SIDELIGHTS (1940) by Frank Sheed
Not beautiful, but effective.
A beautiful series of reflections on the nature of Christian Humanism in the 1920s and 1930s.
Frank Sheed, as is well known, was the architect behind the Christian Humanist revival of the first 1/3 of the twentieth-century.
Why The Graphic Novel Matters: Watchmen
The story of The Watchmen takes place in an alternative or parallel 1985, a world deeply cynical, a world that found no solace after Nixon. Actually, somehow in 1985, Richard Nixon is still the president of the United States. The Cold War has become so intense that the clock of Atomic Scientists is only moments before midnight, an all-out nuclear war looms over the entire world. Where there had been a golden age of superheroes (akin to the all-American Superman), many of their followers had become less than virtuous. And, it turns out, not all that seemed to glitter in the first era of superheroes had been gold as well. Moore and Gibbons deal frankly with societal decay, with paranoia, with justice, with injustice, with child abuse, and with the role of conformity in society. Philosopher Aeon Skoble has written the single finest essay on The Watchmen) as graphic novel. In his own understanding, Dr. Skoble sees the story as much about real world events as it is about “the psychology as well as the ethical and political ramifications of vigilantism.” In other words, what is a man (or woman) to do, when the government corrupts rather than protects. When does it become not just a right to defend oneself against injustice but an actual moral and ethical duty to do so?
To read the whole piece, please go to The Imaginative Conservative. http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2016/08/high-cost-virtue-watchmen-bradley-birzer.html
Christopher Dawson: CHRISTIANITY AND THE NEW AGE (FULL BOOK)
Dawson’s 1931 masterpiece, CHRISTIANITY AND THE NEW AGE, plus his introduction to his fourteen-volume series, ESSAYS IN ORDER.
Syllabus: Jacksonian America, Fall 2016
John Quincy Adams (a better man than Jackson!)
H302: “Jacksonian America” aka Democratization of America, 1807-1848
Meeting Times: Tuesday/Thursday, Lane 124, 9:30-10:45
Instructor: Professor Bradley J. Birzer
Office: Delp 403
Description
Probably no generation after the American founding had a more diverse range of powerful personalities—John Quincy Adams, John Randolph of Roanoke, John Marshall, John Taylor of Caroline, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Joseph Smith, Martin Van Buren, James Fenimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry D. Thoreau to name only a few. These personalities, essentially the children of the Founders, had to deal with the needs, the demands, and the intentions of the Republic. Importantly, they had to live up to what their fathers had given them from 1761 through 1793; they had to reify the ideals of the Republic. An unenviable task, to be sure. During these critical years, Americans wrestled with the formation of entirely new religions (many blatantly esoteric and Gnostic; others quite heterodox); the fragmentation and infighting of Protestantism; democratization in all aspects of American life; expansion westward and the various encounters with (usually outright brutal toward) American Indians; slavery and every one of its associated and attendant evils; reforms from the moderate and necessary to the outrageous and fantastic in all aspects of culture and politics; the establishment of America as a viable power among the nations of the world; the creation of political parties; and the development of American letters. To most Americans, economic and technological “progress” would allow the republic to transcend and overcome the limitations of the past, while the rising spirit of democracy would implant itself in the American West and throughout the world, by example or, if need be, by force. “Progress” and “destiny” and “individualism” became key words in the American vocabulary. Tellingly, the term “individualism” had never even appeared in print prior to 1827. Truly, something very different from the vision of the American founders emerged, a whole new American character–restless, expansive, violent, and suspicious of community.
Protestantism and Humanism
It is often thought—in part because of irresponsible polemic masquerading as scholarship or learned analysis from people who ought to know better, in part because of Protestants’ equally inexcusable neglect of their own tradition—that the Protestant Reformers held no brief for natural law or for the wisdom of the Greeks and Romans. Fewer claims sit less easily with the truth of things than this one; but it has by now become a convention, and, as conservatives know (and usually celebrate), conventions die hard.
The consensus position has begun to change in recent years due to a return ad fontes among many Protestant scholars. In this brief essay, I’d like to look at one example of why this consensus must continue to be modified in a more historically responsible direction: Philip Melanchthon’s preface to Cicero’s On Duties, written in 1525. Melanchthon (1497-1560), one of the chief and most influential figures among both the Protestant Reformers and northern European humanists, found a wealth without parallel for the study of ethics in Greek and Roman authors, and particularly in the writings of Cicero and Aristotle; and the former’s On Duties held a position in the first rank for him (as, indeed, it did later for the American Founders).
Christopher Dawson, BEYOND POLITICS (Full Book)
Sketch by Sam Torode
Enjoy this pdf of Dawson’s 1939 book, BEYOND POLITICS. An extraordinary effort on great man’s part.
MODERN DILEMMA by Christopher Dawson (full book)
Unicorn design by David Jones.
A short but brilliant 1932 book by Christopher Dawson. Well worth reading, especially in this insane and violent age.
Bob Murphy and Austrian Economics: Liberty Classroom
Dear Liberty Classroom member:
All the lectures for Robert Murphy’s course on the history of economic thought are now available: http://www.libertyclassroom.com/courses/history-of-economic-thought-part-i-classical-economics-and-the-marginal-revolution/
Some serious knowledge bombs are dropped in this course, taught by one of the best Austrian School economists working today.
Meanwhile, we’ll be resuming our live sessions this month (we’ll do more than one!) on a new platform, Webinar Ninja, now that Spreecast has closed down. Watch these emails for the dates.
Finally, a word to homeschoolers: if you’re considering the Ron Paul Curriculum, be sure to grab it through my special link, since only there do you get my $160 worth of free bonuses: http://www.RonPaulHomeschool.com
Cordially,
Tom Woods
Creator, Liberty Classroom
My Interview with Tim Goeglein, RE: RUSSELL KIRK
I had a wonderful time last week, talking with the wonderful Tim Goeglein about Russell Kirk.
Thank you, Tim!
I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation, and I hope we can make it happen again. And, of course, it’s always great talking Kirk.
Part I:
Part II:
SAND 2: The Unadulterated Excellence of Sam Healy
SAND (Sam Healy), A SLEEPER, JUST AWAKE (Kscope; forthcoming, September 30, 2016). 9 tracks.
SAND, A SLEEPER JUST AWAKE (forthcoming from Kscope: September 30, 2016)
As much as I’d like to start with something artsy (the album deserves it), I’ll just be really, utterly, completely, and totally blunt. This album is extraordinary. After a summer of horrors and violence (not personally, but around the world), this album seems like the necessary art to calm the savage soul. I think this is, quite possibly, Healy’s best.
As I’ve written a number of times before when writing about Healy (solo) and about North Atlantic Oscillation, he does three things with unadulterated excellence.
First, his voice is always perfectly employed—as both an instrument and as an individual artist, letting his personality come through his nearly immaculate vocals. I think Healy’s voice and his use and control over his voice only get betters with each new album. As I’ve noted many times (so, apologies if you’re thinking, yes, we know!) my favorite voice in rock (in terms of beauty) is Susie Bogdanowicz’s from Glass Hammer. But, she has a soaring, church-like quality. In contrast, however, Healy’s is precise and always economical. It’s utterly earnest, while also being quite artistic.
Second, Healy knows exactly how to make an album flow. This is the ultimate goal—to my mind—in all art rock. Healy knows when to make things dance, and when to allow things to linger.
Third, Healy possesses an insanely cool way of mixing a cynical lyric with a wondrous (almost childlike, but certainly not childish) presentation. I’m not sure how he does this, but he does it very well.
My favorite songs—though I like all—are Initial (track 7) and Earth Mound Square (track 9). The transition from Embers to Initial is just jaw-droppingly good, and the woodwinds of Initial moved me so much that I actually had to stop and take a breath (I was hiking, with my headphones on, the first time I heard this).
For almost any reader of Progarchy, though, the key track will be the final one, Earth Mound Square, coming in at 10.5 minutes. In some crazily beautiful way, Healy combines dissonant Celtic strings with Reichian minimalism. The result is pure genius. I could easily and happily listen to a 20- or even 30-minute version of the final track.
Again, A SLEEPER, JUST AWAKE is extraordinary. While I’m more than eager to hear the new Glass Hammer and The Tangent, this album is, to my mind, the single finest album release of 2016, thus far. Frost*’s FALLING SATELLITES is its closest rival.
While the A SLEEPER, JUST AWAKE will appeal more to the art rock crowd than the progressive crowd, I hope that all will give it a listen and make a purchase or two. Healy deserves all the support we can offer. If you like early-period Thomas Dolby, late period Talk Talk, Kevin McCormick, Rhys Marsh, or Noflypaperhunting, this is must own. Actually, if you like music at all, A SLEEPER, JUST AWAKE is a must own.
Tending Our Own Garden: Rachel Gough
The beauty of the Gough women.
As you Stormfielders (thank you!) well know, I love–ok, this word isn’t even close to strong enough to describe how much I admire–the writings and work of my friend, Rachel Gough. Here’s her latest at Kindred Magazine.
RECENTLY I MET two young women farmers who are the granddaughters of farmers. Their own parents ‘escaped’ from farming with the idea that they were providing a better life for their children, but those children found their way back to their roots anyway.
There is something deeply satisfying about cultivating the earth, planting seeds and watching them grow, and harvesting your own food. It takes work, knowledge, care, and patience, and taps into the deep magic of the universe.
To read it all, please go here: https://kindredmag.com/2016/08/03/let-us-tend-our-own-garden/
Apocalypse ALWAYS
Image stol. . .borrowed from The Imaginative Conservative.
I will admit that this is possibly the weirdest thing I’ve ever written. But, I will also admit, I had a blast writing it. Thanks, as always, to Winston Elliott III and Stephen M. Klugewicz for encouraging my weirdnesses.
“What if the Apocalypse is not an event, but a long, drawn-out process?
What if rather than the drama of a rapture, we get the dread of a ceaselessly droning Ann Coulter or Rachel Maddow? What if the tyrants marked with the sign of the beast turn out to be elevator operators who love Muzak? What if the four riders of the apocalypse turn out to be Friends, MTV’s Real World, The O’Reilly Factor, and Game of Thrones? What if the Anti-Christ turns out to be the manager of Denny’s no. 3778, located in St. Paul, Minnesota? What if the seven seals turn out to be the best-selling paperbacks at the Detroit airport bookstore—that one right next to gate A37? What if the seven trumpets appear in some big band-polka revival group making its way through the charts of a Sheboygan, Wisconsin AM-station?No “Hand of God,” no “Jesus in the Sky,” no landing of the mothership, no dragon devouring the world. Instead, just slow, drawn out, painful, and seemingly inevitable decline.
“Help, I’ve fallen down, and I can’t get up!”
Stormfields 