Bradley J. Birzer’s definitive biography is clearly a victory for old-school conservatism and the imagination. Old friends of Kirk and new ones alike will benefit from this work, and hopefully, even optimistically, will do so for generations to come. A few years ago I had the honor and pleasure of visiting Piety Hill, the familial home [...]
Strong memories—of good times, of challenges met, of shaping experiences commonly shared—are the critical foundation of a good and meaningful life, particularly if you are young. Cherished memories of days passed can spur us on, can exhort us, and can motivate us when our own days seem dark and unendurable. On my desk sits a [...]
What enabled men like Athanasius, Augustine, and Aquinas to discover their “why” in ages past can still transform young men and women today. Over the years, I have discovered that nearly every time I come across an especially pithy, insightful, beautifully-expressed quotation, it seems to be attributable either to Winston Churchill or Mark Twain. Recently, [...]
Progressive Education is about training up boys and girls who know how to follow. The classical education model is more concerned about helping students become capable decision-makers in their community and in their families. Search the web and you will find any number of lofty “purposes of education:” Education enables us to develop to the [...]
The “moral imagination” goes beyond our personal, individual experiences to help us fathom the depths of human dignity in light of God’s creation. In November 2013, my students and I had the honor of a visit from Annette Kirk, widow of Russell Kirk. Mrs. Kirk led us in a discussion of her husband’s classic essay “The Moral [...]
In her roles as mother, teacher, and poet, Anne Bradstreet emerged as a chief voice of a remarkable generation that exercised lasting influence over the American colonies and later over the American Republic. In June 1630, an eighteen-year-old woman aboard a ship called the Arbella listened with her shipmates to a series of sermons by [...]