1 Paul begat Augustine;
2 Augustine begat Thomas,
3 Bonaventure, Bernard, Anselm, Boethius,
4 And Scotus, who prospered before his brothers.
5 Forsooth the son of Scotus was Ockham.
6 And the sons of Ockham were Luther and Calvin.
7 And their sons were Division and Strife,
8 Hobbes, Locke, Shaftesbury,
9 Hume and Smith and Madison.
10 All of whom begat Modernity.
11 And Modernity begat those
12 Who trace intellectual genealogies no less tediously
13 Than did Israelites those of blood.
Matthew Schmitz is deputy editor of First Things.
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