The October 18 edition of the Echo featured two op-ed pieces about Res Publica. One of these, authored by student Taylor Burns, was particularly critical of our site. We do appreciate Mr. Burns’ concerns regarding the health of the Taylor community. This is certainly a concern that we at Res Publica share, and we also appreciate his initiative in taking the time to write his piece and stimulate di...

Evangelical Christianity in the United States has evolved in my lifetime, emerging from or alongside of what had been called “Fundamentalism” in the early twentieth century. By mid-century it had become a term that described many Protestant denominations and various movements within denominations that were not “evangelical” in their core identity. One might say it was an authentic ecumenical movem...

A little over forty years ago Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the most influential—and at the time most respected—Russian man of letters was invited to give the commencement address at Harvard University. He was sent out of Russia four years earlier by the Soviet regime as the best way they knew how to diminish his influence in the Soviet Union. Because his literary works were known and widely read outsid...

Taylor University’s decision to invite Vice President Mike Pence to give the 2019 commencement address may have been imprudent, but it was not inconsistent with Taylor’s character or its mission. The call for what amounted to a faculty “vote of no confidence” in the decision was appropriate, even though there is no precedent for subjecting the choice of graduation speaker to a faculty vote. In a h...