Thomas More: Virtuous Statesman

By |2023-07-06T00:23:49-05:00February 6th, 2023|Categories: Books, Christendom, Cicero, Classics, Protestant Reformation, St. Thomas More, Timeless Essays|Tags: |

Several centuries before Edmund Burke, Thomas More warned against theorizing about the perfect society and advised statesmen to do their best with the form of government their people have passed on to them. Though he himself favored one form of government over another, he admitted that we rarely have the power to create the government [...]

Revolutions and the Abolition of Man

By |2022-02-19T14:14:22-06:00February 19th, 2022|Categories: Christianity, Civilization, Dwight Longenecker, Protestant Reformation, Senior Contributors, Western Civilization, Western Tradition|

C.S. Lewis wrote prophetically about the Abolition of Man. We are witnessing its literal fulfillment. If history unfolds in 500-year epochs, then we are on the cusp of a new epoch. What does it hold for humanity? I have not been the only one to recognize that the last five hundred years have been an [...]

The Pilgrim’s Calling: John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress”

By |2021-04-06T14:41:56-05:00April 6th, 2021|Categories: Christianity, Literature, Paul Krause, Protestant Reformation, Senior Contributors|

John Bunyan’s “The Pilgrim’s Progress” contains a shift away from institutional idealism and toward a separationist theology that revived the Theology of Calling. It is perhaps the finest work of English nonconformist literature since John Milton and remains unsurpassed more than three centuries later. Next to John Milton’s Paradise Lost, there is no greater representative [...]

John Calvin and the American Republic

By |2020-10-01T15:44:28-05:00October 2nd, 2020|Categories: American Founding, American Republic, Christianity, Government, History, Protestant Reformation|

John Calvin’s theology, as well as his influence on the civil government of Geneva, significantly influenced the founding of the United States. The Founding Fathers understood well the wisdom of Calvin’s teaching that original sin sometimes necessitated resisting tyrants and limiting the power of civil government, and were thus prepared when the time came to [...]

Does the Tudor Terror Live On?

By |2022-06-20T19:59:48-05:00July 6th, 2016|Categories: Catholicism, Culture War, England, Featured, History, Joseph Pearce, Protestant Reformation, Religion, Senior Contributors, StAR|

One of the biggest mistakes that a student of history can make is to confuse the so-called English “Reformation” with its namesake on the continent. Whereas the Protestant Reformation in Europe was animated by the genuine theological differences that separated those who followed Luther or Calvin from those who accepted the apostolic and ecclesial authority [...]

Hiding in Priest Holes: Persecutions Past & Future

By |2017-10-31T13:17:20-05:00March 5th, 2016|Categories: Catholicism, Christianity, Dwight Longenecker, England, History, Protestant Reformation|

If you visit Oxburgh Hall in England you can tour one of the ancient country houses occupied without break since 1482 by one of the most venerable Catholic families in England. Last summer, while leading a pilgrimage to England with Joseph Pearce, we visited the hall and not only met Sir Henry Bedingfeld—the current baronet—but [...]

The Reformation: The Mother of All Revolutions?

By |2019-01-04T11:40:15-06:00January 16th, 2016|Categories: Catholicism, Christendom, Christianity, Dwight Longenecker, History, Protestant Reformation, Religion, Revolution|

A Catholic friend of mine is fond of referring to the Protestant Reformation as “the Deformation.” Well, perhaps. Certainly the Reformation in England was a deformation. Henry VIII’s stripping of the altars was not only a monumental act of iconoclastic vandalism, but the cultural revolution brought about by his break with Rome—which included the dissolution of [...]

Bad Queen Bess

By |2017-10-31T13:18:29-05:00July 4th, 2015|Categories: Christianity, Culture, Dwight Longenecker, England, Protestant Reformation|

One of the frustrating things about a visit to England is the persistence of Protestant propaganda about King Henry VIII and his daughter, Elizabeth I. During our recent pilgrimage with Joseph Pearce our fellow pilgrims noticed time and again how information boards and brochures portrayed Henry and Elizabeth in a positive light. Their splendid portraits [...]

English Catholicism Today: Undoing the English Reformation

By |2017-10-31T13:11:34-05:00September 16th, 2010|Categories: Bradley J. Birzer, Catholicism, Protestant Reformation|

Dear Readers of The Imaginative Conservative, I apologize for the hastiness of this essay. I’m getting ready to head to fascinating programs in Grand Rapids (led by the incomparable Gleaves Whitney and featuring the wise and sagacious Barbara Elliott) and Mecosta (led by the force of nature, Annette Kirk, and the man of deep convictions [...]

Go to Top