Short Articles Archives - Justin Ariel Bailey

“Are You for Us or for Our Enemies?” Making Decisions Amid Contested Meanings

In the coming years, when we look back on our cultural response to the novel coronavirus, shifting attitudes towards mask-wearing will prove an interesting case study. It has been fascinating to watch how the meaning of mask-wearing has changed in so short a time. At…

Justin BaileyMay 28, 2020

Articles & Essays Popular Culture Short Articles

The Death of Kobe Bryant: Fallen Icons and Heart of Popular Culture

On Sunday, January 26, 2020, Kobe Bryant, his thirteen-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash. The deaths sent shockwaves through the NBA, Los Angeles, and the world at large. NBA teams started games by taking 24 and 8 second violations,…

Justin BaileyJanuary 30, 2020

Articles & Essays Popular Culture Short Articles

Shows that Shape Us: The Office

In the previous post, I shared a series of questions for understanding the popular culture that shapes us. I wrote of how many of the students in my Theology and Popular Culture class are hesitant to share the pieces of pop culture that shape them.…

Justin BaileyJanuary 22, 2020

Articles & Essays Popular Culture Short Articles

Shows that Shape Us: Asking the Right Questions

I teach a class called Theology and Popular Culture in which I encourage students to think theologically about the media in which they are immersed. Early in the semester, I ask them to consider the following questions: What is one piece of popular culture that…

Justin BaileyJanuary 21, 2020

Articles & Essays Short Articles

Strengths and Shadows: Using the Enneagram in the Classroom

Confession: I have always loved personality tests. In the nineties it was the DISC profile. In the aughts it was Myers-Briggs. I never caught on to Strengths Finder, but still have used all three instruments (DISC, Myers-Briggs, and Strengths) with students in the classroom, leadership…

Justin BaileySeptember 17, 2019

Articles & Essays Short Articles

Beyond Hero Stories

Last November, the 26-year-old missionary named John Allen Chau was killed on North Sentinel Island. Home to a remote and protective tribe, travel to the island is against the law. But Chau felt himself compelled by a higher call, and paid fishermen to sneak him…

Justin BaileyMarch 19, 2019

Thinking about Disenchantment: An Assist from C.S. Lewis for Understanding Charles Taylor

In pre-modern times, people lived in an “enchanted” world. There was a world of spirits, demons, and moral forces. God acted as the bulwark against evil, the means by which to hold these forces at bay. This means that the world is intrinsically less manageable,…

Justin BaileyOctober 26, 2016

Articles & Essays Confessional Short Articles

Game of Thrones and Theodicy

I'm not a Game of Thrones fan, though I did read the first book on my trip to Denali in 2011. Martin is an excellent writer and has created a dense, believable world. Salacious material aside, I'm not surprised that the show has had so much…

Justin BaileyJune 16, 2015

Confessional Short Articles

Freedom is Finding the Right Limitations: Six Calls on My Life

I am convinced that true freedom is not the absence of limitations but finding the right limitations, limitations that are life-giving and liberating. My marriage vows limit me, but they also set me free. My children limit me profoundly, but my children have also opened up enormous new space for…

Justin BaileySeptember 15, 2014

Short Articles

Why Having Kids is Foolish

Photo by Austin Pacheco on Unsplash I just read an article entitled "Why Having Kids is Foolish". The first paragraph: All parents know that having kids is a blessing — except when it's a nightmare of screaming fits, diapers, runny noses, wars over bedtimes and…

Justin BaileyMarch 8, 2011

Short Articles

“Are You for Us or for Our Enemies?” Making Decisions Amid Contested Meanings

The Death of Kobe Bryant: Fallen Icons and Heart of Popular Culture

Shows that Shape Us: The Office

Shows that Shape Us: Asking the Right Questions

Strengths and Shadows: Using the Enneagram in the Classroom

Beyond Hero Stories

Thinking about Disenchantment: An Assist from C.S. Lewis for Understanding Charles Taylor

Game of Thrones and Theodicy

Freedom is Finding the Right Limitations: Six Calls on My Life

Why Having Kids is Foolish

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