If you share my self-indulgent love of conservative Jeremiads, you have probably happened upon quite a few books and articles deploring the unmanliness of postmodern men. It seems to me that there is considerable justice in these complaints, but their authors tend to have little concrete advice on how to fix the problem. Because would-be manly men are so self-conscious and serious, contemporary attempts at enacting ‘manliness’ almost always threaten do devolve into wooden caricature and mild misogyny.

One shining exception to this is The Art of Manliness. This humorous, interesting and sporadically wise blog is a great resource for all men. It includes advice on topics as diverse as snakebites and pocket squares, and provides the invaluable service of a Google-powered Barbershop Locator. So, gentlemen, check it out ASAP or I will punch you in the face.

The book Faith at the Edge: A New Generation of Catholic Writers reflects on Life, Love, Sex and Other Mysteries landed on my desk last week, and I’ve hardly put it down since. The book is a collection of short essays, some only a few pages long, which were originally written for the online Catholic magazine godspy.com. Each essay is a reflection on life as a faithful Catholic and the unique challenges that such a life presents in today’s world.

At first, the essays might strike the reader as intentionally provocative or extreme. The collection, for example, never shies away from seemingly controversial topics: a story of a woman struggling to confess to her socialite friends that she’s a virgin, a reflection on the spiritual benefits of corporal mortification (in this case a daily ice-cold shower), the description of a young couple’s trials and tribulations with Natural Family Planning, or the autobiography of a woman grappling with her same-sex attraction.

All of these stories are written in a way that is brutally honest and sincere, but titillation or shock value doesn’t seem to be the point. Instead, these are candid reflections on faith in practice, and this is where the real value of the book is found.

By offering concrete examples of how faith changes the way one makes life’s most important decisions, Faith at the Edge gives young Christians a mature look at the less glamorous realities of a faith lived in the real world. The book never argues that faith makes life easier or less complicated; the essays hardly describe faith as some sort of therapy or self-help guide.

Instead, these young writers respond out of love and humility to the challenges in their lives by seeking to make not the easy choice, but the right one.

Here at First Things we all seem to have a special place in our hearts for Flannery O’Connor. Her stories and letters powerfully illustrate some of life’s most profound truths. From reflections on the frailty and brevity of our time here on earth, to anecdotes on the transforming power of grace, her work reminds us that we are all presented with choices in this life, and that those choices matter.

If you’re also a fan, you might be interested to hear of an upcoming conference on Flannery O’Connor entitled, “Reason, Fiction & Faith: An International Flannery O’Connor Conference.” The conference will be held in Rome at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in the spring of 2009, so there’s still time to buy plane tickets. As an added bonus, Ralph Wood, Professor of Theology and Literature at Baylor and First Things contributor, will be a principal speaker.

Finally, if you do happen to find yourself in Rome for the conference, don’t forget what Flannery herself had to say on the subject: “My Standard is: When in Rome, Do As You Done in Milledgeville” (Flannery O’Connor to Maryat Lee, May 19, 1957).

From the Westminster Shorter Catechism:
Q. 14. What is sin? A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.

From the Baltimore Catechism:
Q. 278. What is actual sin? A. Actual sin is any willful thought, word, deed, or omission contrary to the law of God.

From Senator Obama:
Q. Do you believe in sin? OBAMA: Yes. Q. What is sin? OBAMA: Being out of alignment with my values.

Not that there is anything to the chatter about Senator Obama’s “Messiah complex,” mind you.

This letter came to me from David Akhviediani, a Georgian student I met in Kraków last month:

Dear friends!

The aim of this email is to raise the awareness of those crimes that are currently being conducted by Russian occupants in Georgia.

Russian troops are continuing illegal occupation of my homeland. We are being attacked from sea, air, and land. Aggressors deliberately target the peaceful population: killing lots of civilians, women and children in the major Georgian cities.

We do not possess enough force to stop one of the world’s strongest army. The only way to halt this horrible war is international intervention. So far those international crimes committed by the Russian hands have been ignored, Kremlin is encouraged by the silence of the International community and currently is trying to open another front-line in western part of Georgia. Moreover today [8/10] an additional 10,000 troops have crossed the border with hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles. Terrible clashes continue, there are lots of casualties on both sides.

This is not only our war. We are being punished for not staying on Russian orbit, for our attempts to build a real democratic pluralistic society, for willingness to integrate with the West and become a member of NATO. This is also your war too because you have to show that the achievements of our civilization: principle of sovereignty, solidarity among nations, human rights, and non-intervention will not be shattered away.

Speak up for the atrocities conducted by Russian occupants, voice up for killings of women and innocent children. This is a universal responsibility for the future of humankind, express your solidarity and condemn mass violence in order to avoid it tomorrow in your country.

We are all committed to defend out country. . . . If it is the last time you hear from me, than I wish you all the best . . .

David

Is it irony that I met David attending the Tertio Millennio Seminar on the Free Society, organized as communism was falling in the Soviet bloc, to promote moral, fruitful democratic societies? This year’s seminar brought together some thirty Eastern European and American young people, for an intensive study of John Paul II’s social teaching, especially as developed in the 1991 encyclical Centesimus Annus.

In light of the present conflict in Georgia, the words of CA come eerily to life: Our discussions and debates were not merely intellectual pastimes for the lecture hall, a pleasant excuse for three weeks in beautiful Kraków. The questions CA raises–most centrally, how to protect the “dignity of the person revealed in all its fullness in the mystery of the Incarnate Word,” particularly through the interlocking political, economic, and cultural facets of society–cannot go unasked and unanswered when hostile troops are at the door.

Whether the nation of Georgia, as a whole, is under threat remains to be seen. That many of its citizens are being threatened is undeniable. The question now, and to come, is how to reconcile what David terms the principles of “non-intervention” and “solidarity among nations,” what John Paul II calls our “shared responsibility for all humanity” and the commitment to peaceful resolutions, expressed in his cry, “War–never again!”

In the early years of the Free Society seminar, the sufferings of socialism and the horrors of Soviet oppression were fresh in the minds of the young participants. These memories are now fading–infantile recollections, tales from parents and grandparents, the admonitions of history. May it remain that way.

It seems that Ryan isn’t the only person asking what exactly Senator Obama wants to do to America. Last week, Hugh Hewitt latched on to the rather daft-sounding response Obama gave to a child who asked him why he wanted to be President: “America” said he “is, uh, is no longer, uh, what it could be, what it once was. And I say to myself, ‘I don’t want that future for my children.’” But what does he mean by that? Presumably he is not yearning to restore the days of conservative morals, Christian cultural preeminence and judicial restraint. The most natural thought is that he didn’t actually mean anything at all, that he just thought it sounded like the right thing to say. But Hewitt attempts the thought experiment of taking him seriously and comes to an ominous conclusion:

Rather than simply assume that Obama is unable to survive untethered to a teleprompter, we have to at least consider that Obama meant what he said, and that he genuinely believes the country to be not only badly broken, but unmoored from its essential nature: “No longer what it could be. What it once was.” It is the sort of critique that cannot be classified with a simple rejection of George Bush and his policies or even of the general conservative direction the country has been moving in since 1968 and especially since 1980.

Obama’s verdict–delivered in a few words to a very young American–is that America has gone radically wrong.

And that it will require radical change.

Perhaps we had an unscripted moment of candor, a declaration from the most radical nominee of a major party in history that he is not about a gentle turning towards the left, or even a major shift in legislative priorities or security policy.

Let’s take Obama at his word to a child: If he is elected, Obama sees his job as reshaping America in a fundamental way.

In a radical way.

My instinct is to call this overwrought partisan alarmism that overrates Obama’s political imagination and underrates his prudence, but it would be foolish to overlook the possibility that he could, as President, so completely buy into his own hype to try to reshape America. Democratic process being what it is, he would almost certainly fail. But the attempt could cost us dearly.