The Spiritual Stakes of The Rings of Power
by Alexi SargeantWhat I care most about, along with many other fans, is whether The Rings of Power fits with the spirit of Tolkien’s legendarium. My answer, so far, is a tentative yes. Continue Reading »
Devils in the Mind
by Algis ValiunasAldous Huxley was in certain respects a modern disenchanted intellectual, and he had no use for actual demons; but there are persons as serious and sane as he was who can state with authority that demons and demonic possession are real. Continue Reading »
Systemic Evil and the Justice of Advent
by Peter J. LeithartAdvent announces the coming of the Lord who breaks the arms of the sex traffickers, the drug lords, the arms dealers, and all their respectable collaborators. Continue Reading »
Intrinsic Evil and McCarrick
by Dan HitchensThe idea of intrinsic evil may look harsh and punitive. But to those struggling to stay afloat, it can be a lifeline. Continue Reading »
Job’s Children
by Shalom CarmyIn S. Y. Agnon’s 1939 novel A Guest for the Night, one of the protagonists, Daniel Bach, recounts his loss of faith. Throughout World War I, as a soldier in the trenches, he had been meticulous about donning his tefillin to recite his daily prayers. Until one morning, the tefillin . . . . Continue Reading »
Virtuous Evildoers
by Gilbert MeilaenderAt the end of Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, Brutus and Cassius, the conspirators who had assassinated Caesar, are themselves dead. Brutus has, in fact, fallen upon his sword rather than face capture by the armies of Octavius and Mark Antony. Brutus was bad enough to betray and murder a . . . . Continue Reading »
Pope Francis, Exorcist
by Charlotte AllenJust in time for Halloween, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has published an English translation of the hitherto only-in-Latin rite of exorcism. Continue Reading »
Surprised by Evil
by Peter LeithartMacbeth’s ambition is to murder time itself. He wishes he could perform one act that would bring the end of acting, one final deed. He wants to drop a pebble into a pool without causing ripples. He finds he can’t, and instead each murder just makes it more difficult for him to stop murdering. Continue Reading »
The Moral Universe of Hannibal
by Alexi SargeantA woman lovingly plucks a dead pheasant. A man places a human arm on a cutting board with care, readying his chef’s knife. A woman sinks into a bathtub, seemingly dropping into an abyss. A corpse is lifted on high, framed by wings made of broken glass.All these images (horrific, gorgeous, . . . . Continue Reading »
Germanwings and Evil
by Martyn Wendell JonesIn the days since audio was extracted from the black box recorder of crashed Germanwings flight 4U9525 suggesting that copilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately downed the plane, investigators and journalists have rushed to find an explanation for his actions. Continue Reading »
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