The Editors
Articles by The Editors
The Craft of Education
“Then education is the craft concerned with doing this very thing, this turning around, and with how the soul can most easily and effectively be made to do it.” Plato,…
Just War Doctrine Doesn’t Need an Update
According to a “first of its kind” Vatican conference co-hosted by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the international Catholic peace organization Pax Christi there is no such thing…
Abernathy, TX before the Self-driving Car
A month ago I flew out to Lubbock, Texas, to give a couple of talks at Lubbock Christian University. Several times over the course of two days the topic of…
Learning to Wait
"Through delayed fulfillment, good desires grow stronger." Gregory the Great Almost fifty years ago the famous marshmallow experiment suggested the importance of being able to wait. There are many troubling…
How Liberalism’s Contradictions Will Save It
In October 2013, Russell Brand wrote a rambling missive for the New Statesman, in which he called for a “total revolution” of the Western political system on the basis it…
My Wife Has What I Need
“Men and women, however, live together not only to procreate children but also to have whatever is needed for life. Indeed, from the beginning, family duties are distinct; some are…
Against Sentimental Rejections of the Pope
This Lent I have been reading the Letters of Flannery O'Connor: The Habit of Being. They may not seem like proper Lenten reading. The letters are not a spiritual manual…
Laying Waste Our Fields
“That day when Turnus raised the flag of war… The high commanders… From every quarter drew repeated levies And laid the wide fields waste of their field hands.” Virgil, The…
Pass the Biscuits
From Reason, Jesse Walker, ace archivist/alchemist of Americana, on the toothless but entertaining populist Texan Pappy O'Daniel.
Asking for Direction in Baffling Times
"All Italians, all the Oenotrian land, Resorted to this place in baffling times, Asking direction; here a priest brought gifts..." Virgil, The Aeneid What do I do now? I often…
Res Idiotica
South Bend, IN My students are know-nothings. They are exceedingly nice, pleasant, trustworthy, mostly honest, well-intentioned, and utterly decent. But their minds are largely empty, devoid of any substantial knowledge…
Against Scaling Up
In The Atlantic, Cambridge professor Antara Haldar tells the story of Oregon's Stumptown Coffee, and how being bought by Peet's last October could, "corrode the very core of what has, so far, sustained…
Thoughts on Localism and Resilience
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak to the "Resilience Group," an informal gathering of environmentalists, activists, and interested others that meet regularly at the…
Clinton, Kissinger, and the Democratic Tradition
Why would a self-proclaimed progressive Democrat pay honor to a Republican who exemplifies both dollar diplomacy and gunboat diplomacy?
Back to Ohio
From the New Oxford Review, Part Two of Will Hoyt's survey of eastern Ohio...featuring a triple play of Traci Lords, Clement Vallandigham, and H.H. Richardson!
When a Child Leaves Home
“Darling, haven’t you ever heard of a delightful little thing called boarding school?” So Baroness Schraeder responds to Max’s inquiry how she will deal with seven children upon wedding Captain…
The Deep and Discomforting Point of Populism (and Socialism, and Certain Sorts of Conservatism Too)
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Over the weekend, a friend of mine shared an article which had joined in the Hillary Clinton-Bernie Sanders fight, a fight which may come to…
One Good Politician
It can be discouraging watching people vie for political power. That they are motivated by a concern for our good is often hard to believe. A man like Aristides is…
The Art of the Deal, and the Writing on the Wall
The Republican candidates for president would have us believe that they are strong, manly men who would stand up to Putin, destroy daesh, contain Iran, and generally “restore” America’s power…
Bad Popes and Public Memorials
One of the first things I noticed in Rome was the bodies. While praying in Santa Maria Sopra Minerva on my first visit, I happened to glance to my left,…
Ciceronian Society conference, March 10-12
A note from our friends at the Ciceronian Society about their upcoming conference: The Ciceronian Society invites you to their sixth-annual conference at Mount Saint Mary's University, March 10th-12, 2016…
Soil and Sacrament in Certain Kinds of Cities
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] This past weekend here in Wichita, I participated in the Eighth Day Institute's symposium, Soil and Sacrament: The World as Gift; Rod Dreher has a…
Remembering Florence King
Louisville, Kentucky. “Reading Florence King is like opening a blast furnace,” reporter Liz Trotta said of her years ago. That fire is now out. The writer and satirist died on…
In the Pilsen Snow
My wife and I were married at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, on the near west side of South Bend, Indiana. I’ve written about her before, that Church, fashioned nearly two…
