Against Pessimism
Alexandria, VA My last post has led some to conclude that I am a pessimist. Even Ross Douthat, among the most perceptive commentators...
Work and Prayer: The Brief Friendship of Thomas Merton and Wendell...
Berry wrote in one of his letters to Merton that “you are one of the few whose awareness of what I’m doing here would be of value to me.” He is acknowledging that he and Merton lead lives of similar mission, lives shaped by work and silence.
The Pythagorean Temptation
Berwyn, PA. In his Degrees of Knowledge, Jacques Maritain argues that one central fault of the modern mind has been its propensity to think of...
For Lack of a Hardier Knickerbocker, the Republic Goes Tilt
Washington, Ct. Classics are called such for a reason. They endure. Quite by accident frequently, for as any condemned intellectual knows, the most marketable idea...
“I can not live in this world”: A Review of Paul...
One answer from Kingsnorth’s fiction lies in limits. No human, nor all of us put together, is sovereign over the fate of the world, despite the unprecedented power we enjoy over life and death within it.
Rising Scientism, Declining Supernaturalism, and the Loss of Taste and Morals...
William Gilmore Simms’ claims about the decay of morals and the arts that results from the rise of scientism and decline of supernaturalism can be elaborated by reflecting on the insights of Flannery O’Connor and the Southern Agrarians.
Gatsby for the Millennials
Berwyn, PA. I was a little surprised, not too long ago, to hear a student mention that The Great Gatsby was her favorite book. "Because...
A Real American Philosopher
Bugbee’s thought suggests a defiant confidence that the things themselves can and do reveal themselves to us in their independence, if only we would have the patience to let them.