Apple TV+’s Shrinking: Why Things Get Worse Before They Get Better

This series captures the reality that the most difficult parts of life are the most transformative.

Saturday Night and the Challenge of Conversations About Identity

Lorne Michaels was confident of the foundation of SNL even if he couldn’t distill it into a palatable premise or a memorable meme.

The Monsters Are Already Here

We have our own agents provocateur who manipulate the impressionable to turn neighbor against neighbor, sowing seeds of suspicion and division with lies and conspiracies.

Salt without Saltiness: The Death of Hospitality in The Bear

Season 3 of The Bear stands as a warning against the kind of mission drift that can rob a caring institution of its hospitality.

Fallout and the Metamodern Search for Story

Lucy is an idealist in search of a story, a believer desperately seeking something worthy of belief.

Eric: Bringing Light to the Darkness and Facing Our Monsters

Maybe we have to hit rock bottom in order to see ourselves in the mirror truthfully.

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire: Why Do Some People Embrace the Dark Side?

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire suggests we are first meant to pity and forgive, not fight, our enemies.

Exposing the Arbitrary Line Between “Adult” and “Mainstream” Treatments of Sex

Art can be pornographic even if not intentionally so.

Why Mystery Is Crucial to Our Lives (And Why It’s Never Going Away)

The mysterious God of the universe uses mysteries, and His words in the Bible, to encounter and be encountered.

Dancing with TheWeightSaint: Richard Simmons’ (Surprisingly) Unsung Ministry

No matter where he was or who he came in contact with during his fitness evangelization heyday, Richard treated others with dignity.

Gilmore Girls and the Great Decentering of Motherhood

In Gilmore Girls, motherhood is a symbolic handing over of our life’s story, the giving up of ourselves for the ones who need us.

Chris Hemsworth’s Limitless Highlights the Beauty of the Incarnation

This is the paradox of Limitless and of life: we want to celebrate aging and, yes, even death, but we also fear both and try to stave them off as much as possible.

Percy Jackson and the Journey of the Christian Convert

For both Percy Jackson and the Christian, to know your Father is to know your destiny—and in that, to find your true identity.

CAPC’s Favorite TV of 2023

Our favorite TV of 2023 includes academic comedy, zombie horror, trickster gods, the final frontier, and more.

1983 vs. 2023: When Is Revival Right for America?

Some Christians want their version of revival so desperately that they try to force revival through fearmongering.

Hospitality and the Weight of Moralism in Amazon’s Jack Ryan

Taking the high road is easy if you’re a pharisee. It’s harder if you’re a utilitarian. Jack Ryan is (un)lucky in that he’s both.