Philosophers & Saints 186
Avoiding the Hive
New Directions for Catholic Social and Political Research: Humanity vs. Hyper-Modernity, Guido Preparata, (ed.) Palgrave MacMillan, 319 pages The future is notoriously uncertain but nonetheless, legion have been the prognostications…
On Dreher’s Benedict Option, the Christians and Localists Who Can Live It, and the Ones Who Can’t
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Rod Dreher and I aren't close friends, but like many Front Porch Regulars, I've been blessed with the opportunity to associate with and learn from…
Gene Logsdon, RIP
The Porch lost a part of its patrimony yesterday with the passing of Gene Logsdon. News of his death can be found here, and his obituary here. An appreciation of…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
Monastic Stability: In One Place with God and Others
Some time ago I was asked if I would be willing to participate in a forum on localism. I hesitated. I did not even know what localism specifically was about…
Christopher Lasch and the Lasting Dilemma of Localism
[Cross-posted to In Media Res] This past weekend, at the annual Front Porch Republic gathering (this year held at SUNY-Geneseo), three scholars reflected upon the writings of the historian and…
Whatever Happened to Communitarianism?
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Twenty years ago, the concept and label "communitarianism" was riding high, or at least as high as any broadly applicable yet intellectually coherent ideological movement…
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…
From the Distant Liberal Consensus, a Defiant Conservative Yelp
[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] As I write this review, I keep hearing about Jeb Bush, campaigning for president, talking about how the invasion of Iraq and the removal of…
Puritans and The Pope: The Conflicted Christian History of American Ecological Ethics
The responses from American Christians to Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ have fallen into two predictable categories: Economic conservatives push back against Francis’ critique of “technoscience,” claiming that capitalism and…
The Trouble with Limits
Modern persons have a problem with limits, three in fact. They want every good thing to be unlimitedly available for their desires, and scarcity is taken for a cause of…
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…
The Parish and the Papacy
This is the fourth of a five-part series of essays on "Localism and the Universal Church." You may find the previous installments here. As I was saying . . .…
From the Multiversity Cave: Aquinas and Synthesis
Saginaw, MI This post is part of a series that will explore what prominent thinkers can teach us about today’s public multiversity, the modern university with its many colleges, departments,…
Alienated Children and Inalienable Rights
We describe the most fundamental principles of American politics in terms of “rights.” According to the Declaration of Independence, which constitutes the philosophical foundation of American politics, it is “self-evident”…
Apocalypticism for Porchers
If it's your thing -- and it's certainly not everybody's thing -- it's not a bad time to be an apocalypticist. A few weeks ago, Pope Francis once again implored…
From the Multiversity Cave: Aristotle and Phronesis
Saginaw, MI This post is part of a series that will explore what prominent thinkers can teach us about today’s public multiversity, the modern university with its many colleges, departments,…
If the U.S. Were a Christian Nation, Would that Make Christianity the Most Violent Religion in the World?
Hillsdale, Michigan. The Paris killings a few weeks ago have unleashed a number of reflections about Islam and its tendency toward violence. Robert Tracinski makes a point that I have…
Illiberal Catholicism One Year On
Just over a year ago John Zmirak caused a stir with his Aleteia article “Illiberal Catholicism.” In it, Zmirak excoriated a fairly broad range of Catholic academics and commentators for, among other…
Bar Jester’s Writing Seminar II; or, How to Write Like a Philosopher
If you want to write worse than the average undergraduate male, consider philosophy.
