John Ehrett (@johnehrett) / X

John Ehrett

5,150 posts

John Ehrett

@johnehrett

"Evil Ben Wyatt." Words @AmericanAffrs, @tnajournal, @firstthingsmag, @mereorthodoxy. Alum @YaleLawSch, @lutherantheolog, @patrickhenrycol. LCMS. Opinions mine.

Washington, D.C.

jsehrett.substack.com

Joined June 2010

Pinned
John Ehrett
@johnehrett
Oct 2, 2025
OUT NOW: my new book, "Martin Luther's Theology of Antitrust." What exactly did the great Reformer think about the problem of monopolistic behavior—and why is it a sin? Who should discipline that sin? And why does this still matter today? You'll find out 👇
John Ehrett
@johnehrett
May 29, 2024
The wildest thing about “The Last Battle” is that CS Lewis saves the most evil villain *by far* for last. Spoiler: it’s not Tash. It’s Shift, the ape and false prophet, who creates the syncretic cult of “Tashlan” and kicks off a genocide and ethnic cleansing.
John Ehrett
@johnehrett
Jul 8, 2023
Rewatched “Temple of Doom” recently, and there’s this wonderful, iconic shot at the start of the third act where Indy steps up to confront the Thuggee cult and save the enslaved kids. And it got me thinking: I miss movie protagonists being straight-up *heroic* like this. (1/x)
John Ehrett
@johnehrett
May 17, 2024
Been revisiting The Magician’s Nephew as I plan to read these aloud to my boys. And it reminds me of how growing up, my brother and I would speculate endlessly about the mysterious “Deplorable Word.” But here’s the thing: there’s an answer.
John Ehrett
@johnehrett
May 6, 2022
Atrocious decision. Went to a nearly unknown undergrad and studied with hand-me-down study materials and a $30 Logic Games Bible on the bus on the way to internship. Scoring well on the LSAT was life-changing. All this does is reward the kids who can pay for essay consultants.
Spivey Consulting
@SpiveyConsult
May 5, 2022
BREAKING: the ABA is officially recommending the elimination of the standardized test requirement for admission to law school americanbar.org/content/dam/ab…
John Ehrett
@johnehrett
Jan 26, 2022
The Breyer retirement letter has been in the White House for six months in a case marked “break glass if poll numbers hit 40%”
John Ehrett
@johnehrett
May 17, 2024
Replying to @johnehrett
Of course this is demonic; it is a direct rival to Aslan, the King. But it is demonic in a very specifically political way.
John Ehrett
@johnehrett
May 17, 2024
Replying to @johnehrett
Lewis sets up the Deplorable Word, the speech-act that destroys the world, as if it’s a hideous magical incantation. But that’s the illusion. The Deplorable Word isn’t a spell at all. It’s the answer to a question: “should we drop the bombs?” The Deplorable Word is “yes.”
John Ehrett
@johnehrett
May 17, 2024
Replying to @johnehrett
This is underscored by the fact that Jadis immediately starts going off about “reasons of state” justifying the massacre of thousands. Her being a “sorceress” is incidental to who she is. She is an allegory of the violence of the state that sees itself unbound by morality.
John Ehrett
@johnehrett
May 17, 2024
Replying to @johnehrett
The Charn scenes aren’t just any old apocalypse. They are, very specifically, a vision of *atomic holocaust.* The city is ruined and its inhabitants are frozen in place. The whole world is cold and lifeless (nuclear winter).
John Ehrett
@johnehrett
May 17, 2024
Replying to @johnehrett
Lewis wrote this book in 1955. This was the heyday of the Atomic Age and the U.S./Soviet nuclear testing program. This referencing isn’t subtext; it’s straight-up text.
John Ehrett
@johnehrett
May 29, 2024
Replying to @johnehrett
In the reread of Last Battle, I am struck over and over by just how insanely bleak this book is. It’s horrifying. Infinitely darker than anything in Harry Potter. It hinges on the destruction of the theological understanding of Narnia (“Aslan has returned, and He is evil now”).
John Ehrett
@johnehrett
Jul 5, 2023
Reading my son a Star Wars storybook and I point to the Death Star. “What’s that?” Son: “Moon!” *closing my eyes as the force flows through me. Deep breath. I’ve waited my entire life for this moment* “That’s no moon.”
John Ehrett
@johnehrett
Jun 4, 2025
Honestly, one of the wildest things about Disney’s “Hercules” is that it totally guts the original myth and replaces it with an overtly Christian arc: Hercules only ascends after literally surrendering to Death (the Styx) in order to self-sacrifically rescue the guilty (Meg).