Peter Lawler

So Marc Guerra (America’s leading theologian) and I are finalists for a big SCIENCE OF VIRTUE grant at the University of Chicago. Although I doubt we’ll win, we deserve to win. That’s because we alone are defending the one true “stuck with virtue” science of virtue. . . . . Continue Reading »

So I got an email criticizing my post below for not talking up ELI as representing the truth that is Christian theology. Good point, actually. Here’s my feeble memory of what the movie’s unfashionable but genuinely illuminating teachings are along those lines: 1. Each of us has free . . . . Continue Reading »

1. It’s very much worth seeing, although it’s far from the best movie ever made. The best Christian movie ever made remains TENDER MERCIES. But Bob may be right and I may be wrong. It could be that the movie’s teaching style doesn’t correspond to my learning style. 2. JWC . . . . Continue Reading »

So I got one irate email from our only reader who noticed I didn’t follow through on my promise to give my opinions on a lot of Holiday movies. Still haven’t seen AVATAR. Cameron’s inane, Hollywoody, everything’s connected yada yada Golden Globe acceptance speech . . . . Continue Reading »

So the first book we’re reading for my seminar on bioethics is BIOTECHNOLOGY: OUR FUTURE AS HUMAN BEINGS AND CITIZENS, edited by Sean D. Sutton. This is undoubtedly the most balanced collection of essays by the leading public intellectuals in our debate over the implications of the coming . . . . Continue Reading »

1. Thanks to Ivan the K and the various threaders (including jwc) for their astute comments on Mr. Jefferson’s university. 2. One of Mr. Jefferson’s strongest stands was against any Calvinists teaching there. According to Tocqueville, that stand is typically Virginian. DEMOCRACY IN . . . . Continue Reading »

So I’m continuing my project of reading the books on which the still lingering Holiday movies are based. Walter Kirn’s UP IN THE AIR is very different from and much funnier than the movie. The book’s narrator (the Clooney character in the movie) gives a rather urbane and quite . . . . Continue Reading »

So I went to four of the Holiday movies. I still haven’t gone to AVATAR and, contrary to my promise, may not get around to it. I sort of buy the argument of Porcher Caleb that Christian and imperial conservatives have been overreacting to it. That’s not because pantheism in the sense of . . . . Continue Reading »

I actually think the Dr. Pat Deneen post referenced by Voegelian Bob below is too over-the-top to command a detailed response. Let it stand as a singular work of art. But if I were to respond, I would out its Heideggerian Marxism. According to Heidegger, the United States and the Soviet Union were . . . . Continue Reading »

So I was at a local Christmas party last night. There I met a most admirable young man with six beautiful and happy children and a seventh on the way. He makes his leaving as a boutique metal worker (cupolas and such), and he’s obviously a fine craftsman and an able entrepreneur. Not only . . . . Continue Reading »