Laughing into Modernity
by Peter J. LeithartEarly modern Europeans freed themselves from the burdens of a corrupted medieval world by laughing at it. Continue Reading »
Early modern Europeans freed themselves from the burdens of a corrupted medieval world by laughing at it. Continue Reading »
If there is hope to be found in this painful political year, it is in the fact that the spell which liberal modernity has long cast over the Christian imagination might finally be starting to dissolve even as technocracy tightens its grip on our everyday lives. Continue Reading »
The past is returning. Any return assumes a preceding departure. Perhaps, though, the past never left, and its absence will turn out to have been an illusion. Certain traits embedded in genes don’t manifest themselves for some time. That doesn’t mean they’ve disappeared, though; they’re . . . . Continue Reading »
Pluralism is often perceived as a threat to faith, associated with relativism and a loss of religious substance. I take a contrary position. It seems to me that pluralism is good for faith. For several years now, my work as a sociologist has circled around the phenomenon of pluralism. The result of . . . . Continue Reading »
For ancient philosophers, the dignity of contemplation lay in its fulfillment of our longing for truth. The architects of modern thought championed analysis for the sake of ever-greater power and security. The utopian island of Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis features a massive research facility for . . . . Continue Reading »
Bruno Latour’s 1993 We Have Never Been Modern is a neglected masterpiece. Its argument is compressed, the terminology idiosyncratic. Latour is witty, ironic, and funniest when he’s outraged. It’s not an easy book, but it’s worth the effort. As a diagnosis of us “moderns,” it’s more penetrating, and rings truer, than many better-known works. Continue Reading »
From the City Journal, this time, a full essay, with a title that says it all “City, Empire, Church, Nation.” Here’s a taste: During the premodern era, competing political formsthe city, the empire, and the Churchchecked one another, so it was necessary to . . . . Continue Reading »
This is the conclusion of the long series of Songbook posts kicked off by my simple observation that many bands championed as representative of new music , such as Crystal Castles, really arent . While many themes have been touched upon, overall, Songbook posts #36-51 have been about 1) . . . . Continue Reading »
From a book review highlighted by our friends at First Thoughts: “Marxists can account for the singular, closed character of modern society by invoking Marx’s theory of historical materialism. As we produce, so we are. Our families, our friendships, our associations, our imagination, . . . . Continue Reading »
It didnt become a hit, but this version does contain one of the bands better guitar solos, and what matters more for our purposes, anti-oligarchic lyrics. (Read my long post below to see what I mean by oligarchic.) Heres how it starts: You keep sayin no to her, Ever since . . . . Continue Reading »
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