On The Traditionalists and the Protestants
Ross Douthat had a fascinating interview this past weekend in the New York Times with Cardinal Raymond Burke, a leader in conservative American Catholicism who has been consistently pushed toward the margins of church life under Pope Francis. At the risk...
Thomas Aquinas Reviews Worship Songs: Breathe
Whether “This is the Air I Breathe”? Objection 1: It would seem that God is, in fact, the air I breathe. The Psalmist writes, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?” Therefore,...
The Democrats (Probably) Won’t Outflank Themselves
The Bulwark’s Jonathan Last is the latest conservative commentator to take up a line that is increasingly popular amongst the Never Trump right: If the Democrats don’t pivot toward the center they’re going to lose in 2020. The argument is relatively...
Reformation Day and the Waning of the Western Church
Reformation Day is a contested event in the church year. That this is so for Roman Christians is to be expected. That it is increasingly so for Protestants as well is lamentable. Part of the reason for that Protestant reluctance...
The Liberty of a Christian in a Democratic Age
Writing for the Catholic Herald, my friend Matthew Schmitz argues that the current political divide opening up in America confirms that Christian life and contemporary American ideas of liberty cannot permanently coexist. Eventually the two will come into conflict and...
There is No Wealth but Life: Rootedness in an Orphaned World
There is no wealth but life. Life, including all its powers of love, of joy, and of admiration. That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings. ~ John Ruskin “You surprise me,...
The Necessity of Nations
Dr. Werntz has argued that the question ‘can Christians be nationalists?’ is largely without meaning, at present at least, because it cannot be answered using the terms given in the debate so far. Our global, neo-liberal order has unmade nations...
Book Review: The Household and the War for the Cosmos by C. R. Wiley
One of the persistent irritations of the debate about ecological health and climate change is the routine pitting of the life of people against the life of the earth. Thus Sen. Bernie Sanders recently endorsed abortion as a licit strategy...
Book Review: Surprised by Paradox by Jen Pollock Michel
The Holy Fool has been a common trope in Christian literature for some time. You can reasonably trace it back to St Paul who, writing in 1 Corinthians, spoke of how the wisdom of God looks to the world like...
What are nations for?
Once in college I asked my pastor if he had time to get coffee so I could ask his advice on something that had been bothering me for several months. I was feeling stretched to my limits because I was...