Paul Bourget

 "One must live as one thinks, under pain of sooner or later ending up thinking as one has lived."

- Paul Bourget, Le Demon du Midi

Paul Borget (1852-1935) was a French novelist, whose most famous work was Le Disciple (1889), a novel about an agnostic professor and the terrible influence his materialism has upon his students. Bourget himself abandoned his Catholic faith as a young man, and drifted into aimless agnosticism until he slowly returned to the Church some twenty years later. In 1893, in an interview he gave in America, he spoke about his changed views: 

"For many years I, like most young men in modern cities, was content to drift along in agnosticism, but I was brought to my senses at last by the growing realization that...the life of a man who simply said 'I don't know, and not knowing I do the thing that pleases me,' was not only empty in itself and full of disappointment and suffering, but was a positive influence for evil upon the lives of others." On the other hand, "those men and women who follow the teachings of the church are in a great measure protected from the moral disasters which...almost invariably follow when men and women allow themselves to be guided and swayed by their senses, passions and weaknesses."

Bourget went on to become a widely regarded scholar, and his novels were popular among the general public. Nonetheless, his works have largely been abandoned; but if you are interested in character novels that deal with a wide range of issues from a Catholic perspective, then I heartily recommend his novels, some of which can be found here.

On Ideology

I am often asked to describe my ideology. I always reply that I do not have an ideology. That does not mean that I am a nihilist, nor does that mean that I am ignorant of the political philosophies that currently move about in this age. Rather, ideology – often encapsulated in revolutionary action – has wrought upon man more ill than good. Indeed, if ideology brings out the worst in man, I must argue that I am anti-ideological – that is, I favor the simple notions of freedom, decency, and order. Accordingly, I would say that I am simply in favor of the best of Western Civilization.

According to Russell Kirk, there are three great bodies of principle and conviction that tie together what is called modern civilization. First, there is the Christian faith –  the synthesis of the great cities of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome. Christianity is the light of Western Civilization (and the world) as well as its Crown. Second, according to Kirk, is humanism, "which with the Christian faith, teaches us our powers and our limitations--the work of Plato, Virgil, Cicero, Dante, Shakespeare, and so many others." Third, the Law -- the authority of man to govern and to administer justice.

These three principles are the foundations of Western Civilization – particularly of the American republic. And these principles do I defend.

Hoc Est Corpus Meum

Hoc est. This is. Not "like," or
"as," or "for,"
And not a symbol or similitude,
And not a figure or a metaphor,
Not "near," or "close," or some
incertitude.

- William Baer, on Matthew 26:26

Augustus B. Woodward's Paris of the West

"A man of middle age, a hardened bachelor who wore nut-brown clothing . . . he slept in his office which was never swept . . . and was eccentric and erratic. His friends were few and his practice was so small that he hardly made a living." However, when criticized, "he always assumed a lofty and dispassionate attitude, and his written and spoken defenses were always ingenious, plausible and pointed." (Ross, Robert B. The Early Bench and Bar of Detroit: From 1805 - 1850)

And so was described Augustus B. Woodward (1774-1827), first Chief Justice of the Michigan Territories, disciple of Thomas Jefferson, and father of the City of Detroit, Michigan. President Jefferson appointed Woodward as Judge of Michigan on March 3, 1805; and when he arrived in Detroit to begin his duties, he found the city in ruins as a result of a massive fire that destroyed most of the city. That being so, he set about planning the city -- with Charles L'Enfant's grand design for Washington, DC as the model. 

Shifting the focus from the Detroit River to its avenues, Woodward proposed a system of hexagonal street blocks, with the Grand Circus Park at its center. Wide avenues, alternatively 200 feet and 120 feet, would proceed from large circular plazas like wheel spokes. The result was a Baroque city of magnificent architecture and elegant charm; and visitors were quick to dub Detroit as the "Paris of the West."

Until the middle of the twentieth century, Detroit was known as America's finest city (this title has since been awarded to San Diego, California), with prosperous businesses, higher-than-average standard of living, and beautiful architecture. Of course the '60s rolled around, with its urban renewal and social justice crusades, and the result has been nothing less than tragic. Perhaps the city of Detroit could use a modern-day Augustus Woodward to set a new vision for this struggling city with a glorious past.

 

Once a truly great American city...

...now, John Conyer's and the AFL-CIO's utopia.

After Apple Picking by Robert Frost

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree

Toward heaven still.
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples; I am drowsing off.
I cannot shake the shimmer from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the water-trough,
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and reappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
And I keep hearing from the cellar-bin
That rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking; I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall,
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised, or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it's like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.

My Dream Dog

I've always wanted to have a Collie, and I plan to get one eventually.

You may mention to me, however, that I already have dog; and you may ask me, "Don't you like the dog you already have?"

Indeed, I like Louie -- but look at him: you can't compare this loaf with the regal canine pictured above, right?

Gold Leaves by G.K. Chesterton

Lo! I am come to autumn,
When all the leaves are gold;
Grey hairs and golden leaves cry out
The year and I are old.

In youth I sought the prince of men,
Captain in cosmic wars,
Our Titan, even the weeds would show
Defiant, to the stars.

But now a great thing in the street
Seems any human nod,
Where shift in strange democracy
The million masks of God.

In youth I sought the golden flower
Hidden in wood or wold,
But I am come to autumn,
When all the leaves are gold.

Notice: Will Return Soon

Days turn into nights; history becomes legend; legend becomes myth; and before you know it, you haven't "blogged" in quite some time. Well, I shall return as soon as time allows. In the meantime, please enjoy the music selection from one of my favorite films.

How to Read a Book

"Wonder is the beginning of wisdom in learning from books," says Mortimer Adler, in his classic, How to Read a Book. Indeed, it is important to have that intellectual curiosity that comes naturally with book-worms, but Adler highlights some important rules for reading a good book good. Called the "Rules of Analytical Reading", Adler expounds some important tips to apply while reading any book.

1. Classify. You must know what kind of book you are reading; and you should know this as early in the process as possible -- preferably before you begin to read.
2. State. State the unity of the whole book in a single sentence, or at most a few sentences (a short paragraph).
3. Enumerate. Set forth the major parts of the book, and show how these are organized into a whole, by being ordered to one another and to the unity of the whole.
4. Define. Find out what the author's problems were.
5. Find the important words and come to terms.
6. Mark the most important sentences in a book and discover the propositions they contain.
7. Locate or construct the basic arguments in the book by finding them in the construction of sentences.
8. Find out what the author's solutions are.
9. You must be able to say, with reasonable certainty, "I understand," before you can say any one of the following things: "I agree," or "I disagree," or "I suspend judgment."
10. When you disagree, do so reasonable, and not contentiously.
11. Recognize the final difference between knowledge and mere personal opinion by presenting good reasons for any critical judgement.

There you have it, then. Now you know "how to read a book."

Film Review: Metropolitan (1990)

Although I've been trying like mad to get my hands on Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev, my local library was at least able to procure for me director Whit Stillman's first film, Metropolitan (1990). Nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar, this coming-of-age film follows the lives of a group of college-aged preppy Upper East Siders -- or, as they call themselves, the Urban Haute Bourgeoisie--as they navigate the debutante ball season during Christmas break.

The film is seen through the eyes of middle-class outsider and aspiring Fourier socialist, Tom Townsend -- a newcomer to the group and one who doesn't believe in the debutante society of Park Avenue. Yet, as the film progresses, he realizes that the need to belong outweighs his disdain for high society -- in fact, much to the delight of his new friends, he realizes that traditions such as deb balls are far more humane than raw ideology. Thinking of Fourier, a friend tells Tom near the end of the film: "I wouldn't want to live on a farm with a bunch of other people." He seems to nod his head in agreement.

A comedy of manners, I heartily recommend Metropolitan for someone who'd enjoy watching the Brat Pack in bowties.

Gaius Marius Victorinus

Here was a man who reached a learned old age, skilled in all the liberal arts, one who had read all the philosophers and could sift their worth, who had taught many of the most distinguished senators, had even earned and accepted the honor of having his statue raised in the Roman forum (a thing citizens of this world so highly prize) because of the great worth of his instruction, yet was also, deep into his years, a cultist of idols, the celebrant of evil rights, with which almost all the nobility had grown giddy--with a spawn of misbegotten mongrel deities... all this Victorinus, into old age, had defended with earthshaking eloquence, yet he did not, finally, blush to become a child of your Christ, an infant at your font, 'humbling his neck under your yoke' and branding his vanquished forehead with your cross. (St. Augustine, Confessions, Book VIII)

In 4th century Rome, Gaius Marius Victorinus was a celebrity--if not the Einstein of the Roman Empire. A Neoplatonist, grammarian, and official rhetor of the city of Rome, Victorinus stunned the intellectual class--in which paganism was revived under the emperor Julian the Philosopher--when he resigned his position as rhetor and announced his conversion to Christianity.

In ancient Rome, newly baptized converts to Christianity were required to profess the Creed before the multitude of the faithful. According to St. Augustine, in his Confessions, "As he climbed to the place for reciting the creed, all those who recognized him--and who did not?--raised the glad outcry: Victorinus! Then the whole rejoicing crowd repeated in low whispers: Victorinus!"

His radical departure from the prevailing intellectual order was greatly influential to St. Augustine, and many scholars have attributed Victorinus' conversion as foreshadowing the Christian conversions of Roman intellectuals in the subsequent decades. It must be noted that Victorinus did not abandon his Platonist philosophy; rather, his efforts to synthesize Platonism and Christianity was influential to St. Augustine's similar (albeit much more well-known) efforts.

Hyperbolus, the Demagogue

In today's politics, demagoguery is ubiquitous. But let us remember the father of soapbox oration, Hyperbolus (circa 400 B.C.). Born into a common family, Hyperbolus rose to political prominence in ancient Athens through his powerful oratory skills. Eventually he was ostracized from Athenian politics for conspiring against two political enemies (these fellows ended up conspiring together to ostracize him).

His ultimate legacy? Universal scorn. Furthermore, he is the root of the word "hyperbole," which are exaggerated claims or statements not meant to be taken literally.

I close with some lines from Plato Comicus' poem, Hyperbolus.

The man deserved the fate; deny't who can?
Yes, but the fate did not deserve the man;
Not for the like of him and his slave-brands
Did Athens put the sherd into our hands.

Ideas have consequences

Modern man has become a moral idiot.

So says Richard Weaver, in his philosophical masterpiece, Ideas Have Consequences (1948). Starting with William of Occam, Weaver details the destructive influence of nominalism on Western Civilization.  Students of philosophy understand nominalism as the doctrine which states that universals or general ideas are mere names without any corresponding reality. Anathema to reality, nominalism denies objective truth.

Accordingly, Weaver argued that the defeat of logical realism by the likes of William of Occam was crucial in bringing about moral relativism and the belief of man as the measure of all things. As a result, Weaver claims that, "for four centuries every man has been not only his own priest but his own professor of ethics, and the consequence is an anarchy which threatens even that minimum consensus of value necessary to the political state."

"In our own day," Weaver continues, "we have seen cities obliterated and ancient faiths stricken... we have for many years moved with a brash confidence that man had achieved a position of independence which rendered the ancient faiths needless.

Thus, we are living in the age of the Philistine -- that is, "the barbarian living amid culture."

How, then, do we restore logical realism and morality? In his Laws, Plato advised: "Let the parents, then, bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence." Piety, that is. According to Weaver, "Piety is a discipline of the will through respect. It admits the right to exist of things larger than the ego, of things different from the ego. And, before we can bring harmony back into a world where now everything seems to meet in 'mere oppugnancy,' we shall have to regard with the spirit of piety three things: nature, our neighbors, and the past."

Piety is duty to our Creator in all its forms; only with a sense of reverence can we embrace reality while keeping our hearts open to the transcendent.

Watercolors

The following watercolor paintings are the work of my dear friend, Dr. Walter Bruning, of Oceanside, California. Walter has granted me permission to exhibit them on "Obey the Divine Design" -- please enjoy!

Camaldolese Monks at Prayer

Sea Birds

Wild Flowers -- High Valley Meadow

Northwest Salmon Long Liner

St. Augustine Shrimper

The Novice

Ut In Omnibus Glorificeture Deus

Restorationism and the Catholic Church

"To be deep in history, is to cease to be a Protestant"
- Cardinal John Henry Newman

Among many Protestant sects, anti-Catholicism is taught early and often. While the Catholic faith is essentially a mystery to most Baptists, evangelicals, and non-denominational Christians, to them, a few things are certain: Catholics worship Mary, idols, saints, and wafers. Yet perhaps by the prompting of the Holy Sprit, a few evangelicals are willing to examine the claims of the Roman Catholic Church -- most notably, its holding as the Church that Christ established under Peter, as well as its corresponding claims of Apostolic Authority.

Oftentimes evangelicals, yearning for authentic -- if orthodox -- Christianity, skip the apostolic tradition altogether in an attempt to "go back" to the Christianity of the apostles. This movement, called restorationism -- or Christian primitivism -- is popular among Charismatic evangelical groups in America. Since its onset, Christianity was banned in the Roman Empire, and Christians had to worship in the privacy of their homes; accordingly, that is why "home church" is a popular movement in evangelical circles today. But the problem that immediately comes to mind is: how did the early Church worship? What did they believe in?

For evangelicals, the answers may be unsettling. Let's consider the the writings of Justin Martyr in the middle of second century. In his First Apology (AD 150-155) to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pious, which detailed the importance of Christianity, Justin Martyr provided one of the earliest accounts of Christian worship outside of Scripture:

On Sunday we have a common assembly of all our members, whether they live in the city or the outlying districts. The recollections of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as there is time. When the reader has finished, the president of the assembly speaks to us; he urges everyone to imitate the examples of virtue we have heard in the readings. Then we all stand up together and pray.

On the conclusion of our prayer, bread and wine and water are brought forward. The president offers prayers and gives thanks to the best of his ability, and the people give assent by saying, “Amen”. The eucharist is distributed, everyone present communicates, and the deacons take it to those who are absent.

For those who are familiar with Catholicism, this particular account of Christian worship is, to this day, almost identical to the Holy Mass celebrated around the world. Notice that Justin Martyr mentions the Eucharist, which he describes in detail at another part of the First Apology:

"For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh."

So, if evangelicals desire to return to the "purity" of the early Church, are they willing to accept the teachings and liturgy of the early Church? If so, it is important for their journey of faith to understand that the Catholic Church has defended and preserved the teachings of the early Church for nearly two-thousand years; and, once they understand these claims, along with their desire to return to the Christianity of the early Church, a decision must be made. Accordingly, in AD 110 -- less than one-hundred years after Christ -- Ignatius of Antioch, in his Epistle to the Symyrnaens, wrote:

Follow the bishop, all of you, as Jesus Christ follows his Father, and the presbyterium as the Apostles. As for the deacons, respect them as the Law of God. Let no one do anything with reference to the Church without the bishop. Only that Eucharist may be regarded as legitimate which is celebrated with the bishop or his delegate presiding. Where the bishop is, there let the community be, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.

Bienseance de la Conversation entre les Hommes

First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in humble and enduring scenes of private life. Pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform, dignified, and commanding; his example was as edifying to all around him as were the effects of that example lasting...Correct throughout, vice shuddered in his presence and virtue always felt his fostering hand. The purity of his private character gave effulgence to his public virtues...Such was the man for whom our nation mourns.

-Henry Lee III, on George Washington

George Washington was a man of impeccable manners and civility. Historians have long attributed Washington's humble decency to a school exercise he was required to complete before his sixteenth birthday: copying 110 maxims for proper behavior.

Many of the maxims have been traced to a sixteenth century work by French Jesuits, entitled, Bienseance de la Conversation entre les Hommes (Decency of Conversation among Men). Written at the College of La Fleche in western France, a copy of the book is believed to have wound up in the hands of  young Washington by the return of a half-brother from studying in Europe.

Washington, the American Cincinnatus, famously retired from the Presidency in order to return to his quiet life as a farmer. Many, though, wanted to establish him as monarch. Yet in spite of his political accomplishments, Washington was a man of personal conviction -- a true American gentleman. And much thanks, I'm sure, can be given to those formative maxims. It would do well to learn a few of them yourself. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Shift not yourself in the sight of others nor gnaw your nails.
2. Do not puff up the cheeks; loll not out the tongue, rub the hands or beard, thrust out the lips or bite them, or keep the lips too open or too close.
3. Let your countenance be pleasant but in serious matters somewhat grave.
4. If anyone comes to speak to you while you are sitting, stand up though he be your inferior...
5. Let your discourse with men of business be short and comprehensive
6. In speaking to men of quality do not lean nor look them full in the face, nor approach too near them. At least keep a full pace between them.
7. Strive not with your superiors in argument, but always submit your judgment to others with modesty.
8. When a man does all he can though it succeeds not well blame him not that did it.
9. In your apparel be modest and endeavor to accommodate nature, rather than to procure admiration. Keep to the fashion of your equals, such as are civil and orderly with respect to times and places.
10. Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company.

Stormin' Mormons

I was grilling some meat for dinner a few weeks ago, and I ran inside for a moment to grab a plate when the front doorbell suddenly rang. I opened the door, and two backpacked, bespectacled Mormons stood there, anxiously waiting to get either an invitation for coffee and biscuits (which they'll decline) or a swift broom to their backs. We exchanged greetings, and I let them know that I will offer neither coffee nor a broom -- but, I told them, it had been some time since we've had a "visit." They both licked their lips in anticipation.

The veteran missionary of the two, all but nineteen years old, immediately got to business. They were here, he said, to talk to me about the "good news" of "another testament of Jesus Christ." I told them that's all right with me -- but if they want to keep my attention, they'll need to follow me out back because I had meat on the grill.

So they followed me out back, mindful not to walk on my lawn (thank goodness); and, as I tended to the grill, they asked me about my faith, and I told them that I am a faithful Roman Catholic. They both nodded their heads -- and, I'm sure, recalled their training on how to talk to Papists. I didn't give them any time to react: I asked them if they believed the Catholic Church slipped into apostasy around the time of the Edict of Milan. They said yes.

I informed them that their belief contradicts the account in the Gospel of Matthew when Christ establishes His Church. Christ told St. Peter that the gates of Hell will not prevail against His Church; thus, I told the Mormons as I turned the chicken, I could not believe Joseph Smith's claims. And as the flames of the grill flickered into the sky, I couldn't help but remark how ironic it is that we're having this conversation of doom in front of fire...

The nodded their heads again, and realized this show is over. But they handed me one of their tracts anyway, told me to keep on praying, and bid me farewell.

But, as usual when I encounter interesting people, I kept on thinking about the life they live. I thought the older one -- the veteran -- would have made a good Catholic priest. He had that profound clarity that all good priests have. The younger one -- the rookie -- was too wet-behind-the-ears for me to make an adequate judgment; furthermore, I think he was far too concerned about remembering all of his missionary training for door-to-door combat than actually worrying about whether I read the Book of Mormon.

After dinner, I flipped open the pamphlet they left behind, entitled "How to Keep Your Family Together Forever." Supposedly, the LDS church brings in scores of converts as a result of their "family first" propaganda. Enticing, to be sure -- especially since our society believes that normal family life is a horror show. Yet, as I was reading the tract, I was reminded of anti-Mormon sentiment that claimed that, while on the surface looking squeaky clean, Mormons had lots of garmie-garbed skeletons in their closets. These critics -- who are mainly evangelical Protestants -- argue that the suicide rate in Utah is higher than average, which supposedly indicates that Mormonism is psychologically unhealthy.

In 2002 (the most recent date available), Utah tied with Oregon for #11 nationally in suicides per 100,000 people. Of the Mountain States, which typically -- for reasons unknown -- have the highest suicide rates in the nation, Utah had the lowest rate. Furthermore, is it even reasonable to equate the entire state of Utah with Mormonism?

Don't worry: before the Mormons left, I asked them if they've ever seen Napoleon Dynamite -- the greatest Mormon flick of all time.

Israel, the Rapture, and Christian Zionism

The dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thess. 4:16–17)

The word Rapture, which means "to be raised up or caught up," is connected to the Latin word rapiemur, which appears in St. Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians in the Latin Vulgate. 

The Catholic Church teaches that that those Christians present at the Second Coming of Christ will be gathered together with the dead in Christ to be with the Lord forever. On the other hand, most evangelicals believe in a literal Rapture before the Second Coming. This false doctrine had its origins in the writings of John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), an Anglo-Irish evangelist who is also regarded as the father of modern dispensationalism. 

Dispensationalism follows a chronological interpretation of God's intervention in mankind through a series of Biblical covenants. Moreover, Dispensationalists see the Jews as the true people of God; thus, Christian Zionism -- the belief that the modern state of Israel plays a role in Biblical prophecy -- holds that the "ingathering" of the Jewish people is a prerequisite to the Rapture and the Second Coming.

In August 22, 2006, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and a number of other Churches signed the Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism, where it condemned Christian Zionism for placing "an emphasis on apocalyptic events leading to the end of history rather than living Christ's love and justice today."

Using the Jews as eschatological pawns does not fit the Gospel of Redemption and Salvation. Indeed, Micah 6:8 states: "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."

Leaves by Daniel J. Piedra

Gentle wind, dance with the leaves;
green today, gold tomorrow.
Often wait for one to fall,
but time slows the heart's hope.

Please, let one fall, just one I pray;
fall for me, slow to the ground.
We shall wait for one to fall,
but time slows the heart's hope.

Alas! the gentle wind doth not repose
and sets upon the golden tree.
Not one, but many He gives to me,
and am reminded of many things.



Autumn 2008

Luther - The Advent of Self

Three Reformers by Jacques Maritain

PART ONE: LUTHER

Martin Luther, the great reformer of religion, was not the sole founder of Protestantism -- but his revolution rendered the most profound changes to Christendom's understanding of both the human soul and reality.

Entering religious life at a time when clerical life was already "wretchedly low," Luther was tormented by the need to feel like he was in a state of grace. This mystical homesickness, as Maritain called it, led Luther to turn to "a brutal craving for the relish of his own sanctity"; and, as a result, he rejected supernatural grace, set himself "free", and took his salvation into his own hands.

According to Luther, sin is inevitable. Concupiscence is unconquerable, he claimed, but only One conquered sin, and Christ paid the price for us. Thus, Luther concedes defeat, and consigns himself to the realization that there is nothing we ourselves can do to be saved.

Freed from guilt and the burden of sin, Luther dove headfirst into "anger, calumny, hatred and lying, love of beer and wine, obsession with filth and obscenity" -- all the while acting in "spirit" and in "truth."

According to Maritain, "Luther's self becomes practically the centre of gravity of everything, especially in the spiritual order." By refusing obedience to Rome and by breaking with the communion of the Church, Luther elevated himself as supreme ruler of his soul. He called this "Christian liberty." But his credo was not meant to be limited to himself -- for as all heretics claim, salvation lies only in their original doctrine. In June 1522, Luther wrote, "I do not admit that my doctrine can be judged by anyone, even by the angels. He who does not receive my doctrine cannot be saved."

Roman Catholic theologian Johann Adam Möhler claimed that "Luther's self was in his opinion the centre round which all humanity should gravitate; he set himself up as the universal man in whom all should find their model. Let us make no bones about it, he put himself in the place of Jesus Christ."

Luther -- forerunner of Modern Man and his religion.

Orthodoxy

"I am the man who with utmost daring discovered what had been discovered before."

Perhaps no other book has had a profound impact on the formation of my faith than Chesterton's masterpiece, Orthodoxy (1908). Attempting to conjure up his own heretical faith, Chesterton -- that master of paradox -- discovered that as he "had put the last touches to it," his adventurous and wholly original religion was indeed orthodox Christianity. And so this delightful Christian classic of apologetics implores the reader to awaken to the mysterious joy of the ancient Faith.


Chesterton argues that people have a spiritual need for both adventure and security, which is essentially a tenuous balance between imagination and reason. This need is not pathological, but is necessary for sanity. 

This need is only satisfied, Chesterton argues, by accepting the Christian worldview, even with its outrageous claims of the Incarnate Word. According to Chesterton, "Mysticism keeps men sane. As long as you have mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery, you create morbidity. Therefore, accepting Christianity is not only a matter of faith; it is reasonable.

And what about modern claims that orthodox Christianity is boring and repressive? According to Chesterton, speaking of orthodoxy as something heavy, humdrum, and safe is simply a foolish habit. "There never was anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy. It was sanity; and to be sane is more dramatic than to be mad." Thus, as the madness of modernity attests to itself with its holocausts, world wars, and nuclear bombs, its claims of a utopian triumph here on earth ultimately crumbles into madness and despair.

During my journey of faith and intellect, and before I had arrived at Rome, I had never considered liberalism - or modernism, for that matter -- to be a worthwhile philosophy. Alas, the mysteriousness and joyfulness of orthodox Christianity, as fulfilled in all things in the Holy Roman Catholic Church, shone too brightly too be ignored; and its utter sanity ultimately drew me in.

Aldens

A man cannot make a pair of shoes rightly unless he do it in a devout manner.

- Thomas Carlyle

Russell Kirk's Six Canons of Conservative Thought

1. Belief that a divine intent rules society as well as conscience, forging an eternal chain of right and duty which links great and obscure, living and dead. Political problems, at bottom, are religious and moral problems.
2. Affection for the proliferating variety and mystery of traditional life, as distinguished from the narrowing uniformity and equalitarianism and utilitarian aims of most radical systems.
3. Conviction that civilized society requires orders and classes. The only true equality is moral equality; all other attempts at leveling lead to despair, if enforced by positive legislation. Society longs for leadership, and if a people destroy natural distinctions among men, presently Buonaparte fills the vacuum.
4. Persuasion that freedom and prosperity are inseparably connected, and that economic leveling is not economic progress.
5. Faith in prescription and distrust of "sophisters and calculators." Man must put a control upon his will and his appetite, for conservatives know man to be governed more by emotion than by reason. Tradition and sound prejudice checks upon man's anarchic impulse.
6. Recognition that change and reform are not identical, and that innovation is a devouring conflagration more often than it is a torch of progre

Hymn of Love by St Francis Xavier

My God, I love Thee, not because
I hope for heaven thereby;
Nor yet since they who love Thee not
Must burn eternally.
Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me
...Upon the Cross embrace;
For me didst bear the nails and spear,
And manifold disgrace;
And griefs and torments numberless,
And sweat of agony;
E’en death itself; and all for one
Who was Thine enemy.
Then why, O blessed Jesus Christ,
Should I not love Thee well,
Not for the sake of winning heaven,
Or of escaping hell;
Not with the hope of gaining aught,
Not seeking a reward;
But as Thyself hast loved me,
O ever-loving Lord?
E’en so I love Thee, and will love,
And in Thy praise will sing,
Solely because Thou art my God,
And my eternal King.

Thanks to James Hitchcock for passing this along.

The Education of Henry Adams

The education he received bore little relation to the education he needed.

Henry Brooks Adams (1838-1918) found himself torn between two ages: an America bound by republican virtue and the dawn of the twentieth century. Born into a family of presidents and statesmen, Adams' aristocratic sensibilities are profoundly shaken by the increasingly centralized power of the federal government as well as the rapid advance in science and technology. He eventually realizes that his traditional education was insufficient in preparing him for the age of automobiles and machines; as a result, self-education was needed to grasp the new principles of a technologically advanced society.

Upon reading his autobiography, The Education of Henry Adams, I was most interested in his somber outlook on the passing of Christianity into the darkness of moral relativism. Although a self-proclaimed faithless agnostic, Adams realized that what was Good, Beautiful, and True in the world was inevitably based in religion, particularly Catholicism. During a trip to France to study the great cathedral of Chartres, Adams felt his soul yearn for something beyond his settled understanding, but he could not latch on to something he clearly saw was fading away. And as mankind hurtled toward a century of mass murder and nuclear bombs, Adams looked back upon Christianity and wondered what had gone amiss:

The Virgin herself never looked so winning -- so One -- as in this scandalous failure of her Grace. To what purpose had she existed, if, after nineteen hundred years, the world was bloodier than when she was born? The stupendous failure of Christianity tortured history. The effort for Unity could not be a partial success; even alternating Unity resolved itself into meaningless motion at last.

What was this life all about? Adams wondered. Today our world is remarkable in that it is both highly centralized under collectivist democracy yet atomized to the point where humans have never felt so alone. Or, as Walker Percy says, lost in the cosmos.

The Impossible Return

I have made, like Lazarus, the impossible return.

Escaping from Cell Block 1138, I am now writing from a rebel base nowhere near the Hoth System, and far away from the watchful eyes of Darth Tyrannicus.

Not sure if Lazarus had any thing to live for (I think Christ raised him from the dead more to make a point to his disciples than anything else), but Benjamin Franklin once said:

If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing.

 How about a little both, Dr. Franklin?