Category: Essay

The Family Recipe

The family recipe book is a vital part of the conservative cultural enterprise.

This Most Tremendous Tale

Our meditation for Christmas is the simple question of who and what we celebrate on Christmas Day, why it brings true and lasting joy, and why it changes everything.

The Pontiff’s New Clothes

In the current pontificate, power is exercised in a manner reminiscent of a banana republic.

Populism and Religion

Europe does not share the American ‘faith and flag’ correlation between religion and politics.

The Other Christmas Truce

“It is Holy Night and there will be no shooting.” The soldiers agreed.

The Continuity of the Old and New Left

The Continuity of the Old and New Left

The Old and New Left share the same essential disdain for national, cultural, religious, and civilizational differences.

October 30, 2023
The Apocalypse According to J.R.R. Tolkien

The Apocalypse According to J.R.R. Tolkien

Marked by historical events of such magnitude as the two world wars, Tolkien and other Christian intellectuals of his day grappled with profound questions about the fate of the world.

October 30, 2023
My Birthday At Sea

My Birthday At Sea

The Bible reminds us that when the storm comes—and inevitably it will—we can look into the waves and the darkness, or we can look to Christ. 

October 29, 2023
Liturgical Conservatism and the Modern Novel

Liturgical Conservatism and the Modern Novel

The greatest Catholic writers of the 20th century drew on the deep riches of the liturgy to speak to the secular age.

October 29, 2023
St. Anthony and the Christian Satyr

St. Anthony and the Christian Satyr

Reports of a Christian satyr coming to St. Anthony for guidance tell us something about Halloween—about the ‘fairy-folk’ and those fiends whose form may yet be redeemed.

October 28, 2023
Everywhere Is California

Everywhere Is California

While we need not succumb to Adorno’s demoralizing miserabilism, we might agree with him that modern life is profoundly damaged in ways both subtle and overt.

October 27, 2023
A Generation of Sensitive Radicals

A Generation of Sensitive Radicals

University campuses are merely magnifying glasses of ongoing, wider societal dilemmas.

October 26, 2023
Malory’s Grail and the Common Good

Malory’s Grail and the Common Good

Malory, like Galahad, understands an important truth: that the ultimate end of the political common good is the spiritual common good.

October 26, 2023
Don Quixote, the Hidden Knight

Don Quixote, the Hidden Knight

If anyone wishes to conquer the giants of their own vices, they must, like Don Quixote, take up the lance, the shield, draw down the visor, and mount Rocinante.

October 24, 2023
What is a People? <br>An Excerpt From Camus’ <em>Enemy of the Disaster</em>

What is a People? <br>An Excerpt From Camus’ <em>Enemy of the Disaster</em>

Media-friendly illegal immigrants [are] quick to make a practice of blaming France and the French should anything unfortunate befall them. …. One thinks of burglars who sue a landlord because they break a leg in his poorly lit stairwell.

October 23, 2023
Further In and Further Up: 50 Years with J.R.R. Tolkien

Further In and Further Up: 50 Years with J.R.R. Tolkien

FROM THE FALL 2023 PRINT EDITION: In crossing the threshold into Middle-earth, I stepped into a moral cosmos unlike the relativist world in which I resided.

October 22, 2023
Miklós Horthy: Paradox and Political Football

Miklós Horthy: Paradox and Political Football

The complex and controversial legacy of Miklós Horthy defies translation.

October 22, 2023