Libya, Protests, and Spin

I hope you will all have seen the news breaking this morning prior to the meeting of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.   I first saw it on Powerline, in a piece by John Hinderaker.   Now, Paul Mirengoff of that site has a piece about leaking classified briefing . . . . Continue Reading »

Charitable Considerations

It is no secret that the USA is the most charitable country in the world.  Why? Well, we can be, but Dan Palotta of the WSJ points to tradition through our Puritan heritage and says charity was their response to the tensions within their doctrine, “they could do penance for their . . . . Continue Reading »

Mean Christianity

Last week, Kimberly Hyatt of Patheos asked why Christians are mean in “Look at the Christians: See How Mean They Are” . “Perhaps it is past time for us to stop focusing on what others are doing or trying to do and start taking responsibility for our own actions and their . . . . Continue Reading »

“We’re all Catholics now.”

This morning’s Wall Street Journal has an opinion piece by Mary Ann Glendon  about the Catholic bishops’ defense of religious liberty.  They have “filed 12 lawsuits on behalf of a diverse group of 43 Catholic entities that are challenging the Department of Health and . . . . Continue Reading »

What we have in common

Front Porcher Patrick Deneen criticizes the critics of the HHS mandate for using the “dominant privatistic language of liberalism.”  He agrees this is the prudent strategy, but believes it masks the deeper divide between Catholic and Modern political thought in general.  Such a . . . . Continue Reading »

Expanding the Secular Square

There has been a lot of thoughtful commentary on the HHS Mandate the last couple of weeks.  Ross Douthat and Yuval Levin argue that Obama levels the ‘little platoons’ of civil society in favor of expanding the power of the state.  Here is Levin: “In this arena, as in a . . . . Continue Reading »

Tocqueville on the Future of Religion

In case you don’t know, Peter’s The Restless Mind is one of the very best books there is on Tocqueville. Either the best, or in the top three. His post below, which contains a number of fascinating angles for further inquiry, and particularly about Tocqueville’s (scattered, and . . . . Continue Reading »

Leo, say it ain’t so!

Considering that many of the scholars that blog here are, to one degree or another, Straussians, I found this blog over at Spengler . . . well, informative. http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/spengler/2010/10/22/leo-strauss-destroyer-of-judaism/ Because I’ve not read Strauss and what . . . . 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 »

The Last Station

 Over the weekend, courtesy of my friends at Netflicks, the wife and I watched what may be the most under appreciated film in quite some time, The Last Station. Beautifully filmed while adhering closely to period costume, architecture, and environment (1910 Russia) the drama examines both . . . . Continue Reading »