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Winter 2017 | Volume 35, Issue 4
Ancient Friendships
This issue is dedicated to ancient friendships that can become the distant, orienting stars by which we navigate the roiling waves of twenty-four-hour news with all its upheavals and outrage. Think of this issue of Comment as your sextant (or, if you prefer to update the metaphor, a GPS device): we want to introduce you to a constellation of forgotten voices that have oriented thoughtful Christians across the centuries and who continue to offer wisdom to our age, if we’ll listen.
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Editorial: Finding Forgotten Friends
Apprenticing Ourselves to the Past
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World View
An annotated reading of your world.
- 11
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Headquarters: Ross and Davis Mitchell Prize for Faith and Writing
Updates from Cardus on the renewal of social architecture.
- 12
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To Knock a Chip out of the Wall: Sophie Scholl
Learning from Sophie Scholl in Charlottesville.
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The Uses of Friendships: Moses Mendelssohn
It's when we resist conforming to the expectations of our contemporaries that we are a gift to them.
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A Society of Friends: David Elton Trueblood
David Elton Trueblood was a friend to the world and a friend to me.
- 27
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Seeing the Beauty of Dappled Things: Gerard Manley Hopkins
A poet taught a physician how to see again.
- 33
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A Vocational Friendship: The Cappadocians
How a letter to John Stott encouraged my journey to fourth-century Cappadocia.
- 38
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At the Bottom of the World is the Word: Martin Luther
Learning to taste the Word of God with Martin Luther.
- 42
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Learning to Be Free: Booker T. Washington
What someone who was enslaved can teach us about a liberal education.
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Making Sense of Our Contradictions: Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal knows us well: as glorious and wretched, hungering for God but prone to distraction.
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The Friend We Need but Do Not Want: Martin Luther King Jr.
On the inconvenience of Martin Luther King Jr.
- 57
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The Story About Religious Freedom You Haven't Heard
The Christian origin of religious-freedom arguments.
- 64
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The Commons: Resist the Tyrannical Now
Seeing the invisible at church or a used bookstore.
Contributors to this Issue
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Doug Sikkema Doug Sikkema teaches at King's Christian Collegiate in Oakville, Ontario. He also serves as managing editor for Comment Magazine, and is working toward a Ph.D. in American literature. Bio -
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Gregory Thompson Gregory Thompson is the Director of Research and Strategy at Clayborn Reborn, a historic Civil Rights site in Memphis Tennessee. Bio -
James K.A. Smith James K.A. Smith was the editor-in-chief of Comment from 2013-2018, and teaches philosophy at Calvin College. He is the new editor-in-chief of Image Journal. Bio -
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Karen Wright Marsh Karen Wright Marsh is an author and the executive director of Theological Horizons at the University of Virginia. Bio -
Mack McCarter Mack McCarter is founder and coordinator of Community Renewal International, and has been honoured with numerous awards for his work with CRI. Bio -
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Nicholas Wolterstorff Nicholas Wolterstorff received his A.B. from Calvin College in 1953, and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University in 1956. Bio -
Raymond C. Barfield Raymond C. Barfield is Professor of Pediatrics and Christian Philosophy at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Bio -
Richard V. Horner Richard V. Horner is the Executive Director, Christian Study Center of Gainesville, Florida Bio -
Susan R. Holman Susan R. Holman is a scholar and writer in global health and religious responses to poverty, hunger, disease, and the history of medicine. Bio -
Yuval Levin Yuval Levin is the editor of National Affairs, a quarterly journal of essays on domestic policy and politics. Bio
