Intrusion and Grace
Recently U2 released its new album Songs of Innocence to everyone who uses iTunes. It was free, automatic, a gift. While there is much to say about this deeply personal […]
Author Archives: Dr. Jessica Ann Hughes
The My Little Ponies Makeover
As a little girl, I loved Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Ponies. My daughter has, somehow, developed a similar love thanks to the ubiquitous marketing that puts such characters—or Disney […]
Can Science Discover Everything?
Marcelo Gleiser, a theoretical physicist specializing in cosmology, nonlinear physics, and astrobiology, has a new book out, reviewed yesterday on NPR. I have not yet read the book but it […]
The Chaos Waiting Around the Corner
I have a confession to make: I am deeply afraid of the chaos that lingers at our doorstep, the chaos that rips into our mundane lives, forever marking a particular […]
Our History’s Grand New Plot
For many, Christmas is now over: the presents are opened, the meal is eaten, the carols are sung, and it is time to start thinking about packing Christmas away until […]
God Sucking a Nipple
August was world breastfeeding month, which meant that breastfeeding―and controversies surrounding feeding (especially in public) helped fill the slow, late-summer news cycles. But the stories have continued into the fall. […]
“Why can’t people wait for Christmas?”
While shopping today, my three-year-old pointed to a Christmas tree and asked, “why can’t people wait for Christmas”? She didn’t ask it critically but out of curiosity, interrogating the expression […]
What do Christians believe?
If you type this question into Google, the first hit—“gotquestions.org”—says that the answer is found in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4: “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, […]
Mommy don’t go away!
My nine-month old son has just started bawling hysterically whenever I leave the room. It starts when I place him in someone else’s arms: he begins to push his trembling […]
Letting the Fire Rage
“Moralistic-therapeutic deism” is the phrase University of Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith uses to describe the religious beliefs of North American teenagers. It is the belief that God wants people […]
Wondering Fair 