One Eye Squinted

Tim Alberta on evangelical extremism and the pastors who profit from it
By Karen Swallow Prior — December 7, 2023
(RNS) — ‘These are not dupes; these are not true believers.’

Don’t go into a relationship — or institution — thinking you can change them
By Karen Swallow Prior — November 20, 2023

A good pastor is hard to find
By Karen Swallow Prior — October 31, 2023
More from One Eye Squinted

The fruit of the Spirit is not optional, despite what you might witness online
By Karen Swallow Prior — September 29, 2023
(RNS) — Before social media, I honestly never knew people who claimed to be Christians would treat one another with such cruelty.

Beware the Black Robed Regiment cosplay
By Karen Swallow Prior — August 15, 2023
(RNS) — Dressing in the garb of Revolutionary clergy in the 21st century reflects neither biblical wisdom nor sound theology.

For too many Christians, the lines between dominionism, nationalism and fascism are blurred
By Karen Swallow Prior — July 11, 2023
(RNS) — An old social experiment sheds light on how easy it is to manipulate people’s moral compasses.

Thoughts on my 5-year anniversary of getting hit by a bus
By Karen Swallow Prior — May 24, 2023
(RNS) — First a bus, now a dog attack. If these are signs, they aren’t subtle.

Human progress, the myth of the modern age, is increasingly in doubt
By Karen Swallow Prior — May 11, 2023
(RNS) — Cruelty, plagues and the irrepressibility of a certain ex-president make optimism a tough sell.

Replacing vengeance with mercy in our death penalty policy
By Karen Swallow Prior — March 7, 2023
(RNS) — The troubling case of Andre Thomas invites a closer look at all the factors that play a part in the death penalty.

Grace Community Church let her down. Now she is standing in the gap for women.
By Karen Swallow Prior — February 16, 2023
(RNS) — Eileen’s life now is a far cry from the subservient role she once played to a domineering and violent husband.

Not all who harm the church are wolves. Some are renegade sheep.
By Karen Swallow Prior — February 2, 2023
(RNS) — The distinction makes a difference.

The alienation of Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land,’ at 100, has come to feel like home
By Karen Swallow Prior — December 13, 2022
(RNS) — The December birthday ‘The Waste Land’ shares with Christmas foreshadows the Easter that is to come.

We got here because too many good people put their head in the sand
By Karen Swallow Prior — November 7, 2022
(RNS) — Negligence is not only a vice — sometimes it’s a crime.

We can be an army of wounded warriors — or a collective of wounded healers
By Karen Swallow Prior — October 18, 2022
(RNS) — To be human is to be wounded, one way or another. Those hurts can be wielded in ways that further wound or in ways that help heal.

The scandal of evangelical Christian friendship
By Karen Swallow Prior — September 9, 2022
(RNS) — Christians more than anyone else ought to have the most robust and healthiest understanding of friendship, including, or especially, those between men and women.
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Karen Swallow Prior
One Eye Squinted
“I can, with one eye squinted, take it all as a blessing.” — Flannery O’Connor, 1953 — Karen Swallow Prior, Ph. D., is Research Professor of English and Christianity and Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. She is the author of several books, including On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books (Brazos 2018). Her writing has appeared at Christianity Today, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, First Things and Vox, among others. She and her husband live on a 100-year old homestead in central Virginia with sundry horses, dogs and chickens. And lots of books.

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