Michael Curtiz, famed director of Casablanca, made a Christmas movie in 1955, starring Humphrey Bogart, called We’re No Angels, about the power of innocence and moral decency to transform even hardened criminals—of whom Bogart is one, the other two played by the famous British actor-director Peter Ustinov and the American son of Italian immigrants Aldo Ray. Continue Reading...
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December 21, 2022
The Myths of American Individualism
Americans are an individualistic bunch. Our popular culture makes heroes of outsiders, loners, and disrupters. Our politicians emphasize their independence of entrenched institutions, party discipline, and special interests. In economic affairs, we assume that success is within the grasp of anyone who really tries—and harshly judge those who don’t appear to meet the challenge. Continue Reading...
December 20, 2022
C.S. Lewis: How ‘Medieval’ Was He?
When it comes to evaluating C.S. Lewis’ engagement with medieval authors, Jason Baxter performs the heavy lifting with ease, almost with wings. The Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis: How Great Books Shaped a Great Mind comprises, in effect, a sequence of primers on major and minor figures—Boethius, Pseudo-Dionysius, Calcidius, Dante, Nicholas of Cusa, Bernard Sylvestris, inter alios—while it traces their imprint on Lewis’ writings. Continue Reading...
December 15, 2022
King Jesus and Political Discipleship
Our current political reshuffling has been dizzying, perhaps even more in the Christian community than among Americans in general. The conservative shift toward populism under Trump empowered both a push for real nationalism—blood, soil, industrial policy—as well as even more fringe movements such as the medieval romanticism of the Catholic integralists. Continue Reading...
December 14, 2022
Jimmy Lai Trial Adjourned Until September 2023
Entrepreneur and freedom fighter Jimmy Lai’s fight for justice will now drag on for nine more months as the Hong Kong High Court adjourns his trial.
The delay comes as Hong Kong waits for Beijing to rule on allowing King’s Counsel Tim Owen, a British lawyer and internationalist specialist, to join Lai’s defense team in his fight against the country’s draconian National Security Law. Continue Reading...
December 14, 2022
Art as Spiritual Journey
In his essay “The Philosophy of Medieval Art,” Bishop Fulton Sheen opens with the statement, “There is no such thing as understanding the art in any period apart from the philosophy of that period.” Continue Reading...
December 13, 2022
Spielberg’s The Fabelmans Captures the Magic and Mystery of Moviegoing
Modern society has no shortage of candidates for substitute religions.
Instead of attending religious services, we can assemble at football games; in lieu of studying the lives of the saints, we can come to know Harry and Meghan. Continue Reading...
December 12, 2022
Jimmy Lai Gets 5 Years for Fraud as He Awaits Trial
Held in solitary confinement, 75-year-old Jimmy Lai is still awaiting trial for the crime of resisting the iron grip of the Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong. On December 10, however, that grip got a little tighter. Continue Reading...
December 08, 2022
Scorsese’s Hugo Is a Family Film Worth Revisiting
Martin Scorsese turned 80 last month and he deserves celebration. He’s one of perhaps five directors in Hollywood who is respected as a master of the cinematic art, and the one most closely identified with the art itself. Continue Reading...
December 07, 2022
Withdrawing from Afghanistan: One Veteran’s Crisis of Command
On August 26, 2021, Stuart Scheller posted a video on LinkedIn and Facebook in which he strongly criticized senior U.S. military and civilian leaders for the embarrassing way in which the country had withdrawn forces from Afghanistan in the preceding days. Continue Reading...