In his column ” Personal Great Books ,” R.R. Reno invokes Augustine’s distinction between use and enjoyment, confessing his own temptation to use books rather than enjoy them. I suspect that anyone whose profession centers on texts could identify with this propensity. In The . . . . Continue Reading »
Jean Bethke Elshtain delivering the 2012 Erasmus Lecture, ” On Loyalty .” She died yesterday. It was not a surprise. Jean was suffering from a debilitating heart condition. But it was nonetheless a shock, as the sharp blow of death so often is, even when we see it coming. Jean was one . . . . Continue Reading »
Thanks to all those who’ve let me know about Jean’s death. Words escape me for now. But she had the most generous and loving of souls and quite the deep and true appreciation of who each of us is. I owe her several big debts, and I’m sure I didn’t give her the gratitude she . . . . Continue Reading »
Is Jesus a Baptist? Not really—but he’s not a Catholic either. In today’s On the Square , Timothy George considers the need for “particularity in the service of unity” and gives a thoughtful articulation of why he is a Baptist despite also believing . . . . Continue Reading »
Some aren’t great at all, but we love them anyway. In today’s On the Square , R. R. Reno considers the books that are not great, maybe not even good, but nonetheless of tremendous personal importance: Some books are great: Middlemarch by George Eliot, for example, or . . . . Continue Reading »
New York Times bestselling-author George Saunders gave a commencement speech at Syracuse University this past May that’s just beginning to get attention. Most commencement speeches are just terrible, but every year or so a good one stands out. Saunders’s speech is one of the good ones. . . . . Continue Reading »
The BBC reports that Pope Tawadros of the Coptic Orthodox Church (below) has cancelled his weekly public Bible study because he fears for the safety of his audience. At these weekly gatherings, Tawadros takes questions on Bible passages from a congregation gathered inside St. . . . . Continue Reading »
The Childless City Joel Kotkin and Ali Modarres, City Journal Unexpected Lessons From the Life of Kuyper Davey Henreckson, Comment Sometimes You Want to Go Where Nobody Knows Your Name Eve Tushnet, Acculturated Should Our Courts Tame the Administrative State? Joseph Postell, Library of Law & . . . . Continue Reading »
Such as you find, for example, in the some of the best parts of the American FIFTIES. Read what I have to say here . There sure were a lot of responses here, there, and everywhere to the St. John’s stuff below. I will get to them soon. The most PROBING was an email I got that wondered why my . . . . Continue Reading »
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