Author Archives: Thomas

If someone is unfamiliar with the novels of Willa Cather, AS Byatt has written an interesting article about them, titled American Pastorial, of which I quote the last part: In her 50s Cather published three novels which are often called … Continue reading →

My Cultural Roots Israel Bible, unabridged Revised Standard Version The Liturgy of the Hours, unabridged Finding God in the Psalms; Tom Wright Rome Vergil’s Aeneid; Sarah Ruden translation The Confessions; Saint Augustine Dante’s Divine Comedy; Anthony Esolen Catechism of the Council of … Continue reading →

by L.Q. Cincinnatus Both Joe Biden and President Trump agree on one thing: the Trump presidency is “an existential threat” to the American ruling class. The difference is that Trump sees the elites as a threat to the populace, and Biden regards the populace as … Continue reading →

THOMAS KLINGENSTEIN: My name is Tom Klingenstein. I am the chair of the board of the Claremont Institute which is a conservative think tank, managing partner of a New York investment firm and playwright. I wish to make three points. … Continue reading →

From the preface to Hans Urs von Balthazar’s THEO-DRAMA, THEOLOGICAL DRAMATIC THEORY, VOLUME IV, THE ACTION We have prepared at considerable length for the “action” that is the subject of this volume. First, in the Prelegomena, we prepared the way … Continue reading →

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the … Continue reading →

The Cambridge School Shakespeare series is useful for teaching and performing Shakespeare: “An active approach to classroom Shakespeare enables students to inhabit Shakespeare’s imaginative world in accessible and creative ways. Students are encouraged to share Shakespeare’s love of language, interest … Continue reading →

The Library of America has five volumes of Faulkner’s works. For example: Novels 1930–1935, containing As I Lay Dying, Sanctuary, Light in August, Pylon Novels 1942–1954, containing Go Down, Moses, Intruder in the Dust, Requiem for a Nun, A Fable

A sermon of St Fulgentius of Ruspe The armour of love Yesterday we celebrated the birth in time of our eternal King. Today we celebrate the triumphant suffering of his soldier.   Yesterday our king, clothed in his robe of flesh, … Continue reading →

Dennis Prager wrote the following: The editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, Mark Galli, wrote an editorial calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump. In my view, this editorial only serves to confirm one of the sadder realizations of my life: … Continue reading →

Here’s a useful, wide ranging, hour long interview with Victor Davis Hanson  

In the useful book “Dying and the Virtues”,  Matthew Levering writes: Underscoring the significance of dying, the Orthodox philosopher Nicholas Berdyaev comments that “a system of ethics which does not make death its central problem has no value and is … Continue reading →

In the introduction to his poem The Hundredfold, Anthony Esolen writes: I am a battered old soldier on bad knees, who knows that the hill must be charged and who knows of one or two ways it might be done. … Continue reading →

From Leszek Kolakowski’s  essay  God in a Godless Time …. The world in which we live, however, is not a world of people who are fixed in satisfied and contented lives of belief or unbelief. It is much more an … Continue reading →

In a wonderful article from First Things entitled “God, Gods, and Fairies” , David Bentley Hart writes regarding atheism: It is the embrace of an infinite paradox: the universe understood as an “absolute contingency.” It may not amount to a … Continue reading →

From Patrick Reardon’s excellent book ‘Christ in the Psalms’ there is this reflection: In short, the principle of canonical unity — even if we limit our attention just to the Hebrew Bible, or even a section within that Bible — … Continue reading →

My catechism class, while using standard curriculum, aims to listen to and help each student and will focus on three main questions. Who is God? Creator Father Incarnate ‘I Am’ What is the Church? Body of Christ Catholic Bride of … Continue reading →

I love a good story, a book that maintains dramatic tension across several hundred pages. Recently I came across such a story in an unexpected place.I work with computers, networks and software systems; nevertheless I’d like to know more about … Continue reading →

From this web posting. The Vocation of the Apostles is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, executed in 1481–1482 and located in the Sistine Chapel, Rome. It depicts the Gospel narrative of Jesus Christ calling Peter and Andrew to become his disciples.