Of all the public arts once honored, oratory might have fallen the farthest. It is now hard to imagine the great hunger that audiences had for political speeches, sermons, lectures—anything that demonstrated the power of language to educate, persuade, or inspire—in the days before the technological revolutions of the past century. They would stand all [...]
The trouble with our civilization, Albert Jay Nock declared, is that it makes exceedingly limited demands on the human spirit and the qualities that are distinctly and properly humane. We have been trying to live by mechanics alone, the mechanics of pedagogy, politics, industry, commerce. Instead of experiencing a change of heart, we bend our [...]
The gun control debate has reignited with the recent Florida shooting. Despite the passionate commentaries on all sides, no one seems to be able to answer the question of when the shootings will stop. As much as liberal media want to blame guns, police or government, this is a moral problem. It involves the acts [...]
Not only was Flannery O’Connor one of the most important Christian Humanists of the twentieth century, but she also well understood what made Christian Humanism what it was. While it might very well be conservative, it was always imaginative, allowing one to imagine what must be conserved. The Presence of Grace by Flannery O’Connor (192 pages, [...]
Did Beethoven steal tunes from his older contemporary for the "Eroica" Symphony, the Ninth Symphony, and for his most popular and beautiful song? "This entire passage has been stolen from the Mozart symphony in C." —written by Beethoven on one of his own musical sketches It is one of the most popular tunes in all [...]
Why should the sins of the guilty cause suffering to the guiltless? If God could prevent such suffering of the innocent victims of sin but refrains from doing so, isn’t he also to blame? Isn’t he in some way an accessory to the sin? In other words, how can a good God permit bad things [...]
If a reform produces unintended consequences of a troubling sort, succeeding generations of reformers will make use of those consequences not to undo the original reform, but rather to call for new action that requires an ever-larger federal government… All reforms are notorious for their unintended consequences; liberal reforms are noteworthy for something that is [...]
Although the potential range of emotional experience is essentially the same in all human beings, each culture exhibits its own patterns, inculcating certain feelings while discouraging others, promoting either expression or restraint, and defining variously the place of the emotions in everyday life. Americans believe that every person’s interior life is unique; consequently, an individual’s [...]
Religion “works,” in Edmund Burke’s view, when it stands apart from the whims of those who practice it. Only then can it enable self-discipline, give meaning, and provide a real sense of the sacred and the sublime in life… Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords our readers the opportunity to join William F. [...]
Immediate popular majorities do not bestow greatness on statesmen. Rather, it is the longview of history and experience that will be the arbiters of the place each of our presidents will ultimately find. The office of the presidency has always been controversial. Born of the Founders’ struggle to create a stable republican political order, it [...]
Although Russell Kirk’s valiant efforts on behalf of the “permanent things” have not born much visible fruit in recent years, the “Remnant” he wrote of, those relatively few people dedicated to preserving Christian civilization, still persevere, working for its eventual restoration once the force of cultural destruction are spent… Russell Kirk and the Age of [...]
Where there are bishops of moral vigor, there will be an abundance of young men willing to take up the call of service to the Church. Where the spirit is tepid and refreshes itself on the thin broth of a domesticated and politically correct Gospel, seminaries will be vacant… To have been the proverbial fly [...]
A critique of American materialism is extraordinarily challenging, as it is cloaked in a heresy that is subtle, smooth, and sweet. The problem is that the Pope is not really up to such a challenging challenge… Pope Francis and the Caring Society edited by Robert M. Whaples (256 pages, Independent Institute, 2017) It is perhaps [...]
The cherubim could speak volumes in describing all the misguided efforts to sneak by them and enter the Garden. In America we need look no further than the public policies, often promulgated most zealously by paternalistic liberals, that seek to create a utopia… After viewing and enjoying Blade Runner 2049 in October 2017, I asked [...]