There was a missing element in the Secretary of State’s speech. Something essential was missing, something that needed to be highlighted if these calls to heroism and excellence were to be heeded. This same lacuna is found in much of the nationalist literature that seeks to revitalize Western values. On October 7, Secretary of State [...]
Whatever hells have been loosed upon the world, here in America and abroad, never forget that our ancestors, even pagan ones, called us to love and cherish that which is best. Every autumn, I have the grand privilege of teaching Socrates (the Apology, the Crito), Plato (Book VIII of the Republic, the Timaeus), and Aristotle [...]
The demise of imitation has been devastating for personal growth. It used to be a commonplace that successful people need to have extraordinary “heroes” whom they admire and try to emulate. But the historical disciplines in the twentieth century waged something of a war against the very idea of the hero. Imitation, like so many [...]
When Christianity left its Hebrew homeland and entered the Greco-Roman world, it fell under the influence of that world’s philosophical climate. The Greek cultural heritage is one of intellectual curiosity, and for that all of humanity (including the Church) should be grateful. Christianity began in Israel and radiated outward to the rest of the Mediterranean [...]
J.R.R. Tolkien wrote that he "ever loved that noble northern spirit," rooted in the myths and culture of Scandinavia, Germany and England, "and tried to present in its true light.” Indeed, he raised the noble north to the level of Athens and Rome, creating, in "The Lord of the Rings," an epic that stands alongside [...]
The Church owes a profound debt to Eusebius of Caesarea, for without him much of early Christian history and lore would have passed into oblivion, and we would be ignorant of a good deal of our early past. Most believers are probably unaware that the question of Jesus Christ’s divinity was once put up for [...]
In this materialistic age, time has become a commodity that can be bought and sold. This is evidenced by the place that the monetization of time holds in common parlance: “spend your time well,” “I have some free time,” “time is money,” etc. It is tragic to see time itself be corroded by the greed [...]
In the modern world, love is often ignored or perverted into lust. When we talk of governance, when we talk of relationships, when we talk of societal structures, we never mention love. What happened? How could the modern West be so very different from the ancient and medieval West? One of my greatest joys in [...]
We can trace the desire to understand the universal quality and dignity of the human person as far back as our very origin as a Western people. As I get older, I’m terribly troubled by the move—going on since rise of the New Left and, especially, the Maoists who introduced us to Political Correctness in [...]
Why should an adult take time out of his busy schedule to learn classical languages? Latin and ancient Greek unlock the cultural heritage of the West. When it comes to ancient languages, many people seem to believe that there is an incredibly small window of opportunity for learning. I encounter this belief frequently, since I [...]