It is not common that a person would recommend a philosopher to help you stay sane, but with the writings of Josef Pieper, if you have ever read even one of his books, you are likely to agree with me. Also, the range of his wisdom is most impressive. Some of the titles I have [...]
During my years of teaching, I have frequently admonished students with this deeply held conviction. If you can find a cultural critic or essayist that you enjoy, and he or she also happens to write fiction—read it. While Russell Kirk (1918-94) is best known as one of the founding fathers of post-World War II conservatism, [...]
In the annals of writing history, there are a handful of volumes that have become established as models due to tone, insightful content, and excellence of style. The most recent historical work by Jacques Barzun is such a work. It is a cultural history of the highest standard. As a historical volume of such scope, [...]
For Russell Kirk, the "ghost tale" may better communicate certain truths when compared to science fiction. His was no Enlightenment mind, Kirk now became aware; it was a Gothic mind, medieval in its temper and structure. —Russell Kirk, The Sword of Imagination As J.R.R. Tolkien assisted many with his most informative essay, On Fairy Stories, [...]
The philosophical roots of the liberal arts can free students from a life of slavery spent spelunking in the cave of ignorance, trivialities, and the merely menial… Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords our readers the opportunity to join Robert M. Woods as he examines the purpose and benefits of studying the humanities [...]
This past year I read or re-read the following that reminded me of the permanent things that inform the good, true, and beautiful: Daniel Taylor's Death Comes for The Deconstructionist: A unique murder mystery that also offers a novel (pun intended) critique of ideologically-driven theories. Josef Pieper's Abuse of Language—Abuse of Power: After national debates or recent [...]
He was among the brightest students I have taught. We had just finished talking about how and why Freudian or Marxists interpretations of reality are suffocating in their reductionistic interpretations. The conversation moved to the writings of Christopher Dawson that are happily being reprinted by Catholic University Press of America. As our discussion meandered, he [...]
In literary terms, Gothic typically refers to that frame of mind and soul that embraces the strange, the mysterious, and the irrational—specifically, terror. Gothic novels are often set in the dark and in the wild. This is what one encounters in Andrew Klavan’s most recent novel. As I consider this novel written for a popular [...]
Let’s begin with the film’s single greatest obstacle: the culture Philip Rieff described as “the death culture” is not likely to assemble en masse to pay for viewing a morality tale. A central message in this film is that we have become “shadows.” Indeed, those immersed in our death culture do not likely have ears [...]
Sounding like a modern, the Greek writer Callimachus once penned an epigram where he quipped, “a large book is a great misfortune.” Does not the legitimacy of such an assertion depend on the author and the reader? Novelist Michael O’Brien gives all lovers of fine novels another marvelously large book. As one who enjoys good [...]
I have never concealed the truth that I am a Trekkie. Additionally, I have never hidden my conviction that I am a traditionalist and a conservative in the way defined by Russell Kirk. While there are thematic and ideological elements worthy of criticism in the Star Trek worldview, there is much that can be redeemed. [...]
Mortimer Adler For years, I would begin my Introduction to Humanities course by trying to clear up some muddled ideas about the term humanities. Of course, most of my students did not get the weightiness of the lecture. For them, Introduction to Humanities was merely a course in the core that was an [...]
And if we should know what government is, we should observe, in Thucydides' laconic account of the revolution at Corcyra, what happens when it fails.– Stringfellow Barr Most keen observers would say that our government has been in failure mode for a number of decades, and this is not easily refuted on empirical grounds. Readers of [...]
The incarnation calls us to the things of this world. So when we consider the following quotes about the liberal arts we must begin and end there: What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?– Tertullian “What has Ingeld to do with Christ”?– Alcuin (when catching some monks reading Beowulf) What has Horace to do with the Psalter? [...]