In his essay "Democracy and Industrial Society", Eric Voegelin (alluding to Ernest Renan) speaks of three foundational elements in Western society: Hellenistic Philosophy, Jewish-Christian Religion and Roman Administrative Order. In shorthand, this means our society has the constituitive elements of Reason (studium, the School) Revelation (sacerdotium, the Church, priests) Power (imperium, the administration of justice [...]
Somehow in this corrupt and disappointing institution, there is at least one really great priest. Obviously, there are many. But today I met with a man who cannot be explained. This crooked Church filled with crooked sinners (like me), a Church which can legitimately be prosecuted as a criminal organization under the RICO statues in the [...]
Guess what? There's this really great online book club, started by my friend Brian Daigle of Sequitur Classical Academy in Baton Rouge. It's called The Pillar and it features online discussions of current books, classics and everything in between. Last night The Pillar hosted a live webinar with Anthony Esolen, author of Out of the Ashes - Rebuilding [...]
What is it about homilies on the Woman at the Well that annoys me so much? The worst I ever heard was by a priest with horn-rimmed glasses, a creepy demeanor and an utter inability to relate to people, who said that Jesus "grew" in his encounter with the Woman at the Well. He "grew" in [...]
The sophisticated entertainment of Branson, Missouri In 1922 (95 years ago), GK Chesterton visited America and wrote that while the people of the American Mid-West grew their own food they did not grow their own culture. They had their own agriculture, but not their own artistic culture. "Their culture comes from the great cities; and that [...]
When the Sadducees ask Jesus about marriage and the resurrection (Luke 20:27-40), they are not asking the question in good faith. They are being smart alecks. They are trying to trip Him up. "So there's a resurrection, huh? Well what about a woman who is widowed seven times, whose wife will she be in the resurrection, [...]
I have often been troubled by proclaiming that I believe in "one holy Catholic and apostolic Church" which is far from holy here and now. One holy Church? Where? Holy? How? Yes, there are some saints I know who are alive and breathing, but the Church as a whole is far from holy. I myself am [...]
I had the privilege of sharing the stage at the Prairie Troubadour conference two weeks ago with Anthony Esolen, one of the leading Catholic intellectuals of our day. Rod Dreher quotes Anthony Esolen from his book Out of the Ashes (emphasis mine) ... I should stipulate, here, that such programs should not be infested with professors who despise the [...]
To explain why we can't communicate requires some skill in communication. I'm going to try to paraphrase an essay by Eric Voegelin. But every time I enthusiastically share Eric Voegelin quotes with a friend, I lose that friend. There seems to be something intimidating in the way Voegelin writes that makes people's eyes gloss over. So [...]
We live in a world in which people think that enthusiasm fixes everything. When I was a young man, I was enthusiastic, at least about one thing: women. I wanted a Love Affair that Mattered. And so I had an intense affair with a young woman who was as enthusiastic as I was and who I [...]
