Final Day of American Heritage Class
Washington as victor from PATRIOT SAGE, ed. by Gary Gregg and Matt Spalding.
Faith as Struggle and Mother Mary as Comfort
The Lady.
Three years later, this essay rings just as true. Still struggling, still relying. . .
Of those I admired most—that is, the Catholics who bore witness to all of the love and best of Christianity—they each held a special devotion to the holy eucharist and to Jesus’ mother. These two devotions have always impressed me. While I certainly thought and think some Catholics take their love of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, too far and into dangerous territory (but, really, who am I to judge?), I have always found those who didn’t love Mary far more perplexing. In my own life, I have flirted with a number of other religions, both east and west. But, what held me back from becoming Protestant has always been what seems to be the unreality of ignoring or, at best, neglecting Mary. I’m fairly certain that if I ever leave Catholicism, it will be toward the East, not the West. Toward Constantinople, not Geneva.
With the Mr. Wilson, I can easily sing: “God only knows what I’d be without you.” With Mr. McCartney, “Mother Mary, comfort me.”
For the full piece, go here: http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2014/05/oh-white-lady-faith-struggle.html
Happy May Day!
April is the cruelest month, but May is the month of our beloved mother, Mary.
Out of the mouth of the Mother of God
Like a little word come I;
For I go gathering Christian men
From sunken paving and ford and fen,
To die in a battle, God knows when,
By God, but I know why.
"And this is the word of Mary,
The word of the world's desire
'No more of comfort shall ye get,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.'"
Then silence sank. And slowly
Arose the sea-land lord,
Like some vast beast for mystery,
He filled the room and porch and sky,
And from a cobwebbed nail on high
Unhooked his heavy sword.
--G.K. Chesterton, BALLAD OF THE WHITE HORSE
American Heritage Final Study Guide 2017
Final possibilities, Spring 2017, American Heritage; Dr. Bradley Birzer
This comprehensive final examination covers all assigned readings, all handouts, all lectures, etc.
Section 1. Possible Essay Questions. Two of the following will appear. Worth 40% of your final exam grade.
- Through a strange series of mishaps, H.G. Wells grabs Aristotle and transports him to Washington, D.C., May 2017. H.G. Wells moves on, but Aristotle has coffee with a historian (who shall remain nameless, but who teaches at a small, traditional college with very bright students in the upper American Midwest). The historian explains to the ancient Greek philosopher how much he and his ideas have shaped and influenced the development of American politics and culture. What exactly does the historian tell Aristotle?
- Through a strange series of mishaps, George Washington, during his second administration, finds himself in the Woods between the Worlds. He steps into the pool leading to Washington, D.C., May 2017. Once there, he encounters Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts. Roberts—in an objective fashion—explains to the first president the state of the world and the history of the United States since roughly 1800. What does Washington think of the history of the country he made for us?
- Through a strange series of mishaps, Lenin does not actually reside in his tomb in Red Square. That “honor” belongs to some poor schlep that inconveniently happened to look like Lenin. Instead, two just aliens, Kudos and Kang, abducted Lenin prior to his death. They deposit him (alive) in Chicago, Illinois, in May 2017. Tried for crimes against humanity in the twentieth century, Lenin sits anxiously as a number of witnesses walk through and testify: Pol Pot, Stalin, Whittaker Chambers, Ronald Reagan, Russell Kirk, and Pope John Paul II. What do they say? And, what is the verdict?
Civil War Final Study Guide
Final 2017 study guide; Civil War; Birzer
N.B. The final is worth 35% of your course grade. To earn anything above a “C”, you must employ—to a significant extent—the readings you were assigned.
Section I: Essay. One of these will appear on the final. Worth 35% of your final.
- Consider Lincoln’s relationships with other politicians, cabinet members, generals, and the America people. What kind of president and person was he?
- Explain both Union and Confederate motivations/justifications for beginning as well as continuing the war, 1861-1865.
- Explain the evolution of Lincoln’s thought/understanding regarding secession and the purpose of the war, 1861-1865.
The Immorality of CONTAINMENT (Full Lecture)
Why “containment” was morally bankrupt and the three great men who helped end it and the Soviet threat to the world.
Today in American Heritage: 1989
1989: The Annus Mirabilis
Stalin: “How many divisions does the Pope have?”
Revolts in Eastern Europe
1953 East Germany U.S. Ignored
1956 Hungary U.S. Ignored
1968 Czechoslovakia U.S. Ignored
1979 Poland U.S. Ignored
Key events in the Collapse of Russian Communism
1973-1975 Western Publication of Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag
October 1978 Election of Karol Wojtyla as JPII
June 2, 1979 JPII gives Homily in Warsaw: “Be Not Afraid”
Lech Walesa, the leader of Solidarity, said of JPII: “The pope started this chain of events that led to the end of communism,” Walesa said. “Before his pontificate, the world was divided into blocs. Nobody knew how to get rid of communism. “He simply said: Don’t be afraid, change the image of this land.”
Communist General Jaruzelski, leader of Poland, said, “That was the detonator.”
November 1980 Election of Ronald Reagan as 40th U.S. President
Spring 1981 Assassination attempts on RR and JPII
May 17, 1981 RR Commencement address at the University of ND
June 7, 1982 RR and JPII meet for the first time
Richard Allen, RR’s National Security Advisor: RR and JPII “agreed to undertake a clandestine campaign to hasten the dissolution of the communist empire.”
June 8, 1982 RR Speech to British Parliament: “Ash Heap of History”
October 10, 1982 Canonization of Maximilian Kolbe
1983 RR announces the Star Wars program
“Reagan’s SDI was a very successful blackmail,” Gennady Gerasimov, an official Soviet spokesman, remembered. “The Soviet economy couldn’t endure such competition.”
March 8, 1983 RR major address to the Nat. Assoc. of Evangelicals
June 12, 1987 RR at Berlin Wall: “Tear down this wall”
1989: An Annus Mirabilis in World History
Soviets had planned world-wide celebrations to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution
April: Poland announced free elections
May 2: Hungary opened its borders to West Germany and Austria
June: Hungarians reburied Imre Nagy and martyrs of the 1956 revolt
September 12: Poland’s first non-communist party elected
October: Hungarian Communist Party disbanded
October 16-20: Hungarian government reformed as representative democracy
November 4: Demonstrations began in East Germany
November 9: After the protestors circled the extant medieval walls of Leipzig seven times, Hoenecker resigned and sought refuge with the Lutheran minister he had tortured
December 3: President Bush and Premier Gorbachev declare Cold War over at Malta Conference
December: Romanian leader Ceausescu arrested Lazlo Tokes, a prominent Calvinist minister
December 15: Timisoara (Romania) massacre
December 22: Baptist minister Peter Dugulescu led counter demonstration: “God exists!”
December 24: Ceausescu arrested and executed
December 25: Romania celebrated death of the “Anti-Christ”
The 1950s (Full Lecture)
Bill Haley, Rock ‘n’ Roll.
C. Wright Mills, Russell Kirk, conformism, TV, the Military Industrial Complex, love, and rock n roll.
Coming in Paperback: RUSSELL KIRK, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE
I found out late yesterday afternoon that the University Press of Kentucky will be publishing RUSSELL KIRK: AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE in paperback for their spring 2018 list.
How great is this??? I’m thrilled.
I’m not sure how many changes I’ll be able to make to the text, but, amazingly, I’ve found only one typo thus far. The press has been extraordinary.
This said, if you’ve had a chance to read the book, I would love a review at amazon.com. Indeed, it would mean a great deal to me. Only if you have time or desire, though.
Thanks!
Blacks During Reconstruction (Study Guide)
Reconstruction study guide: What happened to Blacks?
Lincoln died before he could fully articulate his own vision, but we do have some glimpses. Lincoln and his cabinet launched a plan to remove and colonize the ex-slaves somewhere in Latin America. Lincoln told a group of groups visiting the White House: “There is an unwillingness on the part of our people, harsh as it may be, for you colored people to remain with us” [quoted in Johnson, AMERICAN, 497]. After failed negotiations with Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica, they settled 450 in Haiti in 1863. Proved a disaster–the colony was whipped out by small pox and starvation. Result: pretty much left alone, and blacks did incredibly well. Followed the model of almost all other immigrant groups. “Free from competitive counterpressures and strongly equipped to enforce compliance, public officials could discriminate pretty much as their pleasure or caprice might dictate. Under these circumstances it was a definite blessing for the blacks that the governments of the post-bellum South were still quite limited in the range of functions to which they attended. Such salvation as the black man found, he found in the private sector” (Higgs, Competition and Coercion, 133).
Reconstruction Study Guide
Reconstruction Study Sheet: Birzer
Three big questions being asked:
- What to do with the Southern states?
- Which is more powerful–the Legislative or Executive branches?
- What to do with 4 million emancipated slaves?
Each question carried with it a very strong taint of bitterness.
Progstock: October 13-15, 2017
Even before two lectures delivered on the cultural changes that accompanied America’s Great Depression, I had the great privilege of talking with Tom Palmieri, manager of Circuline and fountainhead behind Progstock 2017.
Though we only had about 30 minutes to talk, I found Tom quite engaging and incredibly entrepreneurial.
Progstock 2017–hopefully the first of many more to come–will be held October 13-15, this year, in Rahway, New Jersey, a part of larger New York City, just to the west of Staten Island.
The lineup is simply astounding, featuring Glass Hammer, Echolyn, The Tangent, Karmakanic, 3RDegree, Simon Godfrey, and even our own Jason Rubenstein.
Stormfields 