Two New Pieces: On Avarice, and On Immigration

Thanks for staying with me during this brief respite. I’ll be getting back in the saddle soon.

Today, I had two new pieces drop:

I’m part of a great group of writers who have been organized by

Aaron Long

to write on the seven deadly vices, as we make our way through Lent. Mine went live today, on avarice, and particularly how the witness of St. Francis and of Dante help illuminate the temptations of avarice. You can check it out below.

Second, I have a review of Isaac Villegas’ new book on migration, out today at Christianity Today. You can read it here. On the whole, it’s a necessary intervention, though I think that once you go the road of testimony as a mode of argument, it invites a broader range of testimony than the book focuses on.

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Thanks for staying with me during the break. It’s a needed break, and I can feel some space opening up again. Last week, I got to go gawk at the beauty of the Southwest, hike some canyons and go be in the desert. Big Bend is one of the marvels of the world, and I’m sorry this was my first time.

The American Southwest has a kind of powerful beauty, and one, in light of the questions Villegas asks, that has a kind of terror as well. Migration policy beginning thirty years ago intentionally began funneling southern migration through some of the most stark and dangerous parts of the continent, and seeing it firsthand gave me a kind of awe-filled respect for anyone who braves it on foot. You don’t leave home and traverse that terrain except that something strong and powerful is moving you.