “reawaken the warrior spirit,” he wasn’t breaking new ground. Progressives have been telling me the same thing for years: that to serve America is only—and

I received word this week from the federal court in Eugene about my civil rights case (Isaac v. Manning, 6:25-cv-01159-MC). The judge approved my request to proceed in forma pauperis—which means I don’t have to pay the filing fees because I’ve proven I can’t afford