Having read several of Eva Brann’s books, I can say without exaggeration that she is among the most impressive contemporary scholarly readings. Among the qualities that make her so astute is that she is extraordinary at two things: she is a practiced close reader, and she has a range of knowledge that is generally limited [...]
The Invention of Lefse: A Christmas Story, by Larry Woiwode, Crossway, 2011. So it is that time of year when the “seasonal” reader is bombarded with lots of maudlin Christmas tales with the main objective of giving that warm, sappy feeling. It is always refreshing when a rare story comes along that gives a window [...]
She simply asked, “so have you ever read Bradbury’s The Gift”? Honestly, I had not and worse, I had never even heard if it. It was not long after that question before I made it my goal to find and read this story. This was a few years ago and since that time I have [...]
Like many other lovers of the Great Books and the Great Tradition, I yield to the truth that Homer’s epics are the magnificent profane fountain that gave birth to our imagination. Having tasted deeply from the sacred fountains that brought forth living waters, I am mostly in agreement with Glenn Arbery’s assertion that “Of all [...]
Among the many readings that Fr. James V. Schall recommends, he places special emphasis on the value of reading Cicero’s “On Old Age.” Schall suggests that this should be read “preferably before old age.” Starting this year, I am having my Great Books Honors students read this work and discuss it. We have already had [...]
It is a wondrous turn of events how a conversation, a new book on Heraclitus (The Logos of Heraclitus) by the magnificent Great Books scholar, Eva Brann, finding Fragments: The Collected Wisdom of Heraclitus, and my particular sitz im laben moved me to reread and rethink an important pre-Socratic philosopher. To begin, I find the [...]
Beauty for Truth’s Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education, by Stratford Caldecott, Brazos Press, 2009. Among the many fine resources available for Classical Christian Schools, here is another truly helpful book. This work does what few others in recent years have attempted to do, and that is address a possible theoretical and practical connection between [...]
Socrates Despite decades of “critical thinking,” the anecdotal and statistical evidence is that Americans in general, and Christians in particular, have an aversion for thinking. In a recent article, the evidence is that many, if not most students, simply do not want to think. In truth, the students are merely mirroring the broader [...]
My close colleague recently wrote a marvelous blog in response to an important article on The Death of the Classics. While I generally agree with the content of the article, and I completely affirm what my colleague says, I would like to bring in a different historical perspective. Shortly after the Roman empire collapsed, it [...]
When an intellectual likes of Russell Kirk calls for a rethinking of a great Christian Humanist such as Pico Della Mirandola, we should at least pause and reflect. I can remember as a college student being told about this “liberal” who took Renaissance humanism down the wrong path. I even remember reading Marion Montgomery’s The Truth of [...]
While there have not been many books of recent decades that stand as a solid articulation of Christian Humanism that are worth reading. The Case for Christian Humanism is one that is twenty years old this year and is still of great value. Most books about Christian Humanism tend toward the humanistic and not the Christian. Franklin and Shaw have [...]
If you surveyed one hundred “educators” to define education, after the initial shock, and painfully long pause of silence you would probably be given the most recent acceptable version of educationese. Some would offer a definition by way of describing outcomes, assessments, goals, objectives, torrential techniques, maddening methodologies, and pet pedagogies but, that is not [...]
Yes, it is cultures in the title, and I am proposing that a true Liberal Arts education can help us save our cultures. By cultures I am referring to the most impressive and insightful book by John W. O'Malley, The Four Cultures of the West. Couple that book with a most extraordinary article by David [...]