Headlines That Should Have Been

As the Missouri headwaters begin to recede both Corps of Engineers and local officials up and down the river are warning that the next few weeks is the critical time for the levees. As the water goes down -- no longer putting pressure on the super-saturated levees -- the levees tend to slide into the …

Liberty

"Liberty" is one of those loosey-goosey words which can mean different and often contradictory things and therefore means nothing in an objective sense in contemporary discourse. In order to sort out what we mean when we use the term I want to begin with Isaiah Berlin, an English political theorist who wrote in the mid-20th …

The Heresy of Individualism?

James Matthew Wilson wrote an essay which is part of an ongoing conversation, parts of which are in the First Things journal, the Distributist Review journal and Front Porch Republic online journal entitled Libertarian Solutions to Communal Difficulties. His references to the various conversationalists can be confusing if one hasn't kept up with the conversation. …

Must See Political Commentary

I have a love/hate relationship with Jon Stewart, host of the Daily Show, but his analysis of how the networks are systematically ignoring a major candidate -- Ron Paul -- is simply must see t.v. Please check out this short segment on the Iowa Straw Poll entitled the Corn Polled Edition. While it's hilarious, it …

Individual Liberty and Statism

Patrick Deneen argues (drawing from the sociologist Robert Nisbet) that an emphasis on individualism (and specifically the sort of individualism celebrated by our Founding Fathers and enshrined in the constitution) leads directly and inexorably to Statism. Statism is a logical and even inevitable consequence of individualism – and thus, that the apparently opposite and conflicting …

True Personhood

The person, in Christian theology, is more than merely an individual; he is an individual-in-relationship. From a slightly different framework, a person, when he tries to become autonomous, is reduced to a sort of sub-person – less than that into which he was created. God created humans into community: "It is not good that the …

What Is A Liberal?

"Liberal" is deeply problematic term in the contemporary world. It comes from the Latin word "liberalis" which literally means "pertaining to a free person." This Latin term liberalis was used to translate the Greek term "eleutheros" in the Vulgate (Jerome's translation of the scriptures from Greek to Latin). This same Greek term is translated as …

Libertarian? Not so much anymore.

I've made no secret of my Libertarian leanings from the beginning of this web site. But over the last few years I've had the opportunity to study classical liberalism (what is now typically called Libertarianism), not only as a collection of political proposals – most of which involve less government – but also as a …

The Small Vessel of the Heart

Here is an oft-quoted definition of the heart from Macarius, one of the desert fathers. But I believe it's worth repeating. Within the heart there are unfathomable depths; there are reception rooms and bedchambers within it, doors and porches and many offices and passages. In it is the workshop of righteousness; in it is the …

The Virtue of “Receiving”

Once again I will quote Fr. Irenei Steenberg. This time concerning the concept of "handing on." The mystery that is manifested in the utterly simple words of the angel [to Mary, ie the essence of the Gospel], which is proclaimed in the unwavering words of the apostles and handed down through history, comes to us …