It was never mere proof of God’s existence that set Augustine on fire; it was, rather, the grace to remain steadfast in following the Lord, indeed, in falling in love with the Lord. A deist, it may fairly be said, is someone who hasn’t yet found the time to become an atheist. But he will, [...]
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the Marian dogmas and mysteries of the rosary that is a mystery in more than a devotional sense. Non-Catholic Christians will declare that it was only invented by the Catholic Church in the twentieth century. To be sure, the dogma was defined by Pope Pius [...]
Scored for a cappella choir, John Tavener's "Hymn for the Dormition of the Mother of God" was composed in 1985 as the second part of a pair of Marian devotions. Its text is taken from the Feast of the Dormition (or slumber) of the Mother of God, celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church on August [...]
If we could explain to him what executive orders of a President mean today and what jurisdiction the district courts now have, what would the great John Marshall have said about the Supreme Court’s opinion limiting the power of the district judges to issue universal or nationwide injunctions? Introduction In June, the United States Supreme [...]
As the man pleaded his case, Father Maximilian Kolbe came forward and offered his life for the one pleading. The German commandant of Auschwitz—probably rather shocked—agreed, and Kolbe, with nine others, stripped naked and entered the concrete bunker. As Hillsdale students approach my desk on the fourth floor of Delp Hall, several things stand or [...]
If a liberal education liberates, one of the constraints from which the student is liberated is the professor. That this occurs from a method exercised by the professor is one of the great powers of Socratic dialectic in the classroom, and one of the paradoxes, perhaps mysteries, of our privileged vocation in the university. Why, [...]
In “How to Keep From Losing Your Mind,” Deal W. Hudson sets out to not merely defend—in a traditional and philosophical sense—Western thought but also to share the beauty of culture and the approach he took as he was writing, namely that of “a mounting sense of joy.” How to Keep From Losing Your Mind: [...]
Jesus did not preach an escape from earth to an immaterial Heaven. Rather, he preached the coming of God’s kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven,” a redemption of God’s good creation. We hope in the completion of God’s grand rescue project, which is taking shape as we speak and which will reach fulfillment [...]
Shortly before his death, Hans Urs von Balthasar addressed the question posed by many of those disconcerted by the large number of his books: Where must one start to understand him? Tragedy Under Grace: Reinhold Schneider on the Experience of the West, by Hans Urs von Balthasar, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1997) Hans Urs von [...]
The purpose of human conversation is not limited to pragmatic ends, as if we only spoke in order to learn new recipes and get salient tips on what stocks to invest in. A good conversation is always a discovery of the person who reveals himself in speech. So much fighting concerning AI is really no [...]
Most “Christian” music is taken from the secular world. People might have nice feelings about Jesus by listening to it, but the secular music was designed to produce certain types of feelings, and why should those warm sentimental feelings or hard emotional feelings be linked with worship? A friend of mine used to quip, “When [...]
Saint Dominic, born into the heat of midsummer on the high plains of Spain, was made for this season. Instead of frustrating him, the heat drove him on. Preaching is a business that needs someone hot-blooded. The Spirit enkindles, but the preacher must tend the flame in the hearts God so desires. Zeal for souls [...]
Quietism in all its different manifestations seemed to encourage the reformer’s belief that our own efforts are useless and even blasphemous. Its adherents were not only encouraged to do absolutely nothing in prayer, but to do nothing about temptations either, that could only be overcome with God’s grace. Miguel de Molinos Molinos, the [...]
The moral choice in war is ascertained by doing a crude calculus: Of the available options, which kills the fewest? The option of Japan suddenly embracing peace is an illusion. The brutal calculation was: Do we kill so many people by dropping atomic bombs or so many more by invading? Those were the only two choices. [...]