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,…
Eighteenth Century Christian Political Philosophy: Without a Sage
Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by…
The Monologue of Lazarus: A Poem
Do not wonder why I am pale and ashen Do ask me if I have seen a ghost. I do not want to tell you: I have…
Referential Bodies and Signs: Problems with the Nietzschean-Derridean Interpretation of Augustine
At the beginning of his monumental and still productively controversial work on medieval literature and thought, modestly entitled A Preface to Chaucer, D.W. Robertson Jr. asserts that…
Illuminating Truth & Beauty: The Choral Music of Samuel Adler
As a reviewer for a classical record magazine, I often receive items from off the beaten track that prove illuminating discoveries. Sometimes I am moved to share…
The Good Samaritan: A Phenomenological Sermon
Who has not heard of Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan, from Luke 10? Who has not been told that the parable calls us to love our…
All Donkeys Go to Heaven: “Eo” and Jerzy Skolimowski’s Masterpiece
The 1989 animated musical fantasy All Dogs Go to Heaven humorously poses the question do dogs go to heaven after their life on earth. The dog lover…
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…
Participation with the Divine through Music: Earl Davey’s “The Arts and the Christian Life”
Earl Davey. The Arts and The Christian Life. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2022. As the late philosopher Roger Scruton writes, “Beauty is a real and…
Quo Vadis Europa?
In May 2017, a group of European conservative scholars and intellectuals met in Paris. They were brought together by their common concern about the state of European…
Locke’s Religion: Foundation or Façade?
As the cracks and fissures within our society become visible, we see increasing debate about our society’s foundational principles of classical liberalism, and the man at the…
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…
A Genealogy of Christianity: Why I Teach Nietzsche at a Christian University
For this semester I’ll offer my reflections on an introductory, freshmen-level course on western core texts that I am teaching. Christianity for Nietzsche was the greatest…
Milton as Metaphysician: “Paradise Lost” as a Map of Heaven and Hell
John Milton published Paradise Lost in 1667. The epic poem consisted of ten books. What we know today as the complete, twelve book version of the epic,…