J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth

By |2024-01-02T19:03:13-06:00January 2nd, 2024|Categories: Books, Bradley J. Birzer, Imagination, J.R.R. Tolkien, Myth, Senior Contributors, Timeless Essays|

Myth, J.R.R. Tolkien thought, can convey the sort of profound truth that is intransigent to description or analysis in terms of facts and figures. But, Tolkien admitted, myth can be dangerous if it remains pagan. Therefore, one must sanctify it. To enter faerie—that is, a sacramental and liturgical understanding of creation—is to open oneself to [...]

Fantasy & the Real World: Tolkien’s Philosophy of Myth

By |2024-01-02T19:46:13-06:00January 2nd, 2024|Categories: Imagination, J.R.R. Tolkien, Joseph Pearce, Myth, Senior Contributors, Timeless Essays|

Fantasy shows us ourselves in the light of the fullness of the natural and supernatural reality in which we find ourselves. Does so-called fantasy literature have any relevance to the so-called real world? Such a question is worth asking and indeed answering but can only be addressed if we have a clear understanding of what [...]

The Other Side of Bleakness: On Winter and the Nativity

By |2023-12-21T12:30:48-06:00December 20th, 2023|Categories: Advent, Christianity, Christmas, Imagination, Literature, Poetry, Timeless Essays|

Winter, for many of us, signals the end of the year. It is a time when we reflect on our labor, what we’ve achieved, what we haven’t achieved, what we will do better or make right. But how much of this reflection is focused on the joy and mystery of the Nativity? “Census at [...]

C.S. Lewis and the Cultivation of the Imagination

By |2023-11-21T22:22:49-06:00November 21st, 2023|Categories: Books, C.S. Lewis, Christian Humanism, Featured, Imagination, Timeless Essays|

C.S. Lewis’ lesson to his friends and fans—and to us—is that the cultivation of the imagination might require more than reading and writing, but it requires no less. Readers likely know C.S. Lewis by the works of his imagination, first encountering him in the snowdrifts of the Narnian woods or on an omnibus bound for [...]

Chaucer on Variety

By |2023-11-16T18:18:11-06:00November 16th, 2023|Categories: Geoffrey Chaucer, Great Books, Imagination, Literature, Louis Markos, Poetry, Timeless Essays, Wisdom|

True pilgrimage is a communal undertaking: a temporary society on the move. Rather than turn inward in search of enlightenment, turn outward toward your companions and learn to see the world through their eyes. Learn to get along with people whose passions, beliefs, and strategies for survival are radically different from your own. Author’s Introduction: [...]

The World Spins On: “The Value of Herman Melville”

By |2023-11-13T22:43:06-06:00November 13th, 2023|Categories: Fiction, Great Books, Herman Melville, Imagination, Literature, Timeless Essays|

The quest to write the Great American Novel has long been the American literary equivalent of the quest for the Holy Grail. Among the perennial roster of contenders for this legendary status, there is a strong case to be made for “Moby-Dick.” With the generosity of a patient teacher, Geoffrey Stanborn makes that case in “The Value [...]

Awakening the Moral Imagination

By |2023-10-30T19:02:42-05:00October 29th, 2023|Categories: Essential, Imagination, Literature, Moral Imagination, Myth, Timeless Essays|

The beauty of fairy tales is their ability to attractively depict character and virtue. Goodness glimmers while wickedness and deception are unmasked. Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords readers the opportunity to join Vigen Guroian as he explores the benefits fairy tales afford children. —W. Winston Elliott III, Publisher The notion that fairy tales [...]

A Guide to Reading Ghost Stories With Russell Kirk

By |2023-10-29T14:31:22-05:00October 29th, 2023|Categories: Literature, Moral Imagination, Robert M. Woods, Russell Kirk, Timeless Essays|

For Russell Kirk, the "ghost tale" may better communicate certain truths when compared to science fiction. His was no Enlightenment mind, Kirk now became aware; it was a Gothic mind, medieval in its temper and structure. —Russell Kirk, The Sword of Imagination As J.R.R. Tolkien assisted many with his most informative essay, On Fairy Stories, [...]

The Haunting of America: Russell Kirk’s Ghostly Fiction

By |2023-10-29T08:15:41-05:00October 27th, 2023|Categories: Ancestral Shadows, Fiction, Imagination, Literature, Mystery, Russell Kirk, Timeless Essays|

The ghost story was the perfect vehicle for Russell Kirk to extend his own sense of awe-filled wonder to a wider audience. He was keenly aware of the need for romance and mystery in everyday life—and how hard it was to achieve it in America. He created for his readers one of those places in [...]

Russell Kirk & Pope St. John Paul II on the Redemption of Man

By |2023-10-22T07:38:12-05:00October 21st, 2023|Categories: Catholicism, Christianity, Conservatism, Faith, Featured, Hope, Imagination, Russell Kirk, St. John Paul II, The Imaginative Conservative, Timeless Essays, Truth|

Pope St. John Paul II and Russell Kirk defended freedom within the limits of truth and its authentic or right use. They knew it was crucial to distinguish license and liberty. But they have different approaches to truth. As we discussed the work of Russell Kirk, written in 1954, revised in 1962 and 1988, I [...]

Memory, Love, & Eternity in Tennyson’s “In Memoriam”

By |2023-10-05T19:13:46-05:00October 5th, 2023|Categories: Alfred Tennyson, Imagination, Literature, Love, Paul Krause, Poetry, Senior Contributors, Timeless Essays|

Tennyson’s “In Memoriam” wrestles with the death of the poet’s closest friend, a death that pushed Tennyson into a bout of depression and an immense wallowing sorrow. But the poem is also an attempt to draw near the transformative power of love—a love that turns the cold and bleak midwinter into the high noon of [...]

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