Michael S. Schneider’s wonderful work A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe, which I recommended in Beauty for Truth’s Sake, is linked to a lot of classroom teaching that Michael has done over the years. This has now been captured in his superb DVD called Constructing the Universe, which could be an important resource for teachers and parents [...]
The Devil’s first sin was not the temptation of Eve, but preceded the creation of the Garden. He “tried to destroy by violence before he succeeded in ruining by fraud.” You might like to compare Tolkien’s “Ainulindale” (the Elvish account of the creation of the world through music, in The Silmarillion), with the following meditation on the Exercises [...]
G.K. Chesterton And at this I cursed them and kicked at them and made an exhibition of myself; having made myself the champion of the Lion’s Tooth, with a dandelion rampant on my crest. Gilbert Keith Chesterton (d. 1936), who wrote these words, was an English “man of letters” – a novelist, journalist, [...]
Around the turn of the century, England lost its only Catholic college dedicated to the exploration of social thought, economics, and politics (Plater College in Oxford). It seems remarkable not only that it was allowed to close, but that it had been the only institution of its kind. In the U.S., fortunately, there are several [...]
Some years ago I wrote a book about Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings. It was called Secret Fire by the publisher DLT, and The Power of the Ring in the USA (Crossroad didn’t like the UK title). This year, with financial troubles at DLT, it went out of print (in both versions) and I was asked by Crossroad [...]
Stars in the Water, by Rosie Caldecott Traditionally, truth, goodness and beauty are properties of all being, of everything that exists, in one degree or another. Truth is being as known– the correspondence and coherence of the idea and the reality. Goodness is being as willed–acting in accordance with the fullness of that [...]
J.R.R. Tolkien composed a whole “Elvish Book of Genesis,” describing the creation of the world by the One God (Illuvatar). In that mythological account—which he believed to be compatible with the creation story in Genesis—God first proposes the world as a musical theme. “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will.” [...]
Political correctness identifies a syndrome we all recognize, but is hard to define. It can be best described as a set of attitudes rather than an ideology, since viewed philosophically it is completely incoherent. It can perhaps be traced back to the French Revolution, in the aftermath of which various slogans became fashionable—mostly involving “Liberty” [...]
Our society, indeed what remains of Western civilization, seems to many people to be falling apart. The economic crisis, the moral crisis, the ecological crisis, and the political crisis combine to create a “perfect storm”. But they all stem from one fundamental error. As a society, we have abandoned a sense of cosmic and moral [...]
Charles claims he does not want to return to the past, but simply to learn from it. He thinks we should “accept that there are such things as timeless principles, operate on a human scale, look firmly to the long-term, respect local conditions and traditions, and be profoundly sceptical of people who suggest that everything [...]
Frost Fractal The world as a whole is complex, but it is also a unity. It is “simplex”, founded on simple principles. Poets, painters, scientists and mathematicians are all searching for simplexity in their own way. Aesthetic pleasure is very largely the delight we feel in seeing order, meaning and relationship—the beauty that [...]
Striking poses in a church is not Superman’s usual schtick, but here he is in his own comic (4 June 2004) startling a priest by turning up for…a sort of confession. He is still wearing the classic costume, which was later redesigned for the “New 52” and the spectacular MAN OF STEEL, recently released. But [...]
Coventry Patmore Coventry Patmore (1823-1896) was a distinguished English Victorian poet and essayist, well known in his time, who fell into undeserved obscurity during the twentieth century. He published his first small volume of Poems under the influence of Alfred Lord Tennyson in 1844. After receiving a cruel review he tried to destroy the edition, [...]
The Radiance of Being: Dimensions of Cosmic Christianity (Angelico Press, 2013) Probably the majority in the environmental movement do not see the relevance of mysticism, or personal virtue and morality, to the great issues of our day. To them it is merely a technological or political challenge. They will try to get their hands on the [...]