R. J. Snell lives and gardens (or at least watches his children garden) just outside of Philadelphia in Havertown, a place where Sinatra, baseball games, and cigar smoke waft from his neighbors' porches onto his own. If Philadelphia had colder and longer winters, as this Canadian thinks natural and fitting, it would be almost perfect. The fact that his four children and wife live there (almost) redeems the overly warm weather. He directs the philosophy program at Eastern University, in St. Davids, PA. He also co-directs the Agora Insitute for Civic Virtue and the Common Good, a research center devoted to understanding and sustaining the virtues and institutions of human flourishing. The author of Through a Glass Darkly: Bernard Lonergan and Richard Rorty on Knowing without a God's-Eye View, and the forthcoming (with Steve Cone) Authentic Cosmopolitanism, he writes and teaches on Thomas Aquinas and contemporary Thomism, Bernard Lonergan, natural law, decent life, and the liberal arts.
R. J. Snell
Articles by R. J. Snell
Laudato Si’ and the Feverish Summer
For many, this summer was long, hot, and awful — at least politically; no one particularly recalls the weather. Why so rotten? Laudato si', Obergefell, Planned Parenthood, and Trump. The…
Contemplation and the Empire of Desire
Philadelphia, PA R. R. Reno of First Things has recently identified the “Empire of Desire” by its odd combination of regulation and libertinism. On the one hand, we cannot ride…
Christmas Comes But Once a Year; Or, Books to Buy Next Christmas
Philadelphia, PA R. J. Snell A slow thinker and slower writer—some might say the reverse—I’ve been chewing over the Christmas season for the past few days, a remembrance of things…
Rollin Coal and the Empire of Desire
Thanks to a good friend, I’m now up to speed on the phenomenon of “Rollin Coal,” which one commentator describes as “a new trend in which anti-environmentalist idiots with nothing…
Natural Law and Love
The following is an excerpt from R.J. Snell's new book The Perspective of Love: Natural Law in a New Mode. Preface: According to the rightly celebrated theorist J. Budziszewski, natural…
A Tale of Two Bodies
With pollen blanketing my car, I stopped by a “local” pharmacy on the way to work this morning. It’s an impressive new building, with a substantial parking lot, gleaming façade,…
Slow Growth and Living Form
Everything seeks its own perfection or completion, and, moreover, seeks this perfection in a way proper to itself. Since both the end sought and the way of seeking are attuned…
Are Porchers Urbane? Time to Wonder About Ourselves
As a student, I never trusted teachers who wanted to be part of student culture. You know the type, the teacher who wishes to have influence by becoming as much…
What You Need to Know About Bernard Lonergan, S. J.
From the distance of 750 years, Thomas Aquinas can seem quite the stodgy fellow—not just old school but the old school. One needs to look a little closer to realize…
Veritatis Splendor at 20—Lessons for Localists
Veritatis Splendor, John Paul II’s encyclical letter, The Splendor of Truth, is now twenty years old. Promulgated August 6, 1993, the letter addressed fundamental issues in moral theology, responding particularly…
American Agrarian (On Sale Now)
How gratifying to learn of the cultural ascendancy of the Porchers! We’ve made it, we’ve convinced Americans of the abiding values of place, limits, and liberty. As evidence, I direct…
On Not Knowing Nothing: Mastery and Expertise
I belong to a guild. As such, I'm recognized by its practitioners as a peer, a fellow, even, like them, a master. By this I do not mean anything remotely…
Interview about Education
You can find a short interview about education and my new book at Coffee and Markets here.
The Locale and Grace of Teaching
I’ve not yet decided if I’ve succumbed to despair (a sin) or prudence, but I no longer participate in any of the forums at my campus about online education, MOOCs,…
My New Book is Out–Authentic Cosmopolitanism
I'm pleased to announce that my new book, Authentic Cosmopolitanism: Love, Sin, and Grace in the Christian University, co-authored with Steve Cone, is now out. From the back cover: Humans…
A Prophet of Goodness: Review of Mark T. Mitchell’s The Politics of Gratitude: Scale, Place and Community in a Global Age
At my worst moments, I succumb to thinking that we have become utterly trite, absorbed by ephemera, thin of character, quick but scattered of intellect, weak of will, and just…
The Mouse with Tusks: Speech, Power, Perversity
Earlier this week, Terry Gross interviewed Emily Anthes, author of Frankenstein's Cat: Cuddling up to Biotech's Brave New Beasts, on recent development in bioengineering, including radio controlled insects, pigs which…
Lives Lived Worthily: On Hunting
A little over a year ago, after hearing my bitter protests about another pathetic talk by some expert on education whose vision of life I find basically revolting but whose…
Modesty’s Retreat
Over a drink with a fellow Canadian ex-pat about a month ago, I rather wistfully (and irresponsibly) indulged in some wishful thinking as I expressed my longing for the solid…
Adam and Eve on the Porch: The Place of Majestic Man
Lately I’ve had the privilege of working through The Lonely Man of Faith (1965) by Joseph Soloveitchik (1903-1993), an influential Orthodox rabbi with deep ties to Yeshiva University and a…
Tories are Persons, and Persons are Tories (but so too is Labour)
All too many weeks ago, I promised a series of posts on foundations for a new religious right . . . and then I promptly, and happily, disappeared into the…
Thoughts towards a New Religious Right
Given my background, beliefs, and practices, I should be an enthusiastic supporter of the religious right—but I can’t do it. I’m religious. I’m conservative. I conclude with the religious right…
Childhood without a Harness
Just a few days back, I arrived home to find a mound of muddy clothes at my front entrance and the sounds of children scampering from bath to bedroom (all…
Frat Boys and the Household
If you follow college "culture" at all, you'll find little new or surprising in the recent discussions of the abusive hazing rituals at Dartmouth, or that the college and its…