The Catholic Literary Revival

By |2024-03-16T20:38:00-05:00March 16th, 2024|Categories: Books, Catholicism, Christianity, Literature|

Catholic literature, when we discover it coming into being in the mid-nineteenth century, is a literature of protest against the course being followed by European society. Its writers were not very numerous, nor did the typical Victorian man see any particular significance in their opposition to Liberalism, the anti-intellectual Romantic aesthetic, scientific naturalism, and the [...]

Tomie and the Saints

By |2024-03-15T16:35:32-05:00March 15th, 2024|Categories: Art, Beauty, Books, Catholicism, Christianity, David Deavel, Sainthood, Senior Contributors|

Tomie DePaola may not have been a saint himself, but he recognized them, venerated the love of God in their lives, and drew them in such a way that we can see that love shining through his friendly folk art icons. Through the Year with Tomie DePaola, text by Catherine Harmon and John Herreid, illustrations [...]

Christopher Dawson’s “Beyond Politics”

By |2024-03-10T18:20:24-05:00March 9th, 2024|Categories: Books, Christianity, Christopher Dawson, History|

“Old books” speak to the times, often in more profound ways than “new books.” Christopher Dawson's "Beyond Politics" is just such a book. It diagnosed in 1939 the cultural situation in which the book appeared, and its diagnosis is apropos to the cultural situation today. Here’s the front story followed by the more important back [...]

Beauty, Nature, & the Quest for Meaning in Sigrid Undset’s “The Wild Orchid”

By |2024-03-09T15:42:51-06:00March 8th, 2024|Categories: Beauty, Books, Christianity, Nature|

Sigrid Undset understood how experiences of joy alongside unfulfilled longings can break the spell of modernity and open a window into the spiritual life. "The Wild Orchid" explores the possibility of spiritual awakening in society that has grown bored with the Christian faith and is seeking new ways to re-enchant the natural world. In Sigrid [...]

Surveying the Landscape of History

By |2024-02-29T05:38:53-06:00February 28th, 2024|Categories: Books, Catholicism, Christianity, History, Joseph Pearce, Senior Contributors|

Those who are blinded by materialism cannot see the landscape of history. They see systems instead of people, and empowerment instead of virtue. They can’t see the beautiful because they refuse to raise their eyes to heaven. The past is present whether we like it or not or know it or not. The past is [...]

Reading 100-Year-Old Books

By |2024-02-27T19:31:21-06:00February 26th, 2024|Categories: Books, Literature|

In February of 2022, I began a new tradition that I hope to maintain. It stemmed from a keen desire to become more familiar with the great literary works of the 20th century. So, last year I decided to read one work published or written exactly one century in the past. Thus, 2022 corresponded to [...]

Introduction to a Giant

By |2024-02-20T19:51:31-06:00February 20th, 2024|Categories: Books, Catholicism, Christianity|

While no one collection will be able to cover all the aspects of a giant thinker, "A Guide to John Henry Newman: His Life and Thought" does provide a very good one-stop shopping collection for those who are interested in Newman’s thought and would like something to help them think through what they are reading. [...]

The Humanity of Huck Finn

By |2024-02-17T17:29:52-06:00February 17th, 2024|Categories: Books, Christine Norvell, Fiction, Literature, Mark Twain, Senior Contributors, Timeless Essays, Virtue, Wisdom|

Huckleberry Finn is no hero, though he does symbolize the American conscience at the time Mark Twain wrote, or at least the conscience Twain hoped for. Yes, "Huckleberry Finn" is a coming-of-age tale and a social criticism and satire, but it also asks crucial questions: Who actually changes? What type of American will change? Huckleberry [...]

The Inferno: A Novel

By |2024-02-11T19:14:25-06:00February 11th, 2024|Categories: Books, Catholicism, Christianity, Dante|

In taking his autobiographical protagonist through hell, Winston Brady does many things that would, I believe, have pleased Dante Alighieri. Like Dante’s "Inferno," Brady’s "Inferno" tests the will and courage of its hero, forcing him to wrestle with his American identity and legacy, to understand the grave nature of sin, and to seek repentance from [...]

Dante’s Transformed Love: Musings on the Poet’s Love for Beatrice

By |2024-02-10T20:18:07-06:00February 10th, 2024|Categories: Art, Books, Christianity, Dante, Love, Timeless Essays, Western Civilization|

If the "Vita Nuova" had been the only major work Dante had made, this work alone would have earned him the reputation as a great poet of Western Civilization. It is well-known that Dante is one of the greatest poets in Western Civilization. His magnum opus, The Divine Comedy, is considered one of the crowning [...]

A Worthy Chase: Pursuing an Ideal Education

By |2024-02-09T22:57:23-06:00February 9th, 2024|Categories: Books, Classical Learning, Education, Eva Brann, Liberal Learning, St. John's College, Timeless Essays|

Eva Brann’s latest book, “Pursuits of Happiness,” is a collection of essays which range from Aeschylus to Austen, with topics spanning the nature of time itself to Sacred Scripture. Interspersed here are two parts constituting the whole of an ideal education. Pursuits of Happiness: On Being Interested by Eva Brann (640 pages, Paul Dry Books, [...]

Go to Top