Why Tocqueville? Why Today?
by James PoulosIn part two of my Atlantic interview , I say a few words on a subject that brings pomocons and front porchers together (for a bench-clearing brawl or a bout of hope and healing)? . . . . Continue Reading »
The Man Show
by James PoulosBe sure to tune in tonight to catch my friend and friend of this site Matthew B. Crawford on the Colbert Report . He’ll be talking about surly men, the need for speed, and his great book, Shop Class as Soulcraft . Hopefully he’ll also refer to himself as “the anti-Michael . . . . Continue Reading »
Summer Reading in the House of Curiosities
by Sally ThomasNot that all of this is either explicitly religious or — any of it — kitschy; it’s just what there is to write about today, while I wait for the next person to send in some oddity or other. The Five- and Six-Year-Olds (who get read aloud to together): Secret Water by Arthur . . . . Continue Reading »
Balzac, of all things
by Ralph HancockHere are a couple of excerpts from a brilliant decoding of Balzac’s esotericism, accomplished by Scott Sprenger, a colleague of mine at BYU. Consider the applications to the analysis of Straussianism, and to a post-Straussian postmodern critique of modernity: The fundamental problem that . . . . Continue Reading »
Heirs to the Kingdom
by Sally ThomasI can’t talk about the material culture of religion without, at least sometimes, talking about homeschooling. Of course, all stereotypes aside, homeschooling is not exclusively a religious phenomenon; when we began homeschooling, it was not for religious reasons, but because our oldest . . . . Continue Reading »
Note to Bill
by Sally ThomasThe comment you left asking me if I knew of a source for those ribbon-bookmark thingies got lost in the blog-changeover shuffle, and I’m worrying about the repetitive-stress-injury potential which your breviary poses. Might these be what you’re looking for? You can order them from St. . . . . Continue Reading »
My Upcoming Animal Rights Book Now Listed on Amazon
by Wesley J. SmithThe economy has slowed the release of my upcoming book criticizing the animal rights movement, but it is moving forward. It is now listed on Amazon. The title comes from PETA’s Ingrid Newkirk’s most famous quote: A Rat is a Pig is a Dog is a Boy: The Human Cost of the . . . . Continue Reading »
Hobbes, Hamlet, and Individuality
by James PoulosThe skill in desire and aversion is knowing how to preserve the practical self from dissolution. — OAKESHOTT As will one day be elaborated in a dissertation, Machiavelli’s eponymous Prince lived — and killed — by surfeit of this virtu ; Shakespeare’s Prince Hamlet . . . . Continue Reading »
A Secular Political Philosophy
by Ralph HancockCharles Taylor’s monumental (or at least huge) A Secular Age is, I suppose, old news already, but, as usual, it has taken me a long time to figure out how to undo Taylor with his own statements, and so now of course I have to share. Finally I’ve figured out this out, and I thought you . . . . Continue Reading »
The Business of America and the Transvaluation of Values
by James PoulosDavid Brooks’ recent column on genius , which offered a portrait of the Mozart who excelled by logging his ten thousand hours of rote practice to get on sooner to the good stuff, seemed to gibe poorly with not only our romantic understanding of unique human excellence but our practical . . . . Continue Reading »
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