Many sense that the West needs to reconsider its philosophical foundations. Reflexive appeals to old pieties no longer persuade. But those who look to modern philosophy for answers run into a problem best articulated by Leo Strauss: “Only a great thinker could help us in our intellectual plight. . . . . Continue Reading »
Four and a half months after Russia invaded Ukraine on the Orwellian pretext of “de-Nazification,” what have we learned about, and from, the Russian way of war?
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In Putin’s proposal, the transcendent dimension of religion is absorbed by the political, reversing the primacy of religion over politics that has always characterized the spiritual tradition of the Christian West. Continue Reading »
Given the rubbish about Ukraine spewed out by Russian propaganda trolls and regurgitated by foolish or ideologically besotted Americans, this year’s annual summer reading list will focus on serious books that explain the background of a conflict that will shape Europe’s future—and ours. Continue Reading »
Alexander Men knew something about spiritual voids, and he might have proposed filling that post-communist Russian emptiness with something beautiful and spiritually enriching, rather than with the ugly nationalism promoted by Kirill and other Russian Orthodox leaders. Continue Reading »
A meeting between the current Bishop of Rome and the current Patriarch of Moscow would not have been a meeting of two religious leaders. It would have been a meeting between a religious leader and an instrument of Russian state power. Continue Reading »
It is simply not the case that serious Christians can no longer use the categories of “just” and “unjust” in thinking about warfare. Continue Reading »
As Putin’s missiles have shattered Mariupol’, Kirill’s acquiescence in barbarism has shattered Russian Orthodoxy’s campaign to be first among Orthodox equals. Continue Reading »
By allowing lies, calumnies, and Kremlin propaganda to be issued in his name, Archbishop Viganò has written the obituary for what remained of his once-considerable religious and moral authority. Continue Reading »
Even at the height of the Cold War, no one thought of banning Russian literature, art, or music. Continue Reading »
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