Becoming educated is a process of becoming intellectually free so as to be capable of thinking for oneself, engaging in ongoing learning and inquiry, and achieving inner freedom. St. John’s College believes that the life of the mind is crucial to full human flourishing. Loyal readers of The Imaginative Conservative have been given many [...]
Today I honor the men and women of the United States military who have sacrificed their lives while doing their duty to the Republic. For them, and their families, I ask God to bless them and keep them. And for the fallen of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. [...]
As we are forced into isolation and confronted by our mortality in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we begin to ask ourselves an important question: What does it mean to be human? Gleaves Whitney, Director of Grand Valley State University’s Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies, and Winston Elliott III, The Imaginative Conservative’s Publisher and [...]
The Imaginative Conservative’s mission is to preserve the transcendentals, the “permanent things” that constitute the glory of Western Civilization. Here we offer thoughtful and reflective essays on issues of culture, philosophy, history, politics, economics, the arts, and liberal learning, written by some of the great conservative minds of the present and the past. Since The Imaginative Conservative’s inception in [...]
From Union to Empire: Essays in the Jeffersonian Tradition by Clyde N. Wilson (356 pages, The Foundation for American Education, 2003) Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords our readers the opportunity to join Publisher W. Winston Elliott III, as he considers a classic collection of essays about the Jeffersonian tradition. —Stephen M. [...]
Russell Kirk offers us a rich legacy in words and deeds. If we heed them we may yet play our part in preserving our Republic’s ordered liberty... The thought of Dr. Russell Kirk has inspired many people and many projects, including the journal that you are now reading. Founded by Dr. Bradley Birzer and myself [...]
The Imaginative Conservative has never once proclaimed originality. Rather, it has proclaimed that true and abiding things exist, untouched by the mockery or ignorance of man. There are things that always exist, but are often forgotten… The Imaginative Conservative is eight years old today (July 10). A quick calculation shows that I’ve written roughly [...]
Here are recommended essays regarding Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) on The Imaginative Conservative: Looking for Mr. Jefferson by Clyde Wilson Thomas Jefferson’s Birthday by Clyde Wilson The Declaration of Independence: Translucent Poetry by Eva Brann Thomas Jefferson & the American Declaration of Independence by Ross Lence Thomas Jefferson, Conservative by Clyde Wilson Jefferson Was [...]
“Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story of that man skilled in all ways of contending, the wanderer, harried for years on end, after he plundered the stronghold on the proud height of Troy.” So begins Homer’s Odyssey. Long ago I launched my ship in pursuit of the true, the good, and [...]
The Imaginative Conservative’s co-founder and editor-at-large, Bradley J. Birzer, has received another award for his outstanding, new biography of seminal conservative thinker, Russell Kirk. Following on the heels of The Imaginative Conservative’s own 2015 Book of the Year Award, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) has announced that Dr. Birzer has won the 2016 Henry and [...]
Our readers have come to know and to admire Eva Brann, Senior Contributor to The Imaginative Conservative and tutor at St. John’s College, who always challenges us with her insightful writings on liberal learning, the hidden treasures in Homer’s poems, the artful devices of the dialogues of Socrates, and the wonders found in “the conservatory of the imagination.” [...]
Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords readers the opportunity to join Will Durant and me as we contemplate bibliophilic exuberance. —W. Winston Elliott III, Publisher “If I were rich I would have many books, and I would pamper myself with bindings bright to the eye and soft to the touch, in paper generously [...]
Do you enjoy reading our reasoned and reflective essays at The Imaginative Conservative, as we pursue the Good, the True, and the Beautiful? Do you enjoy engaging in discussions of culture, history, politics, and economics, in the tradition of Russell Kirk, Edmund Burke, Richard Weaver, Eric Voegelin, Christopher Dawson, and other leaders of Imaginative Conservatism? Do [...]
The Imaginative Conservative is pleased to announce its 2015 Book of the Year: Bradley J. Birzer's Russell Kirk: American Conservative. This is the first in what will be an annual recognition given by the editors of The Imaginative Conservative to the book published during the calendar year that best enhances our understanding of conservatism. As Robert Stacey said in his review in [...]