About R. J. Snell

R.J. Snell is Visiting Lecturer at Princeton University and directs the Center on the University and Intellectual Life for the Witherspoon Institute. Prior to that appointment, he was Professor of Philosophy at Eastern University and the Templeton Honors College. Dr. Snell is the author of Acedia and Its Discontents: Metaphysical Boredom in an Empire of Desire, The Perspective of Love: Natural Law in a New Mode, and Authentic Cosmopolitanism: Love, Sin, and Grace in the Christian University.

In Pursuit of Truth and Beauty: The Fullness of Cultural Renewal

By |2021-05-27T16:20:39-05:00June 7th, 2017|Categories: Beauty, Culture, Philosophy, Plato, Rhetoric, Russell Kirk|

Cultural decadence is all around us, and there is a siren call to submission. But such submission is not worthy of a free people, and we must respond with wonder and beauty, truth and goodness, philosophy and rhetoric. For those of us convinced that ours is a moment of profound decadence, it quite naturally occurs [...]

Is Our Culture Worthy of Despair?

By |2015-10-11T11:40:14-05:00September 13th, 2015|Categories: Christianity, Culture, Faith, Featured, Hope|

In the last months, particularly after the Supreme Court decision on homosexual marriage in late June, I’ve noticed a pronounced malaise in many of my friends and family. For some, this looks awfully close to despair, for others a scornful anger, with a kind of dazed escapism, haunting yet others hoping they are in a [...]

Ambition and the Noble Soul

By |2019-10-30T14:15:44-05:00December 14th, 2014|Categories: Education, Liberal Arts, Liberal Learning|Tags: |

In a recent essay, Mark Shiffman notes that in the fiercely competitive but nonetheless gloomy context in which university students find themselves, many opt to “major in fear.” Fear that they will not find work or pay off student loans. Fear of lost opportunities or moving home with mom and dad. Consequently, Mr. Shiffman states, [...]

Thinking in Slogans Means Thinking in Bullets

By |2019-03-20T16:43:12-05:00September 14th, 2013|Categories: American Republic, Culture, Russell Kirk|Tags: |

While some books deserve their obscurity, others are unjustly forgotten; Russell Kirk’s early text, The American Cause, should be remembered. Not as developed and mature as his later work, still this little book reminds us of human nature and its limitations, thereby warning us against ideology and its violent tendencies. For Kirk, prudent acceptance of limitation—what he [...]

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