C. S. Lewis and the Cardinal Virtues
I first read C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity when I was a teenager. I distinctly remember finding the first two sections of the book relating to apologetics very interesting, but I quickly became bogged down in his following examination of Christian behavior and the doctrine of the Trinity. Recently, however, I have found this back half of the book much more enriching than before. In particular, I have been intrigued by Lewis’s use of...
O Be Careful Little Tongue What You Say: A Theology of Speaking Well
Perhaps we have all been frustrated by a persnickety grammarian or pronunciation nag in our lives—the kind of person who leaps on every misplaced modifier in our speech or authoritatively demands that his pronunciation of a word is far superior to how your regional accent forms the sound. Or, maybe we have been guilty of it ourselves from time to time. While this sort of priggish nitpicking is frustrating and counterproductive, we...
An Invitation: Roger Scruton and the Intellectual Heritage of Conservatism
Early in 2020, as the nations of the world began tearing themselves apart in fear of a projected global pandemic, one of the most important minds of our time quietly passed away. Sir Roger Scruton (1944–2020) was a British philosopher and public intellectual who succumbed to lung cancer shortly after he was first diagnosed. More than any other intellectual of the late twentieth- and early twenty-first century, Scruton invited others...
Technology and Culture in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey
A year before the United States first landed a man on the moon, director Stanley Kubrick released one of the most celebrated space films in history—2001: A Space Odyssey. The film won a host of awards in different categories. The visual power of the film is arresting, and the soundtrack became a trope in American culture. Yet beyond all of the spectacle, critics regarded Kubrick’s masterpiece so highly because, like the best art, it...
Educating for the Polis or the Love of God?
Perhaps you have noticed that the educational system in America is a cultural battleground. Radical ideologues are implanting their worldviews into our culture through our various educational institutions. In Pennsylvania, nursing students’ grades are adversely affected if they do not offer preferred pronouns.[1] In New York, a state legislator has produced legislation that would require public schools to provide instruction...
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