In the latest issue of the NYRB , Mark Lilla takes apart Corey Robin’s recent The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin . Lilla quotes this from Robin: “Conservatism is the theoretical voice of this animus against the agency of the subordinate classes. It provides the most consistent and profound argument as to why the lower orders should not be allowed to exercise their independent will, why they should not be allowed to govern themselves or the... Read more
I offer a few simple thoughts about how to think about empires today at http://www.firstthings.com/ Read more
Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote in support of laws that ban flag-burning: “The flag is not simply another ‘idea’ or ‘point of view’ competing for recognition in the marketplace of ideas. Millions of millions of Americans regard it with an almost mystical reverence regardless of what sort of social, political, or philosophical belief they may have. I cannot agree that the First Amendment invalidates the Act of Congress, and the laws of 48 of the 50 states, which make criminal the... Read more
In War and the American Difference: Theological Reflections on Violence and National Identity , Hauerwas offers this sobering assessment of American Protestantism. American churches contributed massively to formation of America, but the God that Americans believe in “turns out to be the American god.” This god doesn’t need a church; in place of a church, he has providentially established a free people, and this establishment is the great historical proof of the existence and wisdom of the American god. Left... Read more
In War and the American Difference: Theological Reflections on Violence and National Identity , Hauerwas offers this sobering assessment of American Protestantism. American churches contributed massively to formation of America, but the God that Americans believe in “turns out to be the American god.” This god doesn’t need a church; in place of a church, he has providentially established a free people, and this establishment is the great historical proof of the existence and wisdom of the American god. Left... Read more
Harry Stout’s Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War is a chilling book, but one of the most chilling moments comes at the end, in a quotation of a letter from General Philip Sheridan to Sherman in 1873: “In taking the offensive [against Indians] I have to select that season when I can catch the fiends; and, if a village is attacked and women and children killed, the responsibility is not with the soldiers... Read more
Peter Gordon has an excellent discussion of Jurgen Habermas’s alleged “turn to religion” in the latest issue of TNR . Gordon wants to show that Habermas has long shown interest in religion, and that his recent obsession with it is not evidence that he has abandoned his commitment to secular reason. Gordon is also sharp in spotting the difficulties that Habermas has set for himself. He quotes a passage from The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere (A Columbia... Read more
Peter Gordon has an excellent discussion of Jurgen Habermas’s alleged “turn to religion” in the latest issue of TNR . Gordon wants to show that Habermas has long shown interest in religion, and that his recent obsession with it is not evidence that he has abandoned his commitment to secular reason. Gordon is also sharp in spotting the difficulties that Habermas has set for himself. He quotes a passage from The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere (A Columbia... Read more
Thomas ( ST II-II, 2, 7) argues that every saved person, including Adam, had explicit knowledge of the incarnation of Christ: “the object of faith includes, properly and directly, that thing through which man obtains beatitude. Now the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation and Passion is the way by which men obtain beatitude . . . . Therefore belief of some kind in the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation was necessary at all times and for all persons.” Yet the content and... Read more
Thomas ( ST II-II, 2, 7) argues that every saved person, including Adam, had explicit knowledge of the incarnation of Christ: “the object of faith includes, properly and directly, that thing through which man obtains beatitude. Now the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation and Passion is the way by which men obtain beatitude . . . . Therefore belief of some kind in the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation was necessary at all times and for all persons.” Yet the content and... Read more
Leithart
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In