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…
Was Plato a Tyrant? A Review of Robin J. Varma’s “Ruling Bodies”
Robin J. Varma. Ruling Bodies: A Study of Coercion and Punishment in Plato's Republic, Laws, and Gorgias. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2022. Where does Plato fall…
Beyond Josephus: A Review of Guy MacLean Rogers’s “For the Freedom of Zion”
Guy MacLean Rogers. For the Freedom of Zion: The Great Revolt of Jews Against Romans, 66–74 CE. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022. The Jewish War…
Cosmic War: A Review of “The Wartime Sermons of Jonathan Edwards”
The Wartime Sermons of Jonathan Edwards. Ed. Christian Cuthbert. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2022. Jonathan Edwards has been called “the American Augustine.” One of the greatest…
A Prolegomena to Reading the New Testament: “Rhetoric, History, and Theology: Interpreting the New Testament”
Todd Still and Jason Myers, eds. Rhetoric, History, and Theology: Interpreting the New Testament. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2022. “Any scholar approaching the New Testament is confronted…
Thomas Hobbes: Natural Law Theorist? A Review of Kody Cooper’s “Thomas Hobbes and the Natural Law”
Kody W. Cooper. Thomas Hobbes and the Natural Law. Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 2018; 2022. Thomas Hobbes occupies a special place in the…