Not surprisingly, J.R.R. Tolkien never finished "The Notion Club Papers," but they present a critical insight into his own view of the Inklings—not only mythologizing, but celebrating, them. Dear Reader, the following—a discussion of Tolkien’s unfinished novel, The Notion Club Papers, comes from chapter six of my forthcoming book, Tolkien and the Inklings: Men of [...]
James Matthew Wilson judges American poet John Martin Finlay “practically the only contemporary writer to practice a genuinely metaphysical poetics.” A sinner and a man of imperfect ear, trite phrasing, and occasionally wayward philosophical judgment, Finlay was nevertheless a man whose pursuit of God who is Truth and Love demands our admiration. The Wayward Thomist: [...]
It is not only the beginning and the end of our history that consist in actions on a cosmic scale. The central point is also a creative act, the resurrection of Christ, himself the Word of God, by whom all things were made, who is to come in the fullness of time to make all [...]
Who would not get depressed when it seems you are unable to pray anymore, and the Scriptures that meant so much before move you no more, and your moral behaviour seems to be deteriorating with each passing day? It is essential that, at a time when it is so difficult to find a competent spiritual [...]
Robert Hugh Benson's "Initiation" is a novel which delves and dives deep into the mystery of suffering. Its theme, and the reader’s following of the purgatorial steps of the “initiation,” is perfect for those seeking to take the purgatorial steps on the Lenten pilgrimage to Golgotha. The literary reputation of Robert Hugh Benson, one of [...]
Dante’s “Inferno” is the poem of interiority. It aims to crack the crusty shell of the heart and gain access to its secret, guarded places. Although the Comedy is a poem of impeccable order, the poet is careful to make sure that our first impression is not of the poem’s architecture but of its emotional [...]
David Angten’s "The Medievalist" takes us into the grubby underbelly of Tinseltown, but there is a morality woven through the story that is convincing. A gripping, thought-provoking, entertaining, and fun novel, I hope it will not be classified as “Catholic fiction.” It's too good for that. Having somewhat of a public platform in these pages [...]
On grace depends our salvation, but we have neither a right to grace nor the power to compel it. Grace must reveal itself to us, and only then will we recognize it. Through your creation, O Lord, goes a voice that reminds us of something that is above everything created. The things and their ordering, [...]
Under what conditions is an aggressive war justified as punishment for a violation of the international order or as a redress for an injury suffered? Defensive war offers fewer problems. We have already pointed out that the justice of the cause of war must be certain for the public authority. Hence, the other party, in the dispute is [...]
Do you wish to understand the birth of right and left? Examine the debate between Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine occasioned by the French Revolution. The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left by Yuval Levin, (304 pages, Basic Books, 2014) Those seeking a deeper understanding of the roots of contemporary [...]
God’s love is deepest in us, as the very ground of our being. It is here in our deepest self that our desire to love and be loved that will only ultimately be satisfied in God, rises to enter into him. Inspired by and supported with as much of God’s love that our weakness can [...]
The Church is like an old schoolmaster, the schoolmaster of the centuries, and as such it has seen so many students pass before it, cultivate the same poses and fall into the same errors, that it merely smiles at those who believe that they have discovered a new truth. One of the catchwords which keeps [...]
We live in a world that desperately needs Thomas More’s wisdom. We need his understanding of God, his understanding of virtue, and his understanding of the complexities of the human person. The Essential Works of Thomas More, edited by Gerard B. Wegemer and Stephen W. Smith (1520 pages, Yale University Press, 2020) Though he’s only [...]
Ronald Reagan’s version of conservatism was far more pro-government than was Barry Goldwater’s. Compassion, not liberty, was Reagan’s guide. This raises the question: To what extent is the success of modern political conservatism dependent upon the conservation of liberal, even progressive, reforms? The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue Collar Conservatism [...]