The St. Austin Review
The St. Austin Review (StAR) is an international journal of Catholic culture, literature, and ideas. In its pages, printed every two months, some of the brightest and most vigorous minds around meet to explore the people, ideas, movements, and events that shape and misshape our world.
Shakespeare: Not of an Age, But for All Time
Sample Article Villiany, Taught and Executed: Jesuit Philosopher and a Jesuit Poet: A Thomistic Reading of Hopkins’ “As Kingfishers Catch Fire”
It would be a mistake to think that literature exists only to give us simple morality lessons. It instead exists to display human experience. It manifests before us some human beings in human circumstances, faced with human dilemmas and choices, acting for human reasons, and enduring the human consequences. It does not direct our moral considerations; it merely informs them. But oh, what information is supplied! Treat a man like a beast, and he will grow brutal. Give that brutal man an opportunity to slay his tormentor, he will leap at it. Realize such revenge, and destruction will be consummated. Let mercy present itself as an option against a deadly earnest, and some may nobly seize upon it. We can then assign moral praise or blame according to our own lights, but through literature we must first get our facts straight.
The Merchant of Venice portrays the power and claim of mercy in our affairs, but first shows forth that no one seeks revenge out of thin air; there is always a reason, otherwise it would not be revenge. Except for the restraint of proportion, there is little to no natural check against it as such boiling spite is emulsified with some sense of justice. Resolute and narrow in its vision, it is frequently impervious to reason, even to the caution of the unforeseen ruin that so often attends such pursuits. Unflinching, it can usually yield to nothing other than grace; that is, the whole paradigm shift that grace can effect on the vengeful mind, radically altering the perspective to consider mercy, if the will is not walled up in stubbornness.
The Ink Desk Blog
July-August Issue: Reason Versus Rationalism
Sample Content from Our Latest Issue Table of Contents Sample [...]
May-June issue: Saints Alive! Celebrating the Church Triumphant
Sample Content from Our Latest Issue Table of Contents Sample [...]
March-April issue: Faith and Philosophy
March-April Issue: Shakespeare Sample Content from Our Latest [...]
November-December issue: Europe and the Culture of Christendom
Sample Content from Our Latest Issue Table of Contents Sample [...]
September-October issue: Feminine Faith and Fortitude
Sample Content from Our Latest Issue Table of Contents Sample [...]
Beauty and Propaganda
What's the most beautiful state-sponsored propaganda ever written? Beauty and [...]
Doodling toward Wisdom: Ageless Children’s Literature and Harold and the Purple Crayon
Ask a six year old to draw a sun, [...]
St. Austin Review Issues
More From The Ink Desk Blog
Great Books for Good Men
Joseph Pearce's new book is now available... Great Books for Good Men - Joseph Pearce
Doubting Thomas and Graham Greene
Why did the great Catholic novelist choose "doubting Thomas" as his patron saint? Doubting Thomas and Graham Greene - Joseph Pearce
Homer for Homeschoolers
Making The Iliad accessible for today's teenagers... Homer for Homeschoolers - Joseph Pearce
Who Do You Say That I Am?
Is Jesus who he says He is? You better believe it! Seeing Christ as the Everlasting Man... Who Do You Say That I Am? - Joseph Pearce
Under the Southern Cross
Celebrating Australian heroes of Christendom... Under the Southern Cross - Joseph Pearce
Belloc’s War
Going to war with Hilaire Belloc... Belloc's War - Joseph Pearce