Plato’s contributions are indispensable, pointing us to a world beyond what we immediately sense and teaching us of our dignity and worth. But what parts of Plato are good for us, and what parts are not? Where does Plato end and Christianity begin? Those are the questions which thoughtful believers need to ponder. It has [...]
By my reckoning, Frank Martin and Arthur Honegger were among the greats of 20th-century classical music. Fusing tradition with the new, they created works rich in humanity that leave a deep impression on the listener. Instead of throwing tonality out the window, they enriched it with fascinating new sounds, and they never forgot music’s human [...]
Jesus did not preach an escape from earth to an immaterial Heaven. Rather, he preached the coming of God’s kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven,” a redemption of God’s good creation. We hope in the completion of God’s grand rescue project, which is taking shape as we speak and which will reach fulfillment [...]
In a normal world, Peteris Vasks would be the most famous composer alive. He writes music for an apocalyptic age, in which culture is coming full circle, providing exactly what the world needs: spirituality, depth, presence, beauty. “I want to nourish the soul, that is what I preach in my works.” —Pēteris Vasks Pēteris [...]
I am frequently surprised when Christians speak as if civilization and life on this earth is going to continue in perpetuity. Are we not living and striving for another and better life—one conditioned, it’s true, by what we do here in this earthly city? My basic outlook on life could be characterized thus: pessimistic about [...]
It was claimed that the past would cease to matter amid the restless rush of progress. This has not happened. Instead, the wonders of technology and research have made the past more prominent than ever before. In light of all this, I want to ask a simple question: Is this recapitulation, this summing up of [...]
Though Handel continues to loom large in the world of classical music, he is valued for a small portion of his tremendous body of work—mainly "Messiah" and a handful of other pieces. But I continue to find fresh gems from this composer who, for all his fame, is not really all that well known. I [...]
The idea of kingship, which the ancient cultures understood, is necessary for us to own as well. It is a necessary part of the Christian imagination, not to be cast aside simply because literal kings form little or no part of our experience. Eschatological questions have been on my mind lately, as it seems to [...]
Turning the popular negative connotation of “orthodoxy” on its head, G.K. Chesterton argues that orthodoxy is anything but dull and musty, but on the contrary exciting and adventuresome. In 1952, C.S. Lewis did a great service to the world in producing Mere Christianity, his account of the fundamentals of Christian belief for a popular audience. It [...]
The Mosaic Church (2025) is an engaging new documentary film about an extraordinary archeological discovery of recent times. In 2004, excavators renovating a prison near the ancient city of Megiddo in northern Israel came across a mosaic floor that, as soon became apparent, originally covered the floor of a Christian worship hall in Roman times. [...]
The history of the oratorio proper begins in St. Philip Neri’s oratory chapel, where the story of salvation was brought to life with the best of human art, causing audiences fall in love with their faith through the power of beauty. When I was in the eighth grade and the time came to choose my [...]
The idea that eternity will be a culture and a civilization, not a disembodied never-never land, is perhaps the most powerful takeaway from Fr. William J. Slattery's "Enchanted by Eternity," and I assume it will be news to many people. It opens up a vast field of wonder and possibility. Enchanted by Eternity: Recapturing the [...]
After all this time, can we say that we have truly come to terms with, truly absorbed the message of Easter and the full reality of the resurrection? Have we allowed them to transform our outlook on life? “Can there really only ever be what there has always been? Can there not be something unexpected, [...]
Later generations of Catholic Church leaders continually held up Palestrina’s music as the model for what sacred music should be. Whenever church music seemed in a rickety state—as in the semi-operatic effusions of the Victorian era, or the folky derivatives of the late 20th century—Palestrina was always there as a lighthouse to guide us back [...]