Trinity and Society: Economics & the Search for a “New Way”

By |2023-04-20T16:23:04-05:00April 20th, 2023|Categories: Catholicism, Christianity, Communio, Distributism, Economics, Essential, Featured, G.K. Chesterton, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Stratford Caldecott, Timeless Essays|

The logic of individualism may now almost be played out in the West. In the society which we see all around us, people are brought up to think of themselves as free floating social particles, individuals whose only fulfillment lies in choice. The only alternative now to accepting the dissolution of the self is to [...]

A Theology of Gift: The Divine Benefactor & Universal Kinship

By |2023-03-19T19:13:51-05:00March 19th, 2023|Categories: Christian Humanism, Christianity, Economics, Essential, Philosophy, Stratford Caldecott, Timeless Essays|

Creation is an act of the Trinity, and existence is a participation in the Trinity—a participation in the Trinitarian act of giving, receiving, and being given. Each creature called into existence by God receives its own life as a gift. My topic is a theological appreciation of the notion of “gift”, and how this throws [...]

The Christian Cosmology of C.S. Lewis

By |2023-03-06T23:00:00-06:00November 28th, 2022|Categories: C.S. Lewis, Christianity, Communio, Essential, Featured, Stratford Caldecott, Timeless Essays|

C.S. Lewis described the medieval "cosmos" as “tingling with anthropomorphic life, dancing, a festival not a machine." The modern “universe,” he believed, is devoid of significance, and so we have to give a meaning to our own lives, by willpower if necessary. The old cosmos might not be a very useful map for space travelers, [...]

The Crisis of Fatherhood

By |2021-06-19T18:48:12-05:00June 19th, 2021|Categories: Christianity, Communio, Family, Featured, Stratford Caldecott, Timeless Essays|

The recovery of fatherhood is not merely a political and sociological challenge, to be met by strengthening the legislation that keeps families together, deters separation, and insists that a man takes more responsibility for his children. What needs to be recovered is a vision, a sense of responsibility, a “creative vow.” The collapse of marriage in [...]

The Truth About Political Correctness

By |2020-06-22T00:56:14-05:00July 16th, 2019|Categories: Communio, Equality, Politics, Reason, Senior Contributors, Stratford Caldecott, Truth|

Political correctness is philosophical nonsense. What we need is Justice not just Equality, Moral Responsibility not just Freedom, Intelligence not just Reason, and Charity not just Niceness or Fraternity—even if these don’t sound so good on a banner. Political correctness identifies a syndrome we all recognize, but is hard to define. It can be best [...]

CGI Apocalypse: The Veiling of Nature

By |2023-07-29T21:33:08-05:00June 10th, 2018|Categories: Christian Humanism, Culture, Nature, Science, Stratford Caldecott, Technology, Timeless Essays|

The world may ultimately be broken down, not into atoms or elements or quanta of energy, but into something like “pixels” or units of information. These build up into the impressions of things that are the objects of our consciousness, constituting the other half of reality. Will the world end with a bang, or just [...]

Out of the Liquid City

By |2023-07-31T13:44:54-05:00February 14th, 2016|Categories: Beauty, Catholicism, Christianity, Communio, Culture, Featured, Pope Benedict XVI, Religion, Secularism, Stratford Caldecott, Timeless Essays|

During the infamous Brixton Riots of 1981—clashes between the police and the African-Caribbean community in south London—I was driving back to my parents’ house at night and got lost in the fog. I found myself faced with a dramatic scene: the fog illuminated by fire, as the rioters overturned cars and set them alight. I [...]

The Elemental Song of Creation: Genesis, Hildegard, Tolkien

By |2023-02-20T22:32:22-06:00December 8th, 2015|Categories: Christianity, Christopher Morrissey, Communio, Featured, J.R.R. Tolkien, Stratford Caldecott|

If we reconstruct J.R.R. Tolkien’s reading of Genesis from the opening pages of The Silmarillion, then, on Tolkien’s interpretation, only days four through six involve the actualization of material existence, whereas the first three days concern creation in an immaterial realm. Stratford Caldecott notes three correspondences between Genesis and Tolkien’s myth: between heaven and the [...]

The Provocative Imagination Behind Comic Books

By |2016-02-16T14:35:33-06:00August 3rd, 2015|Categories: Imagination, Stratford Caldecott, Superheroes, Technology|

(Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series, affords our readers the opportunity to join Professor Stratford Caldecott as he goes beyond the artistic elements of comics and marvels at the questions begged by their narration—questions concerning the meaning of life and the relationship between man and technology. —Alyssa M. Barnes, Editorial Assistant) The imagination of the child [...]

The Field of Tolkien Studies: A Brief Guide

By |2016-05-24T22:46:25-05:00April 18th, 2015|Categories: Books, Featured, Imagination, J.R.R. Tolkien, Stratford Caldecott|

The field of “Tolkien studies” continues to evolve. The book based on the Exeter College conference, Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: Sources of Inspiration, is still available and remains one of the most interesting collections of academic essays on this topic. The journal of the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College, VII, has for thirty years [...]

Stratford Caldecott: A Man Fitted for Our Time

By |2022-03-16T12:06:53-05:00September 16th, 2014|Categories: Catholicism, Christianity, David L. Schindler, Stratford Caldecott|

Editor’s Note: Stratford Caldecott was a Senior Contributor to The Imaginative Conservative. The eulogy below was given by fellow contributor David Schindler at Dr. Caldecott’s Requiem Mass, Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola (July 31, 2014). Stratford Caldecott was a man fitted for our time. We must submit to providence about why he has left us so soon. [...]

Requiescat in pace, Stratford Caldecott

By |2016-11-04T19:18:34-05:00July 18th, 2014|Categories: Stratford Caldecott, W. Winston Elliott III|

It is with sadness that we learned of the death yesterday of a great man, Stratford Caldecott, a Senior Contributor to The Imaginative Conservative. Stratford graced our pages with some sixty-six essays, on such wonderful and varied topics as: the nature of the human soul; the essence of beauty; the mythology of J.R.R. Tolkien; the philosophy of G.K. Chesterton; Prince Charles as [...]

The Core of Catholic Education: Philosophy of Schooling Is at Stake

By |2016-02-14T16:01:01-06:00June 21st, 2014|Categories: Christianity, Classical Education, Communio, Education, Liberal Learning, Stratford Caldecott|

As the author of two books laying out a new Catholic philosophy of education based on the traditional liberal arts (Beauty in the Word and Beauty for Truth’s Sake), I have mixed feelings about the Common Core. The Common Core grew out of a report on American education called “Ready or Not: Creating a High [...]

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