Mark Melton was the managing editor for Providence from 2020 to 2022 and was the journal’s inaugural deputy editor from 2015 to 2020. He earned his master’s degree in international relations from the University of St. Andrews, and his bachelor’s degree in foreign language and international trade comes from Mississippi College. Prior to moving to DC, he worked as a political science adjunct professor at community colleges in Mississippi and taught English in France.
From 1945 to 1947 as the United States and Soviet Union moved toward the Cold War, Christian realists writing for Reinhold Niebuhr’s journal, Christianity and Crisis, responded to global dilemmas. Here are five impressions of those articles, along with lessons for today.
Mark MeltonJune 10, 2022
The BBC should bring back the skepticism of pacifism that Doctor Who used to have.
Mark MeltonMay 23, 2022
George Marshall’s attempt to create peace between the Chinese nationalists and communists failed. Christian realists in 1947 considered why.
Christianity & Crisis Magazine & Mark MeltonMay 6, 2022
During an address to the US Congress on March 12, 1947, President Harry Truman called for military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece to counter communist threats. This began the Truman Doctrine, and Christian realists responded a month later.
Christianity & Crisis Magazine & John C. Bennett & Mark MeltonApril 21, 2022
In “Hope in Times of Fear: The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter,” Timothy Keller reflects on how and why the secular hope of progress has failed, and he instead offers the Christian reason for hope.
Mark MeltonApril 15, 2022
Once again, public opinion polls have disappointed isolationists and others who want the United States to have a minimalist foreign policy. Almost overnight, a large swath of America now wants to counter Russia, and elected officials who want to keep their jobs have responded.
Mark MeltonMarch 16, 2022
We are told that a policy of firmness must inevitably lead to war, while conciliation could guarantee peace. In the Nazi days this was called appeasement.
Christianity & Crisis Magazine & Reinhold Niebuhr & Mark MeltonMarch 1, 2022
The US should continue to use public diplomacy so that the world does not get distracted and knows that Russia is the aggressor. But Washington must also be prepared with sanctions and other tools in case these efforts fail.
Mark MeltonJanuary 31, 2022
This remembrance helps develop a confident, enduring Christian hope that is more than wishful thinking and leads to real-world action.
Mark MeltonDecember 23, 2021
We are in a battle with despair these days. One cannot but regret interpretations which weigh the struggle on the side of defeat, especially when one’s own judgment is that such interpretations leave out great areas of fact which give one the right to cherish hope.
Christianity & Crisis Magazine & Mark MeltonNovember 29, 2021
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