In The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot gives us a terrifying gaze at the spiritual reality of the world. All men are cracked, thirsty and longing for death… “The awful daring of a moment’s surrender / which an age of prudence can never retract / by this, and this only, we have existed / which is not [...]
Americans have tried the Hamiltonian experiment of centralized government, usury, and gigantism long enough. Surely it is time, somewhere, for the Jeffersonian vision to begin to reappear. Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords readers the opportunity to join Arthur J. Versluis as he explores the Jeffersonian vision for America and how we may [...]
This is the village where the funeral Stilted its dusty march over deep ruts Up the hillside covered with queen’s lace To the patch of weeds known finally to all. […]
In “The Mystery of the Magi,” Fr. Dwight Longenecker provides a great service by differentiating legend from Gospel and arguing that the Scriptural record is trustworthy and accurate. Mystery of the Magi: The Quest to Identify the Three Wise Men by Dwight Longenecker (320 pages, Regnery, 2017) Fr. Dwight Longenecker’s newly-released book, The Mystery of the Magi, [...]
If there is a grand lesson to be found in Genesis, amidst its horrors and atrocities, it is that God continually calls His people back to Him… One would not be unjust in noting how unrelentingly violent and sexual the human person had become after the Fall in Eden. When God forces Adam and Eve [...]
When imagination works and emotions are properly evoked, an inner enlightenment takes place… While working at a local Catholic High School I couldn’t help observing how the whole enterprise too often focussed on achievement rather than accomplishment. There was a constant race for “good grades” which at worst functioned like votes in a popularity contest. [...]
John of Salisbury exemplifies a practice that we must champion to change our learning systems—to address the failings directly and to see that one educator can transform the world in which he teaches… John of Salisbury not only depicts the thorough and balanced measure of the education of the ideal scholar, but he also points [...]
What we have to avoid is the sort of thinking that leads to the belief that we’ve lost: the belief that we’ve got to batten down the hatches and try to salvage the remnant that’s left of Christian civilization. We haven’t lost… A few months ago, I gave a couple of talks at a C.S. [...]
To attain virtue in solitude defeats the communitarian instincts of human nature. The avenue of politics is one of the mediums by which moral excellence can, and should, be practiced—for there are tremendous benefits wrought to the rest of society as a result… “We see that every city is some sort of community, and that [...]
Do you read "conservative" news and opinion sites with trepidation? Do you worry about seeing the tirelessly-repeated "news of the moment" and the echo chamber of "red-meat" political commentary"? Are you sick of superficial commentary on current events, which you forget by the time you wake up the next day? Are you even afraid of [...]
A free government is only sustainable if citizens can govern themselves. Socrates patiently revealed, through conversations that held a mirror up to fellow citizens, that they did not sufficiently understand such basic concepts as justice, piety, virtue, truth, and goodness when applied to themselves. Yet they presumed to govern others? Author's Note: Following is my revised [...]
We need to develop a fully American variant of conservatism; to advance our understanding of the conservative nature of the political traditions we have inherited; and to do so with a dignity that will permit us to stand before God, the American public, and our conservative forebears. In the next century, because of both need [...]
Lo! ’t is a gala night Within the lonesome latter years! An angel throng, bewinged, bedight In veils, and drowned in tears, Sit in a theatre, to see A play of hopes and fears, While the orchestra breathes fitfully The music of the spheres. […]
To engage in dialogue, we must be good listeners, seeking to hear an insight, perhaps fuzzily formulated and unclear even to the speaker, but nevertheless worthy of exploration. Every culture has its own conversational style that often inhibits genuine dialogue. In Japan, for instance, the division of scholars and scientists at universities and research institutes [...]