The Dispatch Monthly Mailbag with Michael Reneau

Michael answers questions from members about evangelicalism, his role as managing editor, and being an Atlanta Braves and Tennessee Vols fan.

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Thanks so much for the thoughtful questions. I appreciate both the serious wrestling on issues such as faith and news consumption, and also for some of you indulging my love for Tennessee athletics and the Atlanta Braves. And hey—there are more East Tenneseans than I realized hanging around these (Dispatch) parts. We may have to organize a mini-meetup.

I probably wrote way too much below, so how about we just get to your questions? 

Kevren22: As a fellow evangelical, what are some of your favorite books/resources/thinkers for how your faith impacts your view of news, politics, and the public sphere as a whole? And what advice do you have on training your kids to think deeply and Biblically about matters of societal importance without forcing your beliefs on them in a way that encourages them in terms of how to think instead of just what to think?

In terms of books/resources/thinkers: One of my favorite books of the past few years is Reading the Times by Jeffrey Bilbro. At The Dispatch, we’re harping all the time on the need to slow the news cycle down, to put less weight on the micro-scoops so many news outlets (especially in Washington) chase, and instead seek to understand the big picture and why it all matters. Bibro encourages this too, while examining how our news consumption can draw us closer to God. It’s a great read. Lots of other writers have influenced me over the years and still do: my good friend and former boss Marvin Olasky, Mindy Belz (also a good friend and former colleague), Trevin Wax, Jake Meador and other writers at Mere Orthodoxy, Daniel Darling, Jon Ward, John Stonestreet—lots of others I could name.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Sharon.Slaten

    Greetings! I was born & raised in Chattanooga and I love all things Tennessee Volunteers!

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  2. Cnshoupe

    Bristol TN here! Really enjoyed your thoughtful answers. A mini-meetup in East TN (or even a larger Dispatch event with Jonah and the others like those occurring other places across the country...) would be awesome!!

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  3. Jarena

    Knoxville resident here. I’m not going to throw shade at Chattanooga, because it’s a perfectly lovely city (to visit). But Knoxville really is awesome. And I don’t even cheer for the Vols (grew up in Buffalo, high school in Tampa, married a Knoxville girl I met in college). It’s central to so many other cool cities (Nashville, Atlanta, Louisville, Greenville, etc.), it is right next to the Smokies, it has a beautiful river running through it, and the people are great. Downside: allergies (due to the beautiful trees and flowers in the area, but also the convergence of two major interstates).

    As for an East Tennessee meetup, let’s do it. I’d even be happy to coordinate.

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    David Klever

    Is TN worth retiring to? I did so, about a year ago, for most of the reasons you list. Escaped from IL. Although I must confess, the first time I heard about "the Vols" I heard it as "vowels". Guess I'm not a sports fan.

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    Mandy

    Michael, thank you for helping us to know you better. I haven't commented at TD in a long while, but your sharing about the intersection of faith and politics is still taking up space in my head a day after I read it, so I'll humbly offer a few thoughts.

    One of the things I like most about The Dispatch is its transparency regarding the lenses through which its writers view the news. Our priors are there, so it feels more honest to me to acknowledge them. (I've come a long way in this department since I first became a subscriber, as I used to think that "objective journalism" was a thing.) I see folks commenting with concern that TD is becoming a Christian publication, and I don't share that concern. In certain situations (e.g. the mailbag pieces), getting to know y'all makes this space feel like a true community.

    The battle for me is finding the line between crafting generalizations (which is always going to happen when we try to understand narratives in a nation of 330 million people) and refusing to make assumptions about people based on the handful of details we may know about them (a tough line to hold). It's nice to read that you don't know anyone in your PCA church who's super-MAGA, but I know plenty of folks in the PCA who are somewhere on the spectrum of Trump flag-wearing, rally-attending supporters to voters who have unenthusiastically voted for DJT twice and will absolutely do it again. (The "enthusiastically supporting" distinction is particularly tough for me to read, as an unenthusiastic level of support for such a dangerous individual has still done a great deal of tangible harm to all of us.) Between your observations and mine, we're saying that folks shouldn't think of the PCA as an institution linked arm-in-arm with the MAGA movement, but we shouldn't think of it as an institution that has distanced itself, either. Everyone here already gets that it's...complicated.

    I'm the first to admit that I make unfair assumptions about people all the time, and I'm working on becoming more generous. Just as my personal friendships with members of Evangelical denominations, the writings of Tim Keller and David French (and others), and honest accounts from writers such as yourself remind me that I shouldn't draw conclusions about people based on their church membership, I'll chime in with a quick reminder that many, many Christian believers do not hold conservative political views. We do study Scripture, we do believe in one true God, we do attend corporate worship regularly, we do seek to follow Jesus, and we do believe that we are redeemed only by His grace. It's just that when we apply Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience (yep - United Methodist here!) to the ways that we live, love, breathe, serve, interact, and yes, vote, we wind up in a very different place. It's so distressing to me that I feel like I have to say this out loud every now and then to avoid being placed in a box politically, and I repent of the ways that I'm guilty of boxing in my conservative Christian friends as well.

    You said it beautifully, Michael - let's not break fellowship over it.

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      Ben Connelly

      Yeah I don’t see the argument that TD is becoming a Christian publication, especially since David French no longer writes here and Jonah is Jewish and writes (and podcasts) about Judaism occasionally (although infrequently). I suppose it depends on someone’s expectations. Anyone who reads a lot of Christianity Today, where all the content is related to faith in some way, wouldn’t feel that this was a Christian publication, but anyone who came in expecting ZERO content related to the church might complain that it’s a “Christian publication” especially when David’s Sunday newsletter was always about faith.

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  6. BadgerBill

    “He gave money to Bob and I”.

    Aggggghhhhh! (Runs, screaming, from the room).

    I agree, it’s absolutely the worst. Unfortunately, you hear it all the time.

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      SD

      I can easily handle almost every other grammatical error except this one. I don't know what it is, but I hate it.

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    Michael Lifsey

    Re the definition of various types of editors, I remember reading the comments of somebody many years ago (I think it might have been Michael Kinsley but I could be wrong) describing his move to being a contributing editor at some publication. “I contribute very little and edit even less.”

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  8. Glennsed

    Interesting responses. I would distinguish between sphere sovereignty and subsidiarity. The former refers to a principled pluralism based in convictions about God having assigned specific authority and accountability to different spheres of life - such as government, families, the arts, education, the church, etc - while the latter is often refuced to a decentralization of decisions which does not challenge the unity of authority. Thus the former is a more powerful way of thinking about and organizing our common life.

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      Michael Reneau vertical-nib Author

      Absolutely right. Didn't mean to conflate the two in any way—just wanted to point out the value of having some organizing principles when it comes to figuring out how various spheres of life relate to one another. Thanks for reading!

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      1. Glennsed

        Ive become a Dispatch addict . . .

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  9. Michael Connell

    Just came across this Dispatch post while cleaning out my emails. This has been a truly refreshing half hour. Who knows, maybe the remnant of sanity in America is much larger than we dare hope for. It's Sunday evening here in Saratoga Springs, NY, and suddenly I feel a certain hopefulness. Regrettably there is no hope of getting my potted plant of a wife to even think about retiring to Tennessee.

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      SD

      I am in Albany! I will always be a Northeasterner and am one of those weird people who love winter, so I get where your wife is coming from. My Southern born and bred husband has found summer more and more unbearable, so he has thoughts of retiring to Minnesota.

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      Michael Reneau vertical-nib Author

      Thanks for the kind words, Michael. So glad this was an encouragement to you.

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      Leslie

      I’m a stone’s throw away in Galway! Hello, Dispatch neighbor. Maybe we can persuade the powers that be to do a meet-up in the northeast somewhere.

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    4. Kdg

      Bring her here on vacation. Don't be surprised if she changes her mind. By the way, we vacationed in the Finger Lakes region last fall and loved it. Not enough to move there, though. We have all the natural beauty (and more) without the bitterly cold winters. But the wines!

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  10. Tim

    Welcome to The Dispatch, Michael. Nice to see a fellow Tennessean take the helm. I'm in Livingston, about 2.5 hours west of you. Love the idea of an East TN meet up. Bring yourself, Jonah and David to Livingston and we'll have a big time.

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      Michael Reneau vertical-nib Author

      Thanks very much, Tim!

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