An Imaginative Conservative’s “Man of the House”

By |2017-05-17T23:27:21-05:00May 17th, 2017|Categories: Books, C. R. Wiley, Family, John Willson, Virtue|

The theme of C.R. Wiley’s “Man of the House” is that the Great Progressive Fallacy—the individual is the moral center of the culture, and that the state is the individual’s protector—serves only the forces of destruction… Man of the House: A Handbook for Building a Shelter that will Last in a World that is Falling [...]

Christmas Gifts that Conserve from Old New England

By |2016-02-12T15:28:04-06:00December 23rd, 2014|Categories: Anthony Esolen, C. R. Wiley, Christianity, Christmas, Gifts for Imaginative Conservatives|Tags: |

On election night, when the returns come in, folks around the country generally look upon the results from New England with a mixture of horror and puzzlement. Even though I have lived in New England most of my life I admit to looking at them in the same way. My feelings have something to do [...]

How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization

By |2020-12-10T05:41:08-06:00April 6th, 2014|Categories: Books, C. R. Wiley, Religion, Western Civilization|Tags: |

In a world with central heating and agribusiness, the natural family is the last direct connection most people have to a natural order. With its demise, traditional religion loses an important justification for its sacrifices. How the West Really Lost God by Mary Eberstadt (268 pages, Templeton Press, 2013) We can hope that Western civilization [...]

Jack, the Giant, and the Indigestible Bean: A Fable

By |2014-03-03T17:40:34-06:00March 4th, 2014|Categories: C. R. Wiley, Fiction, Young Man's Guide to Building a House|

The Introduction to, The Young Man’s Guide to Building a House There were giants in the land in those days, but fewer people than there used to be. Now the giants were the typical sort—lumbering and hungry. But the people were very odd, most anyway. It wasn’t uncommon for a giant to reach right into [...]

One Flesh and Other Household Mysteries

By |2014-01-24T20:24:58-06:00January 3rd, 2014|Categories: C. R. Wiley, Christianity, Culture, Marriage, Morality, Young Man's Guide to Building a House|

Chapter 4 in The Young Man’s Guide to Building a House “And the two shall become one flesh.” You don’t hear that much anymore, and when you do it is written off as poetry. With the low regard for poetry these days that pretty much relegates it to something fit for a greeting card. When I [...]

Christmas Gifts That are True, Good, and Truly Beautiful

By |2014-12-10T11:42:44-06:00December 19th, 2013|Categories: C. R. Wiley, Gifts for Imaginative Conservatives|

Imaginative conservatives flee from the mass mind, so you should expect their Christmas gifts to come from parts unknown. They haven’t run just to be different—heaven forbid. Being obsessed with being unprecedented is itself a symptom of the mass mind. Instead imaginative conservatives are always on the lookout for things that are true, good, and [...]

The Economics of Love: The Real Economy

By |2016-01-16T12:45:39-06:00October 2nd, 2013|Categories: C. R. Wiley, Christianity, Economics, Featured, Young Man's Guide to Building a House|

Chapter Three in The Young Man’s Guide to Building a House The words love and economy rarely find their ways into the same sentence. Economics has been called the dismal science but people write songs about love. You don’t write songs about economics unless you’re writing a parody. When most people hear the word economy they think about money. That is dismal. [...]

Review of Religion for Atheists: A Nonbeliever’s Guide

By |2013-12-17T15:52:28-06:00July 5th, 2013|Categories: Atheism, Books, C. R. Wiley, Christianity|

Religion for Atheists: A Nonbeliever’s Guide to the Uses of Religion by Alain de Botton. When I learned that Alain de Botton had written a book with the title, Religion for Atheists: A Nonbeliever’s Guide to the Uses of Religion I thought, why of course he has. I was introduced to de Botton through, The Architecture [...]

Notes to the Reader of the Young Man’s Guide to Building a House

By |2014-08-14T16:59:24-05:00June 12th, 2013|Categories: C. R. Wiley, Culture|Tags: , |

I am very hopeful about our long-term prospects, it is the near-term ones I’m worried about.  What’s the near-term?—the next few hundred years, give or take a century. Since the near-term is when my children and grandchildren will pass their lives I feel I should do something to help them. I’ve passed the half-life stage [...]

Sister Coulsey’s Furnace

By |2014-01-17T12:04:25-06:00May 11th, 2013|Categories: C. R. Wiley, Fiction, Literature, Moral Imagination|

Pastor Ricky had placed all his hopes on the Hawaiian shirt. He wanted to connect with people and he had seen one of those television preachers wearing one. The people at the TV preacher’s church were all tanned and good-looking. Some were even drinking coffee during the service. I need what that guy has, Ricky [...]

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