Vox Nova At The Movies: Doctor Faustus

Last updated on: November 23, 2007 at 2:23 pm By Henry Karlson

Mr. Neville Judson Coghill Wrote a deal of dangerous doggerill. Practical, progressive men Called him Little Poison-pen. — J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 275 in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. ed. Humphrey Carpenter (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981). A man of no small influence himself, Nevill Coghill was a medievalist, famous for his translations of Chaucer and Langland made for the BBC, but also for his work as a director for the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS). Moreover, as one of many... Read more

“Common-good conservatism”

Last updated on: November 22, 2007 at 7:40 pm By rgarnett

(Former) Sen. Rick Santorum writes: What I call “common-good” conservatism not only relies as much as possible on private charities and faith organizations, market forces, individual choice and decentralized decision-making, but also sees a role for government in empowering the nongovernmental institutions of civil society that serve the common good. For example, with the use of government vouchers, individuals are better able to choose a nonprofit service provider that is better for their families than a government program is. Similarly,... Read more

Happy Thanksgiving

Last updated on: November 22, 2007 at 7:12 pm By Radical Catholic Mom

To all of my Vox Nova contributors and to our readers, even those who live outside the States! Read more

Vox Nova At The Library: Pirate Freedom

Last updated on: November 22, 2007 at 12:14 pm By Henry Karlson

Note: While Vox Nova is meant to show Catholic commentaries on Culture, Society and Politics, for the most part the blog represents a Catholic dialogue with contemporary American society and its political concerns. However, there is room for more; my own Vox Nova at the Movies is an attempt to engage the culture at large; now I am beginning another series (and one which I hope others will also join in with me): Vox Nova at the Library. My posts... Read more

How Much Did Bush Know and When Did He Know It?

Last updated on: November 22, 2007 at 9:20 am By Henry Karlson

The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. There was one problem.... Read more

The Golden Compass

Last updated on: November 22, 2007 at 3:36 am By soutenus

A movie called, “The Golden Compass” is to be released this December. It stars Nicole Kidman and will be highly marketed around the world. We need to get the word out about this movie ~~> an atheist produced it ~~> it is marketed for children and ~~> in the end they kill God. The series’ author, Philip Pullman, is an avowed atheist who said in a 2003 interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, “My books are about killing God.” He... Read more

C.S. Lewis

Last updated on: November 21, 2007 at 7:18 pm By M.Z.

One should always take care criticizing what one has little knowledge. The extent of my knowledge of Lewis are quotes offered on occasion, testimonials of his greatness, and a partial reading of the Chronicles of Narnia. I had started reading the latter to my children, and we became bored with it. They were probably too young for the book, and science fiction is a genre that I don’t enjoy. Although I’m not attempting to get excommunicated here, I confess to... Read more

NATO and Putin

Last updated on: November 21, 2007 at 7:02 pm By Henry Karlson

What do you make of this news? Putin, accussing NATO of being a threat to Russia and violating many of its agreements with Russia, has put its nuclear arsenal into high alert. Are his fears legitimate? What should he be doing? What should the West be doing to ease his fears? Has the West and NATO entered too close to someone else’s boundaries? To answer this, just consider this: How would the United States react if Iran entered into an alliance with... Read more

Democrats–Sensitive to the Needs of the Poor? I don’t think so.

Last updated on: November 21, 2007 at 5:33 pm By voxnovablog

Barack Obama–Does he really “know what ‘this’ feels like”? Barack Obama had a recent campaign stop at Iowa and after he asked the crowd whether anyone had any questions, a sobbing woman, Geri Punteney, stood up and said (source): PUNTENEY: Hi, Obama. OBAMA: Hi. PUNTENEY: My name is Geri Punteney. I have a brother who is dying of cancer. [Starts crying.] (more…) Read more

Possible return of chant

Last updated on: November 21, 2007 at 4:18 pm By Policraticus

I used to play guitar at the liturgies at Franciscan Univeristy, but I will always prefer chant, organum and the organ in the Latin Rite liturgy. I keep a CD of Chant by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos in my office at work. Every semester, I play traditional Gregorian chant and organum composed by Leonin and Perotin for my undergraduates students when we come to the art of the Middle Ages in our humanities course, which is... Read more