No Man Is an Island
The Lighthouse: A Novel. Michael D. O’Brien. Ignatius Press, 2020. Crafting a human soul is a slow and painstaking process, like sculpting a richly detailed and…
Michael Henry’s Review of The Final Frontier: International Relations and Politics through Star Trek and Star Wars
The Final Frontier: International Relations and Politics through Star Trek and Star Wars. Joel R. Campbell and Gigi Gokcek. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2019. 249 pp. If…
Eric Voegelin on the Incarnate Christ
In his 1965 Ingersoll Lecture “Immortality: Experience and Symbol” Eric Voegelin declared that “the symbolism of incarnation would express the experience, with a date in history, of…
Review of Short Stories and Political Philosophy: Power, Prose, and Persuasion
Short Stories and Political Philosophy: Power, Prose, and Persuasion. Erin A. Dolgoy, Kimberly Hurd Hale, and Bruce Peabody, eds. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2019. I have…
Tempora et Mores
Augustine and the Problem of Power: The Essays and lectures of Charles Norris Cochrane. David Beer, ed. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2017. If the modern barbarians…
Where is God in Suffering?
Where is God in Suffering? Brendan Purcell. Veritas Publications, Dublin, 2016. The apparent injustice of bad things happening to good people—as well as the reverse—has for…
Political Religion and the Death of God
Political Religion and the Death of God. Linda C. Raeder. N. Palm Beach: Sanctuary Cove Publishing, 2017. Although it seems more appropriate to call this slender…
Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets
Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets. Svetlana Alexievich, tr. Bela Shayevich. New York: Random House, 2016. One of Dostoevsky’s more profound and even prophetic philosophical…
The Paradox of Consciousness in Augustine’s Confessions: A Voegelinian Reading
Although Augustine wrote several books that are dialogues his Confessions, composed as a prayer, does not at first seem to be one of them. It appears rather…
The Fool of New York City
The Fool of New York City. Michael D. O’Brien. San Francisco: Ignatius Press. 2016. Those who have read some of Michael D. O’Brien’s novels might think…
Voegelin and Heidegger as Critics of Modernity
Unlike the word “modern,” which in common usage usually connotes progress and improvement over the past, “modernity” is a more abstract, less commonly used word that is…
Michael D. O’Brien: Stimulating Reflection
Elijah in Jerusalem: A Novel. Michael D. O’Brien. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2015. Michael D. O’Brien’s eleventh novel, Elijah in Jerusalem: A Novel, is also the…
Michael D. O’Brien and the War between Good and Evil in an Incarnational Universe
Michael D. O'Brien. Plague Journal. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1999. Michael D. O'Brien. Eclipse of the Sun. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1998. Michael D. O’Brien. Strangers and…
Michael D. O’Brien: Wisdom Through Suffering
Michael D. O’Brien. Voyage to Alpha Centauri. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2013. Michael D. O’Brien. Theophilos. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010. Michael D. O’Brien. Island of the World.…
Michael D. O’Brien: From Apocalypse to Love
Michael D. O’Brien. Sophia House. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005. Michael D. O’Brien. A Cry of Stone. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2003. Michael D. O’Brien. Father Elijah:…