Tag: history

The Origin of the Magi in Artistic Representation

The Three Kings represent the truth-seekers of the earth, the rulers of the ‘pagan’ realm, the lands which had not yet seen God but were nonetheless expecting the coming of the Lord.

Occasional Dialogues: Claire Rydell Arcenas interviewed by Kurt Hofer

In this episode of our ‘Occasional Dialogues’ series, Kurt Hofer interviews historian Claire Rydell Arcenas, the author of America’s Philosopher: John Locke in American Intellectual Life. They discuss the impetus behind writing the book, Locke’s place in contemporary political life, and the ‘New Right’ critiques of Locke.

Literature that Defied the Nazi Regime

Scholdt pays tribute to both the aesthetic achievements and the courage of writers who were persecuted and ostracized during the Nazi era. He also considers the significance of their resistance in the Nazi years for our own tumultuous times.

More Kicks to Arthur Bryant’s Corpse

Through scarcely credible naïveté, Robinson seems to believe that he has disposed of Bryant’s ethical pretensions. His hubris calls to mind those self-destructive British Labour parliamentarians who elicited the jibe that, when granted a choice of weapons, they always selected boomerangs.

The Person Behind the Golden Bull

The Golden Bull was fundamental to Hungary’s constitutional system and a guarantee of the nation’s sovereignty. On its 800th anniversary, we should commemorate the patriotic statesman, Cletus, bishop of Eger, who gave Hungarians such a noble gift.

Culture and Politics on a ‘Fortress Island’

A people do not become a nation—however tiny and insignificant a nation—until they possess a literature; just as a man becomes a man only when he reveals his personality through speech.

Escaping the Tyranny of Relevance

Intellectual adventure is not available to bees, who simply do as they do in obedience to their limited nature. The hive may be a place of cohesion, but it contains no libraries, paintings, or statues to heroic bees of the past. Human life without the humanities would be much the same: cut off from our roots, deprived of meditation, and locked in an eternal now. The cult of relevance makes prisoners of us all.