Finder of Pebbles
My daughter’s pockets run so deep, And as we walk the well-trod trail With narrow curves and unexpected slopes, Her roving eye and plucking fingers Pick the…
EVS at APSA
Dear Friends, As you look forward to the new year and recover from your holiday celebrations it is never too soon to begin thinking about our EVS…
Gnosticism and Modernity
In 1971, Notre Dame University held a conference to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Voegelin’s Walgren Lectures given at the University of Chicago and published the following…
Arvo Pärt at 90
Few contemporary composers are as well-established in the classical music repertoire as Arvo Part. Like Stravinsky, who also achieved international fame during his lifetime, Part’s music is…
The Time Being: W.H. Auden on Joy, Suffering, and the Space After Christmas
This year, more than any other year, my social media feed has been flooded with jokes about the limitless, uncountable, unmeasurable stretch of time between Christmas and…
Domestic Altar
On a cold autumn morning A winter storm was moaning But away indoors there arose a hush Quieting ourselves from the season's rush For Father was then…
Mozart and the Meaning of Christmas
Mozart is one of the greatest composers and musical geniuses who ever lived. This is not controversial. What is, however, is Mozart’s Catholicism. Not that Mozart wasn’t…
A Christmas Carol Reflection
May Christmas be a time of good cheer for you, your family, your loved ones. During this ingathering of family and friends, stories are usually shared about…
The Unfinished Sentence
In your insular grave You sleep, Surrounded by motion, life, illusions, vanity, hypocrisy. This is the end – The beginning, others say. Nothingness, The eternal abyss. From…
A Prayer to Saint Anthony
I dreamed, and in the dream of which I now relate, I saw St. Anthony summoned to St. Peter’s golden gate. “Dear patron saint of finding things…
J.M.W. Turner, Victor Frankenstein, and the Hard Problem of Consciousness
In 1818 while visiting his friend and patron Walter Fawkes, artist J.M.W. Turner was requested to make a painting of a British war ship by Fawkes’ young…
Scott Wheeler and Birds of America
Much of the classical music being composed today is characterized by what I call the Three U’s: Unintelligible, Unstructured, and Un-singable. Alternatively bland and erratic, such music…
Demons, Technology, and the Fall
Peter Thiel’s recent obsession with the Antichrist seems uncannily appropriate to our times. The ascription of demonic influence to things and people was once relegated to a…
Multyfarnham Abbey
Sandstone speckled stone walls, in eventide communicate sun’s daily worship. Atmosphere is tensed by sweat of brow and hands of prayer. As pilgrims our hearts and minds…
Giving Tuesday: Your Help Ensures the Journal Continues
VOEGELINVIEW is free to read but depends on the generosity of its readers to ensure the highest quality of cultural and intellectual commentary is given to the…