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The Coloniser’s Cocktail
by Matthew Sitman Nina Caplan finds that, despite the all the pages written about the British Empire, “one great culprit in the colonisation project rarely receives its fair share of blame: gin.” How...
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Would You Have Followed Jesus?
by Matthew Sitman Many described in the New Testament as encountering Jesus didn’t know what to make of him, with his strange parables and convention-defying social habits. John Koessler reviews Derek...
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How Not To Read The Bible
by Matthew Sitman From ages 17 to 23, Jessica Misener was a born-again Christian. And then she went to graduate school at Yale, learned a bit of Hebrew and Greek, delved into studying Scripture, and...
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Should Christians Ditch The Devil?
by Matthew Sitman Timothy Tutt makes the case for doing so, arguing that Satan is “clearly a theological construct found in many cultures and dolled up differently over time”: In the earliest...
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Quote For The Day
by Matthew Sitman “Brothers, do not be afraid of men’s sin, love man also in his sin, for this likeness of God’s love is the height of love on earth. Love all of God’s creation, both the whole of it...
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Louis C.K.’s “Great Mystery”
by Matthew Sitman In an NPR interview last week, Louis C.K. unpacked the comments he made, critical of some atheists’ certainty that God doesn’t exist, during his opening monologue when he hosted SNL...
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Church Sign Of The Day
by Matthew Sitman Meet the Anglican priest from Australia behind the above sign – just one of his many efforts: In an age of digital everything, Father Rod serves up his thoughts via an old-style...
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Why Atheists Need Philosophy
by Matthew Sitman In the wake of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s rather dismissive comments about philosophy’s usefulness, Rebecca Goldstein defends its enduring value – especially for the non-religious:...
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Was Dietrich Bonhoeffer Gay?
by Matthew Sitman Charles Marsh’s Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a new biography of the German theologian and pastor killed by the Nazis and a hero to many conservative evangelicals in...
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Quote For Memorial Day
by Matthew Sitman “I am afraid to forget. I fear that we human creatures do not forget cleanly, as the animals presumably do. What protrudes and does not fit in our pasts rises to haunt us and make us...
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Government Is Not The Problem
by Matthew Sitman Arguing that “American conservatives are in danger of appearing as though they had no positive idea of government at all,” Roger Scruton makes the case for the necessity and goodness...
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He Certainly Did More Than Paint
by Matthew Sitman In a long review of three recent books about John Quincy Adams and his wife, Louisa Catherine, Susan Dunn considers the accomplishments of his post-presidential career, which saw...
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When Your Next Step Could Be Your Last
by Matthew Sitman Byliner has unlocked Brian Mockenhaupt’s The Living and the Dead: War, Friendship, and the Battles That Never End for Memorial Day, which follows three soldiers in Afghanistan – Tom,...
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More Than Pulling Strings
by Matthew Sitman Eric Bass, a puppeteer, explains why the assumptions behind phrases like “puppet government” or “played him like a puppet” misunderstand what the art is all about: As puppeteers, it...
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Back Hair Is Beautiful
All my previous criticisms of Slate BLT columnist Mark Joseph Stern have now been rendered moot and I withdraw every single one of them (well maybe not on Brendan Eich). For it is a far far better...
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A Short Story For Saturday
by Matthew Sitman It seems fitting to feature a story about depression this week, and few wrote about what it feels like with more acuity than David Foster Wallace. Here’s the opening paragraph of his...
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Another Round On The Political Roots Of Atheism
by Matthew Sitman Last Sunday we featured Nick Spencer’s argument that the rise of modern atheism had less to do with the advance of science than the fallout from the entanglement of religion and...
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Somerset Maugham’s Path To Salvation
by Matthew Sitman I hadn’t realized that one of my favorite novels, Somerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge, turned 70 this year. It’s not a very hip book to love these days, but it charms me in so many...
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Your Other Blogger For The Week
by Matthew Sitman Hey Dish readers – I’m Matt, the Dish’s literary editor and, this week, guest-blogger. Most of my work usually appears on the weekends, especially Sundays, so I tend to be responsible...
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To Bind Up The Nation’s Wounds
by Matthew Sitman I noted in my introduction earlier today that I don’t usually write about politics, that I prefer, especially when things get bad, to retreat into literature and poetry. This was my...
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Reading Your Way Through Life
by Matthew Sitman I’ve already mentioned how my instinct, when the world seems a bit depressing, is to retreat into books. Reading literature and poetry, for me, always has been therapeutic. An element...
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What’s God Have To Do With Our “Libertarian Moment”?
by Matthew Sitman Last week Sarah Posner expanded on Ed Kilgore’s argument that the efforts of the Christian right are a big reason for the rise of libertarianism in the United States – and why Robert...
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Pope Francis: Stop ISIS
by Matthew Sitman ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) _ Pope endorses use of force in Iraq to protect minorities; says UN should approve intervention. — Ken Thomas (@AP_Ken_Thomas) August 18, 2014 Mark Shea...
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Reading Your Way Through Life: Readers Respond
by Matthew Sitman Last night I asked readers what novels, poems, or stories have been their companions along life’s way – those texts you return to again and again, or that got you through a hard time,...
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To Be A Christian In Modern America
by Matthew Sitman For awhile now I’ve been intrigued by Rod Dreher’s advocacy of the “Benedict Option” for contemporary Christians, which looks to St. Benedict, founder of a monastic order in the wake...
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Reading Your Way Through Life: More Reader Reax
by Matthew Sitman After asking readers about the novels, poems, and short stories that have meant the most to them, the response has been so affirming – at a time when we all wonder about the future of...
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What Do-It-Yourself Funerals Can’t Offer
by Matthew Sitman It’s an interesting question, how we’ll handle death and grief as religion’s place in our lives declines. I don’t mean that the old answers about what “happens” when we die will need...
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Reading Your Way Through Life: Even More Reader Reax
by Matthew Sitman Readers continue to respond to our thread on the books, poems, and stories that have meant the most to them. One reader sent in the above video of Mary Oliver reading her poem “Wild...
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What Is Christianity For?
by Matthew Sitman That’s the question Rod Dreher asks in a searching reply to my thoughts earlier this week on Christianity and modern life. Some of Rod’s response is a gentle correction to my...
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Reading Your Way Through Life: Even More Readers Respond
by Matthew Sitman The popular thread continues, beginning with reader-love for one particular John Cheever short story: I have returned to the work of John Cheever—especially “The Death of...
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A Short Story For Saturday
by Matthew Sitman Since starting our Saturday short story feature, readers occasionally have written to us suggesting we use this or that story. Ursula Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”...
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Where Have You Gone, Reinhold Niebuhr?
by Matthew Sitman "Forgiveness is the final form of love." –Reinhold Niebuhr pic.twitter.com/VaYqU6omCe — The Curator (@curatormagazine) July 15, 2014 Oh how I remember those heady days when everyone...
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Reading Your Way Through Life: Still More Responses
by Matthew Sitman Readers continue to tell us about the writing that’s meant the most to them along life’s way. One nodded along with my description of Marilynne Robinson’s prose: I had to smile at...
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Reading Your Way Through Life: Still More Readers Respond
by Matthew Sitman Reading all the reader responses to my question about the books, poems, and stories that have meant the most to you has been such a rewarding experience. My reading list certainly has...
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Reading Your Way Through Life: One More Round Of Responses
by Matthew Sitman Readers continue to tell us about the books, stories, and poems, that have meant the most to them in their lives, and a number of you have asked us to keep the thread going. So here’s...
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Introducing “Finding The Words For Faith”
by Matthew Sitman It’s an honor – and rather daunting – to see my essay on Christian Wiman, “Finding The Words For Faith,” published on Deep Dish today. Wiman’s poetry and prose have occupied much of...
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Andrew And Matt Ask Anything: Christian Wiman
by Matthew Sitman I’m fairly certain the first time I encountered Christian Wiman’s work was in October 2012, when I stumbled on an essay of his in The American Scholar titled “Mortify Our Wolves.” I...
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Why Be A Christian When You Can Just Be Nice?
by Matthew Sitman That seems to be the gist of Rod Dreher’s latest response to me in our ongoing exchange about Christianity’s place in the modern world. If you go on and on above love, as I tend to...
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Andrew And Matt Ask Anything: Christian Wiman, Ctd
by Matthew Sitman Going into our conversation with Christian Wiman, Andrew and I wanted to make sure we gave him the chance to read a few of his poems. Not only is Wiman a brilliant poet, but he’s an...
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How I Met Andrew Sullivan
by Matthew Sitman One of the first questions I get when a person finds out I work at the Dish, and that Andrew is not just my boss but my friend, is about how we met. Unlike most of my generation, and...
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