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…
Paul the Apocalypticist: Jamie Davies’s “The Apocalyptic Paul”
Jamie Davies. The Apocalyptic Paul: Retrospect and Prospect. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2022. “What does it mean to say that Paul was an ‘apocalyptic’ thinker?” The…
Secularizing the Apocalypse: Ben Jones’s “Apocalypse Without God”
Ben Jones. Apocalypse without God: Apocalyptic Thought, Ideal Politics, and the Limits of Utopian Hope. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2022. In his famous work, The…
Homer’s Song of Troy: Vincenzo Sanguineti’s “Clash of Cultures: A Psychodynamic Analysis of Homer and the Iliad”
Vincenzo Sanguineti. Clash of Cultures: A Psychodynamic Analysis of Homer and the Iliad. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2021. Homer is “the Bard of the West.” And “for…
Sacramental Thomism or Naturalistic Thomism? A Review of Wojciech Golubiewski’s “Aquinas on Imitation of Nature”
Wojciech Golubiewski. Aquinas on Imitation of Nature: Source of Principles of Moral Action. Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2022. “In recent decades, there has…
The Revolution in Jena: How a Handful of German Romantics Changed Our Lives
Peter Neumann. Jena 1800: The Republic of Free Spirits. Trans. Shelley Frisch. New York: Farrer, Strauss and Giroux, 2022. “I saw the Emperor—this world-soul—riding out of…
Our Man in Paris: Why Tocqueville Still Matters
Alexis De Tocqueville was not an American. But as a political observer and theorist, he is more American than any American; he is also the quintessential writer…
Contesting for a Conservative Future: A Review of Yoram Hazony’s “Conservatism: A Rediscovery”
Yoram Hazony. Conservatism: A Rediscovery. Washington DC: Regnery, 2022. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the past 30 years has abounded with intellectual brouhaha over…
Reading Shakespeare and the Ideals of the West: A Review of R.V. Young’s “Shakespeare and the Idea of Western Civilization”
R.V. Young. Shakespeare and the Idea of Western Civilization. Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2022. How should we read Shakespeare? Some people say not…
Are We Doomed to a Rationalist, Loveless, Future? A Review of Harris Bor’s “Staying Human”
Harris Bor. Staying Human: A Jewish Theology for the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2021. Science Fiction is the dominant cultural mythos of…
László Földényi Fights the Empty Rainbow: A Review of “Dostoyevsky Reads Hegel in Siberia and Bursts into Tears”
László F. Földényi. Dostoyevsky Reads Hegel in Siberia and Bursts into Tears. Trans. Ottilie Mulzet. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2020. “Almighty God, though who holds…