What Makes for a Great Book?

Theologian Fred Sanders, who teaches a great books program at  Biola ‘s  Torrey Honors Institute , lists eight qualities that make a book a “great book” : 7. A great book is weird. It’s got angles, edges, textures, and stuff sticking out that you wouldn’t . . . . Continue Reading »

Hollywood’s Version of Narnia

Steven D. Boyer has an excellent analysis of how the Narnia films subvert C.S. Lewis’s hierarchical world: Then follow some remarkable lines. Says Peter, “Don’t you ever get tired of being treated like a kid?” “We are kids,” Edmund wryly observes. “Well, I . . . . Continue Reading »

Today’s Mark of Sophistication

“These days,” writes R. R. Reno in today’s “On the Square” article, Culture Matters More Than Politics , “the ability to talk about politics in a knowing way is treated as a mark of sophistication, so much so, I think, that we’ve come tacitly to regard . . . . Continue Reading »

Gnostic Meditations and other stuff!

Here are some insightful excerpts from, “Secret Cinema: A Gnostic Vision in Film,”  a book by Wake Forest University English Professor, Eric Wilson: http://www.voegelinview.com/secret-cinema-gnostic-film-pt1.html Professor Peters, a clever writer and provocateur at The . . . . Continue Reading »

Afternoon Links — 10.27.10

A Vietnamese man has adopted fifty babies to save them from being aborted. Minnesota’s Democratic Party sent a postcard to voters consisting of a picture of a priest with an “Ignore the poor” button photoshopped onto his shirt. Some family law scholars are now insisting that a . . . . Continue Reading »

What Moynihan Could Have Done

In Pat Moynihan: The Great Catholic “What if . . . ” , today’s second “On the Square” article, George Weigel describes the scholar, writer, and senator’s career  and ponders what he, with his great gifts and opportunities, he might have done. Although . . . . Continue Reading »