Nearly ten years ago, we launched Conciliar Post in a very different world than the one we inhabit now.

There was no Covid. Vine was the trendy short-form video platform. Taylor Swift had not yet ventured into pop music. Joe Biden was serving as Vice President. Donald Trump wasn’t even a politician. Obergefell was a year away. Bill Gates topped the world billionaires list. Roe v. Wade was the law of the land. X was still called Twitter (alright, that is still true). Substack did not even exist yet, so people blogged.

In many ways, it was a different world.

But in some ways, 2014 looked a lot like 2024.

People argued on the internet. The political process seemed unfixable. NFL officiating was broken. Trust in institutions crumbled. Conversations about faith, race, sex, politics, culture, and relationships were contentious and frustrating. To paraphrase the words of Stephen Covey, most people did not listen with the intent to understand other perspectives, but with the intent to reply and be proven right.

Into that context, we launched Conciliar Post as a place to promote dialogue that informed, encouraged, and challenged Christians from across traditions. In a world of fundamentalisms that possess all the answers and a postmodernism that decries true answers, we aimed to seriously, thoughtfully, critically, and faithfully reflect upon life, faith, and our world.

It was a noble pursuit. And despite the sometimes-crushing weight of our world, I believe this remains a worthy work.

Our world still needs accessible dialogue. Paywalls and subscriptions are the name of the game today. And while we affirm content creators’ rights to monetize and make money from their work, we remain committed to a different approach at Conciliar Post.

Our world also desperately needs charitable dialogue, perhaps now more than ever. Our technology and social media-saturated echo chambers are still a problem. The politicization and rhetoricalization of faith remain corrosive. There is much we can learn from one another, both about how to have complex conversations and how to do so in a spirit of love and understanding for our interlocutors.

And our world still needs robustly Christian dialogue. Even as the Church moves into its third millennium and the distinctives of denominational Christianity shift, theological particulars remain, and the Church continues to possess her prophetic voice for a world in need of rescue by the coming King.

For these reasons, I am excited to officially revive Conciliar Post. We will be having different conversations because our changing world demands it. Our contributions will come from different experiences and contexts than before. But we remain committed to dialogue across Christian traditions that is accessible, charitable, and distinctly Christian. We invite you to join us.

Image courtesy of The National Gallery of Art.