“Since that night, I have a fire within me, which I cannot quench. I tried knowing God through reason. But now I must share the truth and the certainty that God has confirmed in my heart. I never thought a sense of peace and the passion of fire could reside in one’s heart simultaneously.” The [...]
Socialism always and everywhere decays into outright abuse of the human person. Has there ever been a socialism that didn’t result in the establishment of a gulag, a holocaust camp, or a killing field? At age 58, I can state with utter earnestness that one of the most devastating things of our present age is [...]
Among the many characters who played a part in the assault on the citadels of Whig and Anglocentric history was one Malcolm Vivian Hay of Seaton, a Scottish laird, soldier, politician, independent scholar, and polymath. As many-sided as his several pursuits and vocations was the unlikely assembly of loyalties, religious and cultural, that Hay somehow [...]
God is a person, not just an idea. When he raises up saints, he does so not to have an ideologue to debate the doubters, but in order to have someone to carry on the work of Christ, who not only preached, but was a living example of what he preached. God raised up Saint [...]
Everyone should have the right to a culture. That means a unique and authentic way of expressing oneself inside a place and community. Unfortunately, this right has long been denied. This denial is especially evident in the world of fashion. Gone are the days when dress reflected a vibrant perception of oneself that found expression [...]
The animating principle of medieval culture, insofar as it is distinct from Antiquity or Modernity, is the conviction that the ultimate and highest reality is found in the unseen realm—which means that the most fundamental and fruitful way to embrace the medieval spirit is to practice the Faith more like an ordinary Christian of the [...]
Eric Voegelin stressed that progress falsely demands the sacrifice both of man and God. With history and progress as false gods, the man who would attempt to derail or thwart history is the sinner and may thus, justifiably, be removed, even if by bloody force. In my previous essay, I considered the ways in which [...]
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 [...]
The organ is typically associated with bland church music, less favorite arrangements of Christmas carols, and haunted houses. But Mozart himself called it "the king of instruments," and if the daring listener wishes to venture into solo organ music for the first time, then R. J. Stove’s "The Gates of Vienna" is an ideal starting point. The Gates [...]
"It is Christianity which is at once the original bond of European unity," Christopher Dawson argued, "and the source of the spiritual ideals and the attitude to life which inspired our civilization. The enemies of Europe recognize this fact more clearly than we do ourselves." The Movement of World Revolution, by Christopher Dawson (176 pages, [...]
In "Dostoyevsky Reads Hegel in Siberia and Bursts Into Tears," Hungarian philosopher of art László Földényi shows how the Enlightenment brought about a radical shift in the understanding of the human body, and the consequences that arose from the attempt to divorce the physical body from its metaphysical context. Dostoyevskey Reads Hegel in Siberia and [...]
Long before I knew what literary criticism was, I was a boy, living and growing up in southwestern Minnesota, a remote part of the world... Since then, I've come to that age where I've retired from what I've done with the decades of my life. Over those “professional” years, I shied away from being called [...]
What important works of fiction worked a healthy reaction against the French Revolution in Britain and America, a reaction little diminished today? The bicentenary of the French Revolution occurs in this year of 1989*; and still the world is tormented by ghastly political upheavals and acts of terror that are inspired by what was said [...]
The real problem with most materialists is not that they deny the existence of the invisible realm, but they are cowardly and lazy. They have not had the guts or gumption to follow their disbelief to the end point. Puddleglum is a Marshwiggle. Those who have read The Silver Chair will remember C.S. Lewis’ description [...]