The Ballast of Faith

by Peachy Keenan

At the end of the day, politics, even the “correct” politics, will not suffice to inoculate children against the seductions of modern culture. Continue Reading »

6 Jun 2023

Don’t Spare the Rod

by Daniel Buck

I teach in the most crime-ridden neighborhood in my city. I am not the best teacher in the building—they won’t make any Hollywood movies about me—but I am a good one. One administrator described my classes as a Jekyll-and-Hyde affair. There may be utter chaos elsewhere, but when my . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jun 2023

Our Lady of Azakh

by Samuel Sweeney

There’s a curious little church in the Syrian city of Derik. The Church of Our Lady (kanisat al-adhra in Arabic) is modern, built in 1958 atop the remains of a much older, undated church. The original church was long buried when a local parishioner, so the story goes, dreamt one night in 1940 . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jun 2023

Angel of New York

by John Byron Kuhner

On days when the world to me is desolation; when I cannot sit in my seat, or do any productive labor; when I have a terrible desire to be free, and my responsibilities seem not worth the effort, I console myself by walking in Central Park. As I enter by the Lagoon at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue and . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jun 2023

Benedict’s Dilemma

by Sam Zeno Conedera and Vincent L. Strand

In his 2005 Christmas address to the Roman Curia, the recently elected Pope ­Benedict XVI said that one main task of the Second Vatican Council had been to clarify the relation between Church and state. The pope stated that in the twentieth century, “Catholic statesmen demonstrated that a modern . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jun 2023

Fukuyama v. Fukuyama

by Nathan Pinkoski

To the general public, Francis Fukuyama’s name is synonymous with the “end of history” thesis, which contends that since the end of the Cold War and the fall of communism, liberal democracy is the only ideology that has a universal appeal. His detractors often accuse him of triumphalism, but . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jun 2023

Kafka’s Trials

by Theodore Dalrymple

The job of a translator is both difficult and one of great responsibility. An author can be utterly misrepresented in a language that is not his own: ­David Magarshack, for example, who translated Chekhov’s plays, argued that the entire Western approach to Chekhov was grossly mistaken and based . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jun 2023

Stay Outside

by Ephraim Radner

When I first moved to Toronto, I used to pass a certain office building on my way to work. The windows, main door, and wall facing the street were plastered with signs telling visitors that this space was scent-free, smoke-free, violence-free, a place where harassment and disrespect were “not . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jun 2023

Christ-Like Holden Caulfield

by Lee Siegel

When I recently ventured to say to an old acquaintance of mine, an academic mandarin who teaches literature at an elite university, that The Catcher in the Rye was a profound work of art, he smiled gregariously as if about to relish a shared ironic joke, then gazed at me with slowly . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jun 2023

The Simplest Jew

by Liel Leibovitz

Once upon a time, goes an old Hasidic tale, the great Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev was walking down the street when he ran into a fellow Jew. It was one of Judaism’s fast days, and yet there was Levi Yitzchak’s acquaintance, enjoying a hearty meal. “My son,” said the rabbi softly, . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jun 2023