Stronger than death
Alan Jacobs and Mark Shea defend the portrayal of magic in the Harry Potter books.
Camille Paglia: Only religion can save the arts
Camille Paglia: “For the fine arts to revive, they must recover their spiritual center.”
A deeply religious civil religion
David Gelernter presents a helpful reminder of the religious, indeed, biblical (if heretical) sources of America’s beliefs about itself
A forgotten prophet
Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy: “Moderns are puzzled by the perfectly unsystematic, irrational, antilogical institution, the poorest organization on earth but yet fully alive — the family.”
Better things for better living
Richard DeGrandpre: “When a thousand points of light shine upon you in a commercial war for your thoughts, feelings, and wants, your mind adapts, accepts, and then, to feel stimulated, needs more.”
After irony
Richard Rorty’s tangled spiritual pilgrimage has origins in being the grandson of social gospel theologian Walter Rauschenbusch and the son of committed Leninists.
Art and whateverism
Jed Perl on why great art is triumphantly intolerant
Why Johnny can’t think coherently
Alasdair MacIntyre on the importance of theology in liberal arts education
An ancient modern confusion
Ken Myers offers a brief primer on the heresy of Gnosticism
The market-driven marriage?
The commodification of everything is a problem, not an opportunity.