Quodlibet
"Change Is Good"
I first heard this asinine preachment from the sort of person one would expect it from: a progressive member of the managerial class—just where C. S. Lewis put it in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader: "Have you no idea [said Gumpas in defense of the slave trade] of progress, of development?" "I have seen them both in an egg," said Caspian. "We call it 'Going Bad' in Narnia."
Scott Adams also gets it right in his Dilbert cartoons: managers typically justify their existence by making ill-considered changes that needlessly burden their employees. The Peter Principle operates somewhat nebulously but is nevertheless real. Supine adoption of the Change Doctrine is perhaps the least mistakable sign of its presence in many spheres of activity, including the churches. It is cause for rejoicing when one does not labor under its practitioners.
S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.
A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door
- Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
- Contributors from across the Christian traditions
Six print issues (one year) of Touchstone, plus full online access and PDF downloads for only $39.95.
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on culture from the online archives
29.3—May/June 2016
Our Choice Is Obedience or Jesus as Anti-Christ by Anthony Esolen
32.2—March/April 2019
Reality Shows, Even in a Popular TV Series by C. E. Smith
more from the online archives
25.4—July/August 2012
The Corrosive & Far-Reaching Fallout of the Sexual Revolution by Anthony Esolen
25.6—Nov/Dec 2012
The Loss of Aristotelian Logic & the Social, Moral & Sexual Consequences by Peter Kreeft
20.7—September 2007
Paul Didn’t Build Bridges to Popular Culture by Russell D. Moore
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
