Martin Heidegger is notorious for his embrace of Nazism in the 1930s. Yet he was a luminous commentator on the religious substance of modern poetry. Perhaps because of his own misbegotten metaphysical aspirations, Heidegger could feel and understand the anguish of those who sought but could not . . . . Continue Reading »
I’m a great lover of the English language, but I must confess that, lately, I’ve come to dread three words in particular. You hear them everywhere—at dinner, at the office coffee corner, in line to pick up the children from school. There’s always someone walking about half-dazed and . . . . Continue Reading »
Those early weeks, you could have been anyone, Too young for fingerprints, much less a name,And years away from our first catch-and-toss— A little flesh and blood, no brain, no bone, No one to blame.You did not count, you were not even close. We do . . . . Continue Reading »
David Brooks, an opinion columnist at the New York Times, has set himself a remarkable task: finding a cure for the modern epidemic of loneliness. In a series of thoughtful books—The Social Animal (2011), The Road to Character (2015), The Second . . . . Continue Reading »
Over the course of a long and fruitful career, Richard Hays has distinguished himself as one of the premier biblical theologians of his generation. A highly regarded New Testament scholar, the Duke divinity professor (now emeritus) has led the way in developing scholarly approaches that put . . . . Continue Reading »
Douglas Wilson argues for what ought to be uncontroversial: governance by wise Christians. He calls it “mere Christendom” in a recent book by that name, described as democratic politics in a constitutional regime that produces Christian-influenced laws. In other words, the not-so-long-ago . . . . Continue Reading »
There’s a car mechanic I have known for years. Ed knew my father and worked on his cars; he knows me and my cars; he knows my wife; he knows my neighbors and their vehicles. Some years ago, my father learned that Ed had lost a son. At some point, he shared with Ed that he, too, had lost a child. . . . . Continue Reading »
Peter Ackroyd is a major figure in contemporary English letters, a fluent and pleasing writer with dozens of fascinating books to his name in numerous genres—history, biography, chorography, criticism, and fiction. So the prospect of his reflections on the long history of Christian England is . . . . Continue Reading »
All politics is local, as they say. And so, before we proceed to the big question of this essay—Can modernity survive for much longer?—I want to start with a small one: Will the recent change of government make a difference to the people of Britain? The recently departed Conservative . . . . Continue Reading »
Is life worth living? “It depends on the liver.” Thus did William James pose the question, as well as the “jocose” answer that was currently circulating, when he addressed the Harvard Young Men’s Christian Association in 1895. He then immediately put his audience on notice that his . . . . Continue Reading »
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