If you haven’t come across it yet, Anthony Esolen has been writing a series of articles–expositions, really–covering the seven “lively virtues,” counterparts to the more widely-known deadly sins, for Crisis. This morning the third in the series, on meekness, went up. Considering the finding of Christ in the Temple, Esolen writes:

The poet sees what a theologian might miss.  Mary has what any mother would consider just cause for anger – what Thomas Aquinas calls parvipensio, to slight, to treat someone as if he counted for little.  Yet her words are not angry.  She pleads for understanding; she waits for the answer from Jesus.  We can imagine the boy shaking his head quizzically, wondering about their wondering.  His reply is not defiant, but half amused.  Where else did they think he could possibly be?  Mary did not understand, but she “kept all these sayings in her heart” (Lk. 2:51).  The Greek suggests that she kept watch over them, she held them close, just as she kept and pondered the tidings of the shepherds when Jesus was born (Lk. 2:19).

Mary did not brood; she pondered.  She is here our exemplar of meekness, that sweet and mild virtue that, like the soft answer, “turneth away wrath” (Prov. 15:1).  Jesus identifies himself with the virtue, saying, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly of heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden light” (Mt. 11:28-30).

As in much of his work, Esolen blends a critical approach with a meditative mood, and backs it up with ample Scriptural citations and literary allusions (including, of course, to Dante). See his latest here, and his two previous pieces (covering humility and solicitude, respectively) for an engaging read.

James R. Rogers on his appreciation for Charles Colson:

I never met Charles Colson. But the ministry he started played a pivotal role in my life. I don’t know that I would ever have gotten involved in prison ministry some 20 years ago were it not for Prison Fellowship. At that time I was a grad student. I had gradually formed a desire to be involved in what I term “Matthew 25 ministries”—feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned. For whatever reason, it was visiting the imprisoned that drew my attention.

Also today, Monica Migliorino Miller on what October Baby could have been:

October Baby, a movie with a blatantly pro-life theme, deserves support and its makers praise for their courage and vision. That said, I give October Baby a “B minus” grade. But this movie could have been an “A.” Why did this admirable effort fall short of being a much better film? First of all, if I say October Baby deserves at least a “B minus” grade, this means the movie, in some important respects, worked very well.

Democrats like cognac and Republicans enjoy light beers, Thomas B. Edsall reports:

Who would have guessed that the most Democratic drink by a long shot is Cognac, or that such lite beers as Amstel Lite, Michelob Ultra, Miller Lite and Sam Adams Light tilt so far to the political right, while Bud, Miller High Life, and Natural Lite are Democratic?

0416edsall-chart6-jumbo

(Click graph to expand.)

Scotch, Guinness, and Bud Light sit right in the middle. Those who abstain from alcohol, including many Evangelical voters, are of course left out altogether.

Naomi Schaefer Riley has been bumped from the Chronicle of Higher Education’s group blog for sharing her thoughts on black studies scholarships:

You’ll have to forgive the lateness but I just got around to reading The Chronicle’s recent piece on the young guns of black studies. If ever there were a case for eliminating the discipline, the sidebar explaining some of the dissertations being offered by the best and the brightest of black-studies graduate students has made it. What a collection of left-wing victimization claptrap. The best that can be said of these topics is that they’re so irrelevant no one will ever look at them.

That’s what I would say about Ruth Hayes’ dissertation, “‘So I Could Be Easeful’: Black Women’s Authoritative Knowledge on Childbirth.” It began because she “noticed that nonwhite women’s experiences were largely absent from natural-birth literature, which led me to look into historical black midwifery.” How could we overlook the nonwhite experience in “natural birth literature,” whatever the heck that is? It’s scandalous and clearly a sign that racism is alive and well in America, not to mention academia.

The Chronicle received innumerable letters protesting the publication of her racially insensitive article. For his part, Rod Dreher can’t help wondering “how she manages to keep up her racist chops, give that she’s been married for some time to a black man.”

Read Naomi’s article here.

This is heavy-handed and one’s amusement will depend on one’s views of the target, but some of you will enjoy it: Ayn Randers, an advice column written by one of the last century’s morally coarsest political thinkers. For example:

Dear Ayn,

I’m dating a man who I think I love, but I’m afraid he’s having an affair. He comes home late, he acts suspiciously, and he even has red lipstick on his collar. Should I confront him or just hope for the best?

— County Affair

Dear County,

Red lipstick? Your husband is a communist. Divorce him and sell his clothes, children, and pens to make money to spend on cars, human slaves, and bigger pens. This will simultaneously stimulate the economy and punish the slaves for not having jobs. Slaves: what lazybones!

Hope this helps,
Ayn,

Update: Here is something also from McSweeney’s not heavy-handed and much funnier: Our Daughter Isn’t a Selfish Brat: Your Son Just Hasn’t Read Atlas Shrugged.

First Things contributor, film director, and new media impresario Tim Kelleher gives an interview to Dr. Adam DeVille of LOGOS in which he discusses the content, formation, and impact of the Nicene Creed:

AD: When it comes to the creed, Eastern and Western versions are identical except for one little word that has created huge problems: the “filioque.” You do not really address that in your film. Why not?

TK: It’s true. I deliberately chose not to address the “filioque.” Given the time constraint (approx. 30 minutes), I felt I couldn’t justify “stepping out” of a narrative meant to focus on the Creed’s unifying charism. Certainly, the filoque is an important and fascinating topic, well worth exploring. Thankfully, it is also an issue that needs no longer pose an obstacle to the existentially urgent request issued so poignantly in Ut Unum Sint.

AD: Do we take the Creed for granted today? I’m thinking here of the common practice in Orthodox, Catholic, and some Protestant traditions to recite the Creed every Sunday. Do you think that weekly recitation helps with understanding and appreciation of the creed or does it instead tend to encourage a rote-memorization approach that glazes the riches of what the Creed actually says?

TK: I know that for a long time I took it for granted. Certainly, working on this project opened up aspects of the Creed I really hadn’t appreciated before.  In the film, one of our participants puts it very well, calling it “an under-examined, under-utilized, and under-appreciated instrument,” and voices the hope that parishes and all manner of Christian communities will come together to study the Creed. As he says, “It has produced saints of incredible power.” I can’t argue with that.

European Elections’ Real Winner: The Far Right
Peter Popham, The Independent

Secularism, Creativity, and Art
Charles Murray, New Criterion

Barack Obama & T. S. Eliot
Peter Lawler, Big Think

Marilynne Robinson’s ‘Narrative Calvinism’
Rachel Stone, Her.menutics

The Best Use of a Thurible?
Fr. Tim Finigan, The Hermeneutic of Continuity