Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Brian Mattson
Is ‘Christian Zionism’ Really Heretical?
Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Premium Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Faith, our weekly newsletter exploring the biggest stories in religion and faith. Looking for more ways to support our work? Become a Dispatch member today. Hi and happy Sunday.
Not Nearly Classical Enough
Dear Friends, Step into my study! Shall I fill you a pipe? Pour you a dram? Excellent! As I am sure you have noticed, much of my time has been taken up recently considering again issues concerning epistemology (human knowledge, faith and reason), and how it relates to the task of apologetics, or defending the faith against detractors. I count myself part of a “minority report” when it comes to this subject. It wasn’t always a minority report, as we shall see further confirmed today.
MATTSON FINANCIAL SVC
Skip to main contentSkip to main content We are currently undergoing maintenance on some services, which may temporarily affect access to subscription accounts and the E-edition. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work to resolve the issues. Details for MATTSON FINANCIAL SVC You don't have any notifications. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Topics Breaking News Subscribe
The Talented Mr. Meeks
Welcome to The Square Inch, a Friday newsletter on Christianity, culture, and all of the many-varied “square inches” of God’s domain. This is normally a paid subscription feature with a preview before the paywall, but today’s is a day early and free of charge.
Review: ‘Life in the Negative World’ by Aaron Renn
In February 2022, First Things published what became a viral essay, “The Three Worlds of Evangelicalism” by Aaron Renn. Life in the Negative World: Confronting Challenges in an Anti-Christian Culture is his book-length expansion of that essay.
Our Ancient Challenges
Home/Biblical and Theological/Our Ancient Challenges Our Ancient Challenges Racial identity, disposal of unwanted children, and free sex. Those are the top priorities for a significant segment of western society—perhaps even half of society. Written by Brian Mattson | Wednesday, July 26, 2023 Friends, our cultural flashpoints have been seen before. They are precedented. Our fathers and mothers in the faith faced a cultural onslaught that makes ours tame by comparison. And they overcame.
How Should Christians Care About the Environment?
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Jim Davis Welcome to TGC is good faith debates. These are conversations designed to help you learn how to navigate difficult, emotional, maybe even polarizing issues in our current life and culture. My name is Jim Davis, a pastor Orlando Grace Church, and it is my privilege to be able to be the moderator for these debates.
The Square Inch
This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts
Compared To What?
Welcome to The Square Inch, a Friday newsletter on Christianity, culture, and all of the many-varied “square inches” of God’s domain. This publication is free for now, but please consider clicking on the button at the bottom to become a paid subscriber to enjoy this along with Monday’s “Off The Shelf” feature about books and Wednesday’s “The Quarter Inch,” a quick(er) commentary on current events.
Sordid Business
Dear Friends, You may recall that a couple of weeks ago I published a critical review of Stephen Wolfe’s book The Case For Christian Nationalism. Since that time the controversy surrounding the book has taken quite a few strange and sordid turns. Thankfully, I haven’t been a part of any of it. I felt it sufficient to simply stick with the published book and its proffered theological arguments, which I believe I handled rather decisively.
Review: ‘Letter to the American Church’ by Eric Metaxas
Eric Metaxas has written a provocative book for a large audience. In Letter to the American Church, he assumes a prophetic role—the American church, he warns, is committing the same mistakes in the 2020s as the German church did in the 1930s. If we continue course, similar catastrophic consequences await. By choosing silence, German pastors facilitated the rise of Nazism—and the innocent blood of millions is on their hands.
8 Ways to Become a Praying Church
In January 2020, I was exhausted from two and a half years of church planting. I realized I couldn’t grind my way through this. I didn’t have the strength. Thankfully, despite the fatigue (or perhaps because of it), I’d been experiencing a personal renewal through consistent and intense prayer times. As I prayed, a great desire grew in me that our little church might become a praying people. I had to admit, though, that no one who’d spent a month with our congregation would call us a praying church.
Giving When You’re Gone
A few months ago, David Green, founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby, announced he was giving away his company instead of passing it down to his children. Rather than seeing himself as the owner of his property, Green wrote of his purpose of honoring God, “[It] helped me realize that I was just a steward, a manager of what God had entrusted me.” His language echoes that of Peter: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Pet. 4:10).
A Children's Crusade
Welcome to this SPECIAL EDITION of The Square Inch Newsletter. Subscribers may expect regular programming to resume shortly. The following is a lengthy review of a popular book. The Crusade of Children, Gustave Doré (1877) Stephen Wolfe’s The Case For Christian Nationalism (Moscow: Canon Press, 2022) is a manifesto that has garnered a great deal of online publicity.
The Seat of Mockers
Welcome to The Square Inch, a Friday newsletter on Christianity, culture, and all of the many-varied “square inches” of God’s domain. This publication is free for now, but please consider clicking on the link at the bottom to become a paid subscriber to enjoy all my offerings! Dear Friends, Hopefully I’m not beating a dead horse. And I also hadn’t realized before just now how creepy that phrase is. Who would beat a dead horse?
The Magnificent Pig
Welcome to The Square Inch, a Friday newsletter on Christianity, culture, and all of the many-varied “square inches” of God’s domain. This publication is free for now, but please consider clicking on the link at the bottom to become a paid subscriber to enjoy all my offerings! This week’s Monday “Off The Shelf” highlighted a book on Constitutional originalism, and Wednesday’s “Quarter Inch” was a lengthy deep-dive into the overruling of Roe v. Wade.
The Quarter Inch
This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts
How Not to Think about January 6 and Christianity | National Review
Security forces try to keep protesters out of the U.S. Capitol during a protest against the certification of the 2020 presidential election results by Congress in Washington, D.C., January 6, 2021. (Stephanie Keith/Reuters) A recent attempted examination of the supposed connection between ‘Christian nationalism’ and January 6 falls short in its analysis.
"If Only You Would But Kneel"
Dear Friends, So I guess that’s that. People tell me that my Twitter account is still visible. But I’ve been locked out of it by the open-minded, freethinking, tolerant folks who run the place, and from where I sit they intend to keep it that way forever. It is not a “Time Out.” It’s a permanent ban.
"You Only Say That Because..."
Dear Friends, Happy mid-October! After a few days of snow flurries, the sun has reappeared. It isn’t warm, exactly, but it is bright and cheery. I do not have a great deal on my mind regarding current events this week because I’ve been researching and thinking about a presentation I’ve got coming up on Critical Theory and rhetoric. I’m sure I’ll share some of that with you at the appropriate time. I will give you this public service announcement: that guy Karl Marx was such a blowhard.
A Book You Didn't Know You Need
Dear Friends, I hope you are enjoying the Fall. We’re having a blessed bit of weather here in Big Sky Country, and hopefully it carries on a few more weeks. Montana is wonderful, but the shortness of Autumn is a liability. Last year we got a freak three feet of snow dumped on us in early October and that was that. But for now, it’s an Indian Summer (are we still allowed to say that? I lose track of the rules).
Sackcloth & Ashes
Dear Friends, Decline is a choice. That was the title of a 2009 speech and essay the late Dr. Charles Krauthammer. It remains quite an eye-opening read after the events of the past week. Why not choose ease and bask in the adulation of the world as we serially renounce, withdraw, and concede? Because, while globalization has produced in some the illusion that human nature has changed, it has not.
Celebrating the Legacy of Herman Bavinck: An Interview with James Eglinton
It has been a prodigious decade for Dutch Reformed theologian Herman Bavinck (1854–1921). The translation of his four-volume work into English at the turn of the century sparked a surge of scholarly and pastoral interest, and new editions and translations of his works, along with new academic monographs—have rapidly multiplied. This is, of course, with good reason.
Hoist By His Own Petard
Dear Friends, Postmodern philosopher Jacques Derrida was a prominent figure in a movement called “Deconstruction.” One of the features of that philosophy is the idea that there is no fixed meaning in language and that, therefore, authors do not really have any “ownership” over their works. A claim to ownership is just a raw exercise of power—for deconstructionists, everything, including language itself, is an exercise of power, someone seeking domination and mastery over someone else.
Fiddling With Our Phones
Dear Friends, Another week of crisis, and I’m grateful that the only real crisis in our home is that we only have one decent computer and three people who constantly need it. Our high schooler is doing most of her work online, and trying to get her hands on the MacBook at suitable times is causing exasperation—for her and for me. Tempers are flaring, doors are slamming—no, I kid.
The Best Single-Volume Reformed Systematic Theology You’ve Never Heard Of
Following the watershed publication of his four-volume Reformed Dogmatics in English at the turn of this century, interest in Dutch Reformed theologian Herman Bavinck (1854–1921) has sharply increased. Indeed, it almost seems as though Bavinck’s destiny is to influence the 21st century far more than the 19th century, during which he wrote most of his dogmatic work.
Doug Wilson’s Broadside against Liberalism’s Defenders | National Review
Sohrab Ahmari and David French (Images via Twitter) I suppose it says something about David French that he finds himself surrounded by wildly divergent critics. It’s not an altogether bad place to be. The 16th-century Reformers battled radical Protestant utopians trying at sword-point to usher in the new heavens and the new earth at the same time they battled Roman Catholic utopians who thought they already had. Strange bedfellows somehow have a habit of reuniting.
Long-Lost Bavinck Manuscript Is a Timely Work on Reformed Ethics
Discoveries of never-before-seen manuscripts written by historic figures are rare outside the pages of conspiratorial fantasy fiction. With the obvious exception of something like the Dead Sea Scrolls, such discoveries tend to be more noteworthy for the sheer curiosity of how the lost treasure was found than for its actual substance. After all, there’s probably a reason an author left a certain manuscript unpublished, and sometimes the reason is simple: The material isn’t very good.
WARNING: Objects in Mirror Not so Dire as They Appear
Books about global statistics and trends tend to moonlight as insomnia medication. However, Hans Rosling’s Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think, written with the help of his son and daughter-in-law, Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund, is something of a page-turning thriller. How is that possible? Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think Flatiron Books (2018). 352 pp. Flatiron Books (2018).
How The Ancients Heard Resurrection: A Reply to David Bentley Hart
Hart leaves us to wonder how he himself is able to “listen with antique ears” and to divine what the interpretive minds of Paul’s contemporaries “would have” understood. He provides no evidence for it.
Jonah Goldberg’s Good Medicine — and Great Book | National Review
(Pixabay) Gratitude can save civilization, if only we believe. It is difficult to decide what is more encouraging: Jonah Goldberg’s new book, with its extraordinary gratitude for the miracle of civilization, markets, and the American experiment, or the incredible success the book is achieving — a reception that gives reason to hope that a Western suicide is less imminent than his ominous title suggests.
What Christians Should Learn from the Osteen Interview
“Let God be true and every man a liar.” That phrase from Romans 3:4 was stuck in my head after watching CNN’s interview Tuesday night with Joel Osteen on whether or not homosexuality is a sin. Osteen’s answer: “Yes. The Scriptures show that it’s a sin.” As far as I can tell, the interview didn’t win evangelicals a monumental cultural battle or give us some new insight into American’s happiest pastor. We will probably forget about this moment in a few weeks.
Grieving, Rejoicing that Osama bin Laden Is Dead
Osama bin Laden is dead. How do we as Christians respond? As I watched the news reports, various passages came to mind—everything from Jesus’ teaching on loving and praying for enemies, to James’ forceful picture of a future slaughterhouse coming upon oppressors of God’s people. The more I reflect on it, the more I realize that my internal tension is similar to another one I have felt many times before-a tension related to the biblical doctrine of hell.
Don Carson on Osama bin Laden
Don Carson presented four lengthy lectures at Oak Hill Theological College in 2001 before September 11. Shortly after that, he turned those lectures into the book Love in Hard Places (Wheaton: Crossway, 2002). Advertise on TGC TGC hosts a free PDF of the entire book. Carson updated his notes after 9/11 to include a 37-page section entitled “Hard Case Two: Osama bin Laden” (pp. 108-44).
Give Up the Gimmicks, Youth Pastors
It’s amazing what youth will eat. I love sushi, but it’s quite different than eating a live goldfish. I sat near the back of the crowd and watched with a curious sea-sickness—gazing at the teenage wonder while keeping one eye on the nearest trash can! A loud unified chant shook the entire room: “Mar-cus, Mar-cus.” And down it went, to the praise of cheering youth. He was the envy of every guy and the disgust of every girl.
Communism’s Last Laugh
Ryszard Legutko’s The Demon in Democracy: Totalitarian Temptations in Free Societies is an unnerving, challenging, and in some ways unsatisfying book. His thesis is simple: Liberal democracy isn’t even remotely the opposite of communist totalitarianism. In fact, despite its rhetoric of freedom, openness, diversity, and tolerance, Western liberal democracy has become (or just is?) a different and arguably far more effective engine of totalitarianism.
Doubting Thomas (Yes, Still)
[I was privileged to participate in a panel discussion with Francis Beckwith on the topic of Thomas Aquinas and Natural Law Theory. We were responding to a series of lectures by J. Budziszewski. My remarks as delivered are below. They are very similar to what I posted here a year ago, with some changes.
Money & Economics
/ Series Jubilee 2016 Fall - Money Context Jubilee Topic Economics God in His Word has much to say about money and economic issues, and the ways that we produce and use it. There are many perspectives among Christians concerning this issue. What is the biblical way to think about money on a personal and societal level? How should we understand money in light of the kingdom of God? What does a responsible, godly attitude towards wealth look like?
Super delegate system is super bad
The UN sends election monitors around the world. Imagine if they observed hundreds of voters each stuffing 10,000 ballots into the polling boxes. However, UN monitors could observe this very scenario at the Democratic National Committee. The DNC's anointed 700-plus superdelegates each enjoy this privilege, just so mere mortals don't upset the Party's wishes.
Christopher Hitchens and the Hound of Heaven
One difficulty reviewing Larry Alex Taunton’s new book—The Faith of Christopher Hitchens: The Restless Soul of the World’s Most Notorious Atheist—is deciding on a genre. While the back of the book categorizes it as “Biography/Autobiography/Religious,” I’ve decided it primarily belongs to a time-honored American storytelling tradition: the road trip. Of course, it’s so much more.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Brian
Contact Brian, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack