In the first chapter of Jude, Christians are commanded to contend for the faith. There were ages when this command was popular, times when fighting blood was aroused easily and without guilt. This is not such a time. We prefer “Twitter Heroes” who abandon the faith of the Apostles, but do so coyly, attacking their foes by being hurt or claiming to be misunderstood after chuffing some old heresy tarted up in modern academic jargon. I fear that most of us wish to... Read more
We could use some steadiness just now. Good qualities often are found in balance: do not be stingy or a spendthrift, avoid cowardice or rashness. Aristotle and the book of Proverbs are right: moderation in all things. A colleague reminded me that Professor Al Geier (often!) said that this moderation applied to moderation: there is a time to party albeit prudently! A generation, nation, or region may have particular virtues that are best loved and this creates a danger. The... Read more
Read about the downfall of any tyrant, even a less than awful one such as Napoleon, and you marvel at the increasingly foolish decisions the tyrant makes. If only they did not, if only they stopped, if only they did not say, but the tyrants do, go on, speak. They cannot stop. Why? Plato suggests in Republic that a tyrant is afraid. He has what many of us want, but that something, power, has made him a target. He knows, how well... Read more
The dog Nessie asks me every day: “What larks today?” She anticipates joy and so I am bound to provide. Why? She is a reminder that there is natural order, a normal, and we should not forget. Nessie longs for food, water, toys, and affection, mostly affection. She will leave a bowl full of food to snuggle with the Fairest Flower in all Christendom. Who would not? Nessie lives in “is”, never able to question what should have been. The... Read more
If you assume something is true, then showing that it is true is easy. Contrary facts can be forced into your general view of reality. Robert Service knows more about Russia than most Russians, but that has not kept him from writing a pitiable book on the last Russian Tsar. One imagines his publisher rushing to the scholar and saying: “Nicholas II is box office. Write a book.” Charity forbids thinking the author made this calculus, though the book is... Read more
The progressive movement in America was born in a renewed white supremacy based on “elite science” and maudlin literature. Woodrow Willson, president of Princeton and of the United States, was the political leader. Thomas Dixon was a central propagandist. Dixon left Evangelicalism because for all its problems, evangelicalism could not, quite, abandon her Black brothers and sisters.** Of course many did, God forgive them, but the Bible nagged. It was the racialists that had left the good old book behind... Read more
Nobody likes the culture war, not even the culture warriors. Being “against” anything not associated with Hitler sounds preachy and we prefer decadent to preachy. Meanwhile, patriotism, family, and God are topics that lend themselves to affirmation and irony. If Papa shouldn’t preach, he should try for irony if he must opine. Unless John F. Kennedy’s America was theocracy, people could choose to pray in their local schools without destroying religious freedom. The Court stopped this historic custom and if... Read more
In one day, I saw a museum of Communism and a museum of Alphonse Mucha. This was intentional since the communists and Mucha were nothing alike. They made mistakes, very different in scale, but one error may have led to the greater one. The communist dream was bound to become a nightmare because it came with so much ugliness. Whatever Soviet Realism, the official art of Communism, was, it was bad art and a movement that elevates ugliness in the name... Read more
The most powerful person in a college student’s life is often the resident advisor: ill paid, but ideologically driven. Classroom time is not the only learning time. When I talk to students and parents, they don’t realize that the campus social climate will have as big (or bigger) impact on their education than professors. I suspect that if the campus looks like a resort (fun!) and has a good academic reputation, then thinking stops. Like choosing the shiny cup in the... Read more
Shooting is a hobby, a means of self-defense, and a bastion against tyranny. Guns also are misused and become part of crimes and horrible accidents. Of course, this misuse is small compared to the misuse of lethal power by the state! The Communist Party of China has a near monopoly on lethal power and the results are not pretty. Liberty to do or own something comes with risk. Christians want peace, but perfect peace is not possible in our present condition... Read more
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