Is there a century in human history which can claim to be better than all the others? Many, especially Catholics, might argue that the thirteenth century deserves such an accolade. According to Church historian, Alan Schreck, this was “the greatest century of spiritual, cultural, and intellectual advancement in the history of Western civilization”. It was [...]
State Sovereigntists made their biggest stand over the Treaty of Peace. Their resistance to the Treaty played a critical role in shaping how Americans understood the role state sovereignty played in both the constitutional system and politics. The American Revolution, State Sovereignty, and the American Constitutional Settlement, 1765-1800 by N. Coleman (294 pages, Lexington Books, 2016) [...]
The Church owes a profound debt to Eusebius of Caesarea, for without him much of early Christian history and lore would have passed into oblivion, and we would be ignorant of a good deal of our early past. Most believers are probably unaware that the question of Jesus Christ’s divinity was once put up for [...]
In Willa Cather’s "The Professor’s House," there’s the new, modern, luxury home built by his wife with prize money Professor St. Peter was awarded following the publication of his eight-volume history on the Spanish explorers in America. The Professor has spent years on the history. But the luxury of the new home represents materialism and [...]
Michel de la Tour D’Auvergne gave his horse to his servant. He watched the man take the two animals to the head of the bridge over the Grosne, and then with a sudden gesture of complete release he threw himself down on the river bank and gave himself up without reserve to the scene before [...]
The last three centuries have proven that imposing an ideological vision upon any civilization is cataclysmic. So we must conclude—annoyingly—that no formula can resurrect a Christian culture, but only a Christian response to the concrete needs of real people. Part One: The Rule of Necessity and the Rule of Love Most diagnoses of our current [...]
Today, the degree of popular ignorance of World War II is astounding. Military buffs apart, younger Americans know nothing about the Battle of the Bulge, which claimed nineteen thousand American lives. World War II was our “Aeneid,” an epic struggle against authentic evil, which at once created the nation and framed its destiny. The World [...]
Tools are a significant part of the permanent things, but they are also relative to time, place, and function. That is, we are tool-using animals. Or to put it another way, we are an ingenious species, capable of creating hammers of nuanced proportions, and using them to build dwelling places and to kill other members [...]
In his courage and perseverance throughout the Revolution, George Washington revealed his reliance on patience—and feelingly used the word when referring to his men at Valley Forge. In contemporary American society, the relationship between patience and power is often wary and distant: If people have power, then they won’t have to wait. Recently, however, these two [...]
Whatever his failings as an imaginative thinker, President James Monroe’s own convictions were rooted deeply in the spirit and the letter of the U.S. Constitution. As he entered the White House in March 1817, he had little (well, less) use for James Madison’s newfound love of nationalism. While he entered the presidency too late to [...]
As a theory of history, progressivism always believes in conflict and violence and antagonism. Progressivism, then, not surprisingly, is wrapped up in bigotry, racism, and violence. “Progress! Did you ever reflect that that word is almost a new one?” asked an enraptured Woodrow Wilson in 1913. “No words come more often or more naturally to [...]
If a democracy drifts into unlimited notions of freedom, the best course of action is not to strip citizens of freedom, but rather to educate them, so that they can correct any constitutional abuses that contributed or led the way to the abyss of nihilism. Introduction This essay will revisit the age-old concern with the [...]
For Christopher Dawson, there was the inflection point, the point of intersection where the enfleshment of God took place to fire the historical imagination. There could be no other event, no possible happening in the great sea of history to compare with the coming of God among us, pitching His tent in the midst of our [...]
Please never forget, we Catholics have a great legacy. We’ve been promoting liberal education since the days of St. Paul. Some of our greatest saints were liberally educated, and promoting all that is good and true and beautiful has been one of our greatest causes. The author recently delivered the address below to the Roman [...]