The Life of Rome’s Most Notorious Emperor
When the name Nero is heard, a few things are conjured up in our imagination. Nero the persecutor of Christians; Nero the brutal tyrant who embodied the…
The Rise and Fall of Númenor
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth is one of the greatest achievements of the literary imagination. Over 80 years since its creation, it still fascinates and inspires readers the world…
Roger and Me
Walking into the Reform Club in London’s ritzy Pall Mall, the aspirations of a 26-year-old American student had come true. Recently graduated from Yale but deciding against…
Time in the Shadow of Augustine: A Review of “Augustine and Time”
Augustine and Time. Edited by John Doody, Sean Hannan, and Kim Paffenroth. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2021. “What is time?” The vexing question of time is…
Salvation Through Humility: A Review of “Putting on Christ” by Ty Paul Monroe
Ty Paul Monroe. Putting on Christ: Augustine’s Early Theology of Salvation and the Sacraments. Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2022. You are great, Lord,…
The Sexual Sublime and Salvation on Pandora: The Romantic Imagination of James Cameron
“I see you.” That simple phrase by Jake Sully to Neytiri consummates their relationship long before their having sex from which Jake “becomes a man” in passing…
Tolle Lege: “Augustine’s Confessions and Contemporary Concerns”
Augustine’s Confessions and Contemporary Concerns, ed. David Vincent Meconi, SJ. Saint Paul: Saint Paul Seminary Press, 2022. Saint Augustine is one of those names that just…
Continuity, Symbolism, and the Logos in the Prologue of the Gospel of John
The opening prologue of the gospel of St. John is theologically rich, puzzling, and poetic, thereby imbuing it with rich symbolism and imagery. The declaration that “In…
Resurrecting Romantic Enchantment: A Review of Kurt R. Ward’s “Endymion”
Kurt R. Ward. Endymion or the State of Entropy: A Lyric Drama. Illustrations by Rebecca Yanovskaya. Amsterdam, 2022. “The shades of Dawn begin to descend /…
Postliberalism is the Future
What is postliberalism? The term is bandied about nowadays, generally as a pejorative to describe so-called “illiberal” conservatives and rightwing personalities who supposedly have political views antithetical…
The Music of Poetry: Brad Leithauser’s “Rhyme’s Rooms: The Architecture of Poetry”
Brad Leithauser. Rhyme’s Rooms: The Architecture of Poetry. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2022. “If, generations hence, literary historians take any interest in what went on…
Alienism and the New Orientalism: A Review of Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones’s “Persians: The Age of the Great Kings”
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones. Persians: The Age of the Great Kings. New York: Basic Books, 2022. When does enthusiasm for the foreign become too intoxicating that one ends…
God, Democracy, and Tocqueville: A Review of Olivier Zunz, “The Man Who Understood Democracy”
Olivier Zunz. The Man Who Understood Democracy: The Life of Alexis De Tocqueville. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2022. Alexis de Tocqueville’s name is synonymous with democracy…
Are We Destined to Democratic Despotism and Meaninglessness? David A. Eisenberg’s “Nietzsche and Tocqueville on The Democratization of Humanity”
David A. Eisenberg. Nietzsche and Tocqueville on The Democratization of Humanity. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2022. In today’s political rhetoric, “democracy” is the abracadabra phrase bandied…
Our Inner Demons: A Review of Carl Trueman’s “Strange New World”
Carl R. Trueman. Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked The Sexual Revolution. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022. “Things once regarded as obvious…