A Cornucopia of Life
by Elizabeth BachmannA culture of life, therefore, means not just preserving physical life, but developing rich spiritual, intellectual, and emotional lives. Continue Reading »
Leo Strauss and the Closed Society
by Matthew RoseIn the spring of 1941, as Hitler was laying plans for his invasion of the Soviet Union, Leo Strauss gave a lecture at the New School for Social Research as part of a seminar on “Experiences of the Second World War.” The lecture, which was not published until five decades later, marked one of the . . . . Continue Reading »
The Intellectual Vocation
by Joshua P. HochschildThe point of intellectual life is to practice the judgment of discerning enduring insight. Continue Reading »
Conversations About the Common Good
by John WilsonWe must acknowledge that consensus about the “common good” is unattainable. Continue Reading »
Mary, Seat of Wisdom
by R. R. RenoIn the Virgin Mary we can identify the dispositions, qualities, and virtues we need to be truth-receivers and truth-givers, which is to say, genuine intellectuals. Continue Reading »
Sacramental Realism
by R. R. RenoTo outsiders, the proposal of communion for the divorced and remarried seems a modest adjustment. But it has provoked adamant resistance among the faithful because it throws in doubt the basic logic of the gospel. From her beginnings, the Church has known that the baptized, while born again in . . . . Continue Reading »
Let’s Lead, Not Be Led
by R. R. RenoPaul Ryan will not seek another term in Congress. No doubt the personal reasons he gave for bowing out are important. But it’s likely he’s also frustrated that the market-oriented and freedom-focused conservatism he took for granted has lost traction. He’s not alone. The ideas and priorities . . . . Continue Reading »
Letter to an Aspiring Intellectual
by Paul J. GriffithsYou’ve asked me how to become an intellectual. You’re young, it seems (only young people ask questions of that kind), and you think you might have an intellectual vocation, but you can’t see what to do about it. What should you do in order to become the kind of person an intellectual is? What . . . . Continue Reading »
The Failure of the Conservative Intellectuals
by David RandallAn intellectual doesn’t have to play that particular game. He can think and write about art or anthropology; contemplate Euclid or Euthyphro; or even argue for what he takes to be the truth of politics, rather than seek out political victory. Continue Reading »
Freedom and Intellectual Life
by Zena HitzWhat is the point of studying the humanities? The question reflects the current climate among humanist educators: anxiety shading into despair. As enrollments decline, programs are cut, and tenure diminishes, mainstream educational institutions are becoming uncomfortable places for teachers who want . . . . Continue Reading »
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