Italian Sonnet
I AM, the holy smoking fire, Burns bright on Sinai’s awful height; And tremors from His words of might Split wide the earth and shake the pyre Where goat and bull and Self perspire: Vain off’rings for the King of...
Indivisible Harmony
I’ve been reading a (sort-of) autobiography of the Guarneri String Quartet. Sort-of because, as author Arnold Steinhardt points out, one can’t really write an autobiography of a four-man entity. He shares the hilarious and awkward moments in the history of...
The Bishkek Revolt
The only reason you are reading anything about Kyrgyzstan on a blog primarily devoted to Christian thought, culture, and the occasional recent news item may be because I happen to be staying a few miles from the national capital, Bishkek,...
Faction and Revolt: Kyrgyzstan in Light of American Foundations
Kyrgyzstan is in revolt but it is unclear what the revolt will accomplish. The opposition parties are demanding democracy and equality, fed up with the cronyism of current President, Kurmanbek Bakiev and convinced that the government is working to undermine...
Live Music (Reprise)
Last week I rhapsodized (a bit) on the irreplaceable value of live music as the means by which we experience the personality of the performers. In a good performance a bond is created between listener and performer, binding them together...
Live Music
I’m not the first person to suggest that there is something inherently better about live musical performances, and even though we are rapidly sinking into an atomized digital age, I don’t think I’ll be the last: there is enough of...
Fear and Greatness: Why American Citizens Should Worry That the Terror of Terrorism Has Such Little Effect on the Behaviors and Beliefs of Men
Every generation struggles towards a certain self-understanding as its members move from immaturity to adulthood and walk through the trials of growing, thinking, discovering, and confronting responsibility. This path of maturation cannot be trod by a substitute, nor can it...
Old and Relevant: Leviathan
When Thomas Hobbes wrote his Leviathan, the English were in the midst of a series of civil wars, battling their brothers over religious and political issues. Charles I struggled with a Puritan Parliament that, among other things, aimed to build...
Old and Relevant: Plato's Anthropological Principle
Perhaps the most famous dialogue penned by Plato is his far-reaching Republic. In this work he addresses the popular philosophy of his day—a philosophy that was promulgated by a group of teachers known to us as Sophists. The Sophists were...
Summer in the City?
I’m from a small town. My life began in Southern California suburbs and as I grew older, my family moved further and further from city life every chance we had, until we finally settled in the antithesis of a booming...