After all the talk about the Crisis in Christianity is over, this is the root of the crisis: that the worship of the Almighty—the one who is the source of Beauty, Truth and Goodness—has been reduced to banality, subjective opinions, and a compromised morality. In a recent essay here, I remarked on Eastern Orthodox theologian [...]
When the headlines scream that a politician or church leader is being “divisive,” and the thought police, educators, and culture warriors demand “inclusivity,” it should cause a pause for thought. What exactly is “inclusivity” and what causes division? Inclusivity is the desire and demand for a unity (and therefore peace) in a nation or population. [...]
Anthony Esolen counters the antichrist by giving us a profound and moving meditation on the true Christ. If you were swamped with all the frippery and foolishness of a commercialized Christmas, take up Professor Esolen’s book and plunge into the depths of the mystery of the incarnation of Christ the Lord. It was apt that [...]
If you want to understand 98% of the unhappiness in the world — whether it is on the stage of international politics or the stage of your kitchen or bedroom, or wherever your arguments happen—consider the roots of resentment. By resentment I mean something quite dark within the human heart. This heart of darkness is [...]
As a believer I would therefore like to offer the atheist a modest analogy. It is music. Think of God as Music with a capital “M” and religion as music with a lower-case “m.” Religion is not too difficult to understand, but like music, it is difficult to do well. I sympathize with contemporary atheists. [...]
In his new book, Michael Warren Davis rescues the reactionaries. With a jaunty air and the panache of all the ridiculous warriors from Cyrano de Bergerac to Don Quixote, he stands up for all that is alternative, counter-cultural, strange, spare, and delightfully luddite. I thought I was a fogey, but Michael Warren Davis, in his [...]
Conservatives must preserve and pass on the riches of the past, but we must also be aware of and open to the opportunities of the present, so that the proper fusion of old and new will inspire and enable truly great art. From time to time I publish on Twitter my view of the social [...]
Indifferentism in religion only serves to weaken all religion, for when the dogma and the distinctive devotions go, all we are left with is a kind of vanilla-pudding spirituality. In his recent book The Return of the Strong Gods, Rusty Reno catalogues the concerted effort, after the Second World War, of philosophers, political thinkers, economists, and theologians [...]
In the realm of Catholic fiction, there is a great divide between popular fiction and that which attempts to be timeless literature. The former is good entertainment that takes place in a Catholic universe and incarnates Catholic themes; the second is at times overly didactic and even clumsily allegorical. The great literature successfully melds the [...]
The next utopia will simply be a new way of life—a “new world order” if you like. It will guarantee the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people through progress and pragmatic solutions. Moral considerations will not apply. While living in the UK, I observed a curious difference between the New World and the [...]
In the character of Gollum, J.R.R. Tolkien perfectly portrays a being distorted by depraved desire and dominated by a magnificently evil obsession. However, as I was re-reading the "The Lord of the Rings," I began to wonder about the origins of this pathetic creature. For summertime reading I have returned to an old favorite: the [...]
"Man is autonomous, and each person is able to determine his own selfhood and destiny. This is a given," said Dr. Agrippa. "The first step is to invite the patient to assert his own volition and ego dominance. Once he has repudiated any other power or force, he is ready for the ritual we call [...]
Enlightenment individualism prepared the foundation for self-expression, which has culminated in the identification of oneself with one’s sexual urges. Not only can the modern individual define who he is, but, in so doing, can also contribute to the re-definition of what humanity itself is. In checking the news it is reported that a man who [...]
René Girard was a polymath—not only writing on literature, but bringing his theory to bear on anthropology, philosophy, sociology, psychology, and theology. While I greatly admire his work, I would presume to pick a bone with his thought on sacrificial systems in religion. René Girard I was first introduced to the French thinker [...]