“And you’re by yourself?”
I look at the park ranger.
“Yes,” I say. “I’m by myself.”
This is the third time she’s asked in, oh, five minutes. I see her raise her eyebrows, shake her head.
“It’s going to be a cold night,” she says.
“I know,” I say.
She hands me a parking pass. Is it incredulity I see on her face? Or am I simply projecting my own self doubt? Do I really believe I can make it a night alone in the woods?
“Pine Trees and Cold Water” by Elizabeth Hamilton
An excellent essay and reflection by my former student and (current!) friend, Lizzie Hamilton. Enjoy!
Pine trees and cold water
March 22, 2016
To keep reading–and you should!–please go here:
http://elizabethannehamilton.com/2016/03/22/pine-trees-and-cold-water/
The Genius of Mike Church
Yesterday, I had the great honor of speaking with one of the
The Dude Maker himself, Mike Church
single best radio personalities in the United States and, frankly, the world: Mike Church. We talked for over 75 minutes, though, the actual edit comes down to about 50 minutes.
Mike asked such profound questions that my head actually hurt for about an hour after the interview.
Thank you, Mike–for your personal support for me and for your unrelenting support of the American republic and the Catholic Church. I’m so glad you’ve been loosed upon the world.
And, if you’re interested, here’s my take on one of Mike’s movies:
http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2011/06/the-road-to-independence-mike-church.html
Real Conservatives Don’t Have Time for Bigotry
Reagan’s first autobiography, 1965.
“He believed literally that all men were created equal and that he man’s own ambition determined what happened to him after that. He put his principles into practice. . . . in the dark depression years when he was trying to earn a buck on the road as a shoe salesman, he checked into a small-town hotel. ‘Fine,’ said the clerk, reversing the register and reading his name. ‘You like it here, Mr. Reagan. We don’t permit a Jew in the place. My father picked up his suitcase again. ‘I’m a Catholic,’ he said furiously, ‘and if it’s come to the point where you won’t take Jews, you won’t take me either.’ Since it was the only hotel in town, he spent the night in his car in the snow. He contracted near-pneumonia and a short time later had the first heart attack of the several that led to his death.”—Ronald Reagan, My Early Life (1965).
As a child, Reagan wasn’t permitted to see BIRTH OF THE NATION because it was “against the colored folks.”
Ronald Reagan on Forgiveness, 1981
The 40th President
“Getting shot hurts. Still my fear was growing because no matter how hard I tried to breathe it seemed I was getting less and less air. I focused on that tiled ceiling and prayed. But I realized I couldn’t ask for God’s help while at the same time I felt hatred for the mixed up young man who had shot me. Isn’t that the meaning of the lost sheep? We are all God’s children and therefore equally loved by him. I began to pray for his soul and that he would find his way back to the fold.”
—Ronald Reagan’s diary, entry for March 20-April 11, 1981.
Roman Catholics for Cruz
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks to reporters as he leaves the floor of the Senate after skirmishing with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., over the Affordable Care Act, popularly know as Obamacare, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Sept. 23, 2013. The Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate are at an impasse after GOP conservatives approved legislation Friday in the House to keep the government running but at the cost of wiping out President Obama’s signature health care law. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Proud to be on this list.
https://www.tedcruz.org/news/catholic-leaders-endorse-ted-cruz-president/
Feast of St. Joseph
Today is the Feast of St. Joseph, the feast day of my maternal family. The vow:
“O God, whose attribute it is to be always merciful and to spare, protect us through the intercession of St. Joseph from crop failures. In order to make ourselves, at least to a certain extent, worthy of this grace, we solemnly vow to keep the feast of St. Joseph as a holyday of obligation for all time and to spend some hours of that day in public prayer.
. . . to preserve the growing crop, destroy grasshoppers, worms and bugs and finally to mature the grain, allow a bountiful harvest and furnish a high-priced market.”
Jacksonian America: Course Description
America’s finest critic: Alexis De Tocqueville
Excited to announce that I’ll be teaching a favorite (well, to me, anyway) course: Jacksonian America (H302) this coming fall semester.
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.
Books
- Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought (ISBN: 0195392434)
- Lee Cheek, ed., John C. Calhoun’s A Disquisition on Government (ISBN: 1587311852)
- Cooper, Last of the Mohicans (ISBN: 0451417860)
- Tocqueville, Democracy in America (ISBN: 0865978409), 2 vol. LF edition
Carl Olson’s New Books
Carl Olson, Editor and Writer Extraordinaire.
Every one’s favorite Catholic World Report editor, Carl Olson, has two new books coming out. Very exciting. Make sure you order early and often!
One is Called To Be the Children of God: The Catholic Theology of Deification (Ignatius Press), which Olson co-edited with Fr. David Meconi, SJ.
The other is Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead? (Ignatius Press/Lighthouse Media). Below is more information about the book. It was initially going to be a 150 page book, but grew into a 200+ page book, with plenty of footnotes (210 or so) for those who are into that sort of thing (I know I am!). It is written in a popular, Q&A format, but draws on a lot of recent scholarship. Here is the Table of Contents:
- Introduction
- 1. What’s the Point?
- 2. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels
- 3. What Is the Resurrection?
- 4. Accounts, Theories, and Explanations
- 5. Hallucinations and Guilty Disciples?
- 6. Contradictions and Conspiracies
- 7. Mythology or Gospel Truth?
- 8. The Apostle Paul and the Resurrection
- 9. Physical and Spiritual
- 10. Conclusion: Two Challenges and One Question
- Bibliography
I’m ordering immediately–Brad
iamthemorning’s Lighthouse: Neoclassical Beauty
Imagine, if you will, a world where Aerial-era Kate Bush, Dumbarton Oaks-era Igor Stravinsky, and Sketches of Spain-era Miles Davis got together to compose a song cycle. They might come up with something to rival iamthemorning’s new album, Lighthouse, but it’s doubtful. A work of astonishing beauty, Lighthouse is also deeply moving. The songs chronicle […]
http://progarchy.com/2016/03/10/iamthemornings-lighthouse-neoclassical-beauty/
Authenticity and Politics at Cato Unbound
As children, we are taught the American founding and the Constitution as though they were sacred documents and sacramental events crafted by demigods. If so, our own Twilight of the Gods must have occurred sometime between 1787 and today: Loki has re-emerged and seemingly rules all. Whether murdered or banished, Odin, Thor, and Heimdahl long ago departed our realm.
Did Mr. Smith actually ever make it out of Washington? Maybe Loki got him as well.
None of this should suggest that one could never find an honest man in the politics of a free society. Yet, when one is found, he is most likely the anomaly that proves the rule. Though certainly far from perfect and often deeply flawed, Pericles, Cato the Elder, Cato the Younger, Cicero, Sir Thomas More, Edmund Burke, John Adams, Robert Taft, Justin Amash, and a few others might make the list of those whom we respect. But, really, so very few. And, each of these men had their own failings as well (I exclude Amash from the failings part).
http://www.cato-unbound.org/2016/03/14/bradley-j-birzer/authenticity-ancient-virtue
The Christianity of Harry Potter
“Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing that Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn’t realize that The post The Christianity of Harry Potter appeared first on The Imaginative Conservative.
http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2016/03/the-christianity-of-harry-potter.html
Stormfields 