Comment Magazine

Comment Magazine Public theology for the common good. It’s our families and financial systems, politics and education, museums and labour unions, and much more.

Comment is one of the core publications of Cardus, a think tank devoted to renewing North American social architecture, rooted in 2000 years of Christian social thought. In our print and online essays and reviews we zoom in on the multiple components that make up this “social architecture”: the institutions that serve as the scaffolding and skeleton of social life. We’ve been doing this since 1983

. Thanks to our donors and patrons over the decades, Comment has spoken public theology from the time of the Cold War to today.

“My colleagues and I have discovered four criteria—two internal and two external—that seem to mark the difference betwee...
12/26/2025

“My colleagues and I have discovered four criteria—two internal and two external—that seem to mark the difference between thriving and failure.”

Brandon Vaidyanathan explores why institutions flourish or fail.

Sociologist Brandon Vaidyanathan explores why institutions today rise or decay, outlining four virtues—stewardship, coherence, generativity, and beneficence—that enable them to sustain trust, form virtue, and serve the common good.

“The wisdom preserved by tradition presents us with templates that can be useful in understanding how contemporary insti...
12/26/2025

“The wisdom preserved by tradition presents us with templates that can be useful in understanding how contemporary institutions are working for or against God’s will in the present day.”

Cassandra Nelson on hierarchy’s place in the story of salvation.

Hierarchy is good, but it can go bad.

“Perhaps it’s not so much that love must be expressed as the gift of pain as that it demands to be given somehow, and so...
12/25/2025

“Perhaps it’s not so much that love must be expressed as the gift of pain as that it demands to be given somehow, and sometimes pain is all one has to give.”

The experience of bearing two children at Christmastime gives rise to a reflection on the pain, the beauty, and the gift of natality and motherhood.

On a new episode of Conversing, Matthew J. Milliner reflects on Mary as presence, witness, and theological key to unders...
12/25/2025

On a new episode of Conversing, Matthew J. Milliner reflects on Mary as presence, witness, and theological key to understanding God’s entry into human life.

What if taking Mary seriously actually deepens, rather than distracts from, devotion to Jesus? Art historian and theologian Matthew Milliner joins Mark Labberton to explore that possibility through history, theology, and the Incarnation. In a searching conversation about Mary, the meaning of Marian....

“Advent isn’t a season in which we force ourselves to be quiet and sad; it’s the season in which the long, cradled quiet...
12/25/2025

“Advent isn’t a season in which we force ourselves to be quiet and sad; it’s the season in which the long, cradled quiet reveals how hungry and grieved we are.”

The quiet of Advent is not a quiet of the ears but a deeper attitude of expectation and hope to receive the Person to whom all our desires point.

“Christmas is a strange time to be reminded that we, and indeed most of humanity, often ignore what Christ offers.”
12/25/2025

“Christmas is a strange time to be reminded that we, and indeed most of humanity, often ignore what Christ offers.”

The children's book A Northern Nativity by Canadian artist William Kurelek offers a melancholy but instructive and enriching journey through Christmas.

“G.K. Chesterton said that the poets have been strangely silent on the subject of cheese; and theologians, it seems to m...
12/24/2025

“G.K. Chesterton said that the poets have been strangely silent on the subject of cheese; and theologians, it seems to me, have been strangely silent on the subject of coral.”

A meditation addressed to God on the mystical properties of coral.

“Institutions are the structures that teach people how to bring moral ambition into contact with the world in a way that...
12/24/2025

“Institutions are the structures that teach people how to bring moral ambition into contact with the world in a way that is productive, sustainable, resilient, and ultimately fulfilling.”

Zoomers want institutions to be everything they believe in right now, but perhaps the slow, imperfect work of institutions is just what they need.

“Here lies a word of wisdom: invest unstintingly in social institutions, but know that your value transcends them. This ...
12/24/2025

“Here lies a word of wisdom: invest unstintingly in social institutions, but know that your value transcends them. This can enable you to ride the stormy waves of institutional change with inner calm.”

In an era of mistrust, Jennifer Herdt revisits abolitionist James Pennington’s life to show how faithful resistance within flawed institutions can still change the world.

“Zoomers appear to be deeply conflicted: they feel a strong pull toward institutions, but also a strong repulsion at any...
12/22/2025

“Zoomers appear to be deeply conflicted: they feel a strong pull toward institutions, but also a strong repulsion at anything that doesn’t feel appropriately ethical, pure, communal, or powerful.”

Zoomers want institutions to be everything they believe in right now, but perhaps the slow, imperfect work of institutions is just what they need.

“Pennington drew on deep reservoirs of personal resilience and self-reliance. He worked within institutions but did not ...
12/18/2025

“Pennington drew on deep reservoirs of personal resilience and self-reliance. He worked within institutions but did not derive his worth from them.”

Jennifer Herdt on James Pennington’s life with institutions.

In an era of mistrust, Jennifer Herdt revisits abolitionist James Pennington’s life to show how faithful resistance within flawed institutions can still change the world.

“Why is it that young people crave the specific ballast that institutions offer but seem almost incapable of walking int...
12/18/2025

“Why is it that young people crave the specific ballast that institutions offer but seem almost incapable of walking into them and accepting the humble, sensible realities they embody?”

April Lawson on institutionalizing Gen Z.

Zoomers want institutions to be everything they believe in right now, but perhaps the slow, imperfect work of institutions is just what they need.

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