It is certain that a college which does not require Greek will not prepare many to go forth as ministers or missionaries. This would be a great evil not only to the churches, but to the community generally. – James McCosh, Twenty Years of Princeton College (1888) Along the lines of McCosh’s statement, consider these […]
The Historic Tradition of Christian Humanism
Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible—even intrinsic—with the practice of historical Christianity, representing a real philosophical union of authentic Christian faith and classical humanist principles made explicit by the Incarnation of Christ. Christian humanism is interested in the affirmation and flourishing of human life and […]
Reader Looke, not on his Picture, but his Booke
In Jeanett DeCelles-Zwerneman’s instructive treatise, A Lively Kind of Learning: Mastering the Seminar Method, she makes an important claim about learning to read a work on its own merits, rather than with the prejudices that frequently arise out of one’s intimate knowledge of the author. She writes, Ray Carver was an alcoholic and Rousseau abandoned […]
We Are Humans; We Are Not Gods
I have been reading through Jorge Louis Borges’ Selected Poems. One of the poems to which I keep returning is one of life’s refrains. The poem is called Límites. It reminds me there is something human about boundaries because boundaries—be they natural or artificial (that is, political)—remind us of our own limits, especially the fact […]
The Real and Perceived Needs of Customers
More than five years ago now, I wrote a short post making the case that Teachers are in the Customer Service Business. Building on that idea, I would further argue that customer service ought to be a way of life, not the contrived attendance to a company (or school) policy. Providing good customer service simply […]
The Heart and Soul of Human Existence
As modern Americans, we have been conditioned to believe it is the “go-getter” who is virtuous. The person who shows up early, stays late, and puts in 40-plus hours a week at the office or factory is a first-world hero deserving of our admiration (Perhaps our real admiration is for the inevitable fat paycheck). Even […]
The Piety of Learning
The piety of learning is to fully and sympathetically comprehend the power of an idea or argument before engaging in critical analysis of said idea or argument. To really understand a point or position before critiquing its merits or flaws is the mark of a humble and learned man. This is the point of Socratic […]
Don’t Read My Blog Every Day!
…if you don’t want to. As a matter of fact, you may have only signed up for my Saturday Substack Newsletter, Rumbling Toward Heaven, and are now wondering why you’re getting something from me in your inbox on a Monday. Well, this is a courtesy email to let you know that I will be publishing […]
Raspberries and Writing
Writing, or content creation, is a lot like picking raspberries. If one picks the bushes clean of its best fruit every evening, like magic, when he returns the following evening he’ll find the bushes loaded with ripe fruit again. It will be as if the bushes had never been picked. With proper water and sunshine, […]
The Matter with History
Henry Ford once asserted that “history is bunk!” It seems he meant that we in the modern age need to forget the past and lean into progress. The unbridled irrationalists of our postmodern society might agree. But George Santayana wrote something to the opposite effect: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat […]
C. S. Lewis’s Confession to T. S. Eliot
In the open stanza of Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, the narrator says, Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherized upon a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats Of restless nights in one-night cheap […]
Two Books About Books
There have been two book discoveries that remain marked in my memory as being most serendipitous. The first—and I cannot recall how or from whom I discovered it—is the Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L’Amour. Ironically, it played a part in shaping my view of education. I say ironically because Louis Dearborn LaMoore […]
On Education: A Review
I recently reviewed On Education, for Ad Fontes, A Journal of Protestant Letters. On Education documents Abraham Kuyper’s involvement with the Netherlands’ seventy-year political battle over parents’ rights to choose schools representative of their religious convictions. On Education is more than just a helpful resource; it is a uniquely prescient guide for everyone concerned with […]
Oratio – First Sunday After Trinity
O God, the strength of all them that put their trust in thee, mercifully accept our prayers: and because through the weakness of our mortal nature, we can do no good thing without thee, grant vs the help of thy grace, that in keeping of thy Commandments, we may please thee, both in will and […]
Redeeming the Social Sciences: Why Custom Must Still Be Considered
In recent years, the trajectory and application of the social sciences from “explicitly prescriptive to overtly descriptive” has been tremendously concerning to thoughtful scholars interested in the science’s application to human flourishing. And in the movement for the renewal of Classical Christian Education, it has been suggested the social sciences be abandoned altogether for the […]
Why New England Needs Classical Education
On Wednesday, July 6th at 7:00 PM EDT, I will be joining Sarah Abbott, Tim Knotts, and Heatherly Sylvia, the founders of the Classical Learning Consortium for New England, for a live Zoom Panel Discussion. This will be the third in a series of live panel discussions where the hosts discuss a variety of topics […]
Oratio – Trinity Sunday
Keep us, O Lord, from the vain strife of words, and grant to us a constant profession of the truth. Preserve us in the faith, true and undefiled, so that we may ever hold fast that which we professed when we were baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son and of […]
Narratives That are Useful for States
It is often said—and correctly, I think—to “follow the money” if you want to discover motive. But “useful for states” is another telling maxim worthy of our consideration. In Book III of The City of God, St. Augustine notes that Varro, a very learned heathen, all but admits that these stories (about men like Aeneas, […]
Oratio – Pentecost Sunday
O Holy Spirit of God, very God, who descended on Christ at the river Jordan and on the apostles in the upper chamber, we have sinned against heaven and before you; purify us again, we ask you, with your divine fire, and have mercy on us; for Christ’s sake. Amen. Nerses of Clajes((Thomas C. Oden […]
Oratio – Sunday after the Ascension
O God, the King of Glory, who hast exalted thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto thy Kingdom in Heaven: We beseech thee leave us not comfortless; but send to us thine holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us unto the same place whither our saviour Christ is gone before, who liveth […]
Oratio – Sixth Sunday of Easter
O God, who by the life and death and rising again of your dear Son has consecrated for us a new and living way into the holiest of all: cleanse our minds, we ask you, by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that drawing near to you with a pure heart and conscience undefiled, we […]
Master the Academic Essay
An essay is “a short literary composition on a single subject, usually presenting the personal view of the author.” More importantly, it is an attempt at saying something true, a tentative exploration that allows one to study himself, to discover what is believed, thought, or known about any subject. Additionally, it affords one the opportunity […]
Oratio – Fifth Sunday of Easter
Grant, O Lord, to your servants and followers who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake that their conversation may be as becomes the gospel of Christ; that they may stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; that terrified in nothing by their adversaries they may be bold […]
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Holy Father, we come before you with humble hearts, confessing our sins. We have chased after the vanities of the world and have wandered from our heart’s true home; and, forgetful of you, the living God, we have burned the incense of the soul before false gods that cannot deliver. Deal not with us as […]
Oratio – Third Sunday of Easter
Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, look on us and have mercy on us, you who are both victim and priest, reward and redeemer; keep safe from all evils those whom you have redeemed, O Savior of the world. ((Old Gallican Missal, Thomas C. Oden and Cindy Crosby, eds., Ancient […]
Oratio – Second Sunday of Easter
Almighty Father, who hast given thine only son to die for our sins, and to rise again for our justification: grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may alway serve thee in pureness of living, and truth, through the merits of the same thy son Jesus Christ our […]
Oratio – Easter Sunday
O God, who by your only-begotten Son has overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life, grant us, we ask you, that we who celebrate the solemnities of our Lord’s resurrection may by the renewing of your Spirit arise from the death of the soul; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. […]
Oratio – Palm Sunday
Almighty and everlasting God, who of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the Cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility: mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, […]
On Grandchildren and Being Grandparents
God has blessed us with these 5 precious grandchildren (so far) and we are overjoyed to be their Mimi and Papa. To be grandparents to these tender and immortal souls is the greatest privilege and most sobering responsibility. [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”2″ gal_title=”Grandchildren”] Being grandparents has also brought with it another means of sanctification. Watching our own […]
It’s Later Than You Think: A Collection of Thoughts on Numbering Our Days
It is reported that it was the ancient Athenian lawgiver, Solon, who divided the human life cycle into ten stages of seven years each:((https://www.institute4learning.com/2012/08/08/the-stages-of-life-according-to-solon-ancient-greece/)) 0-7 – A boy at first is the man; unripe; then he casts his teeth; milk-teeth befitting the child he sheds his 7th year; 7-14 – Then to his seven […]
Oratio – The Fifth Sunday in Lent
O God, who has given us the great and saving truths of your gospel: grant us, we ask you, to live amid these things, to meditate on them and to seek them; for one who goes on seeking, finds. Help us, therefore, to learn those things on earth, the knowledge of which shall abide with […]
Oratio – Fourth Sunday in Lent
Permit us not, O Lord, to hear your word in vain. Convince us of its truth, cause us to feel its power and bind us to yourself with cords of faith and hope and love that never shall be broken. We bind to ourselves today, you our God: your power to hold us, your hand […]
Hard Hearts and Soft Heads
The democratic impulses of the Enlightenment that began in the seventeenth century to topple kings and later aristocrats brought with its newly-found economic and political powers certain concerns: can the masses, the many, the demos, the hoi polloi, justly and effectively govern themselves? If the masses become king, what shall the minority do? The answer […]
Oratio – Third Sunday in Lent
Almighty and everlasting God, by whom that begins to be which was not and that which lay hidden is made visible, cleanse away the folly of our heart and purify us from our secret vices, that we may be able to serve you, O Lord, with a pure mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. […]
Aristotle On Happiness
Happiness, of which Aristotle writes in his Nicomachean Ethics, is more than a pleasant feeling or sense of personal contentment, but the ultimate good toward which everyone should direct his life. The modern English usage of happiness tends to carry a slightly less robust meaning than the Greek word from which it is derived. The Concise Oxford English […]
Oratio – Second Sunday in Lent
Almighty God, who seest that we have no power of ourselves, to help ourselves: keep us both outwardly in our bodies, and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all Adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault, and hurt the soul through Jesus Christ […]
The Most Enormous and Complex Bugbear Facing Society Today
I recently published an article over at The Consortium Blog that offers a simple solution to one of the most enormous and complex bugbears facing society today. The hobgoblin I have in mind is not one of your typical most-wanted public enemies that dominate conversations in the public square. In one particular way, it is a […]
Seven Characteristics of a Classical Christian Education
In this post, I want to answer the question, What is a Classical Christian Education? But first I want to mention that under the fairly broad umbrella of the expression, Classical Christian education (CCE), there are likely as many micro-persuasions as there are eyes on Argos. And this is true for at least three reasons. […]
Oratio – The First Sunday in Lent
O Lord, who for our sake didst fast forty days, and forty nights: give us grace to use such Abstinence that our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness, to thy honour and glory who livest, and reignest, with the Father and the holy […]
Oratio – Saint Augustine, The Last Sunday After Epiphany
Grant us, even us, O Lord, to know you, and love you and rejoice in you. And if we cannot do these perfectly in this life, let us, at least, advance to higher degrees every day, till we can come to do them in perfection. Let the knowledge of you increase in us here, that […]
Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust (Or, If Samuel Beckett Wrote the Story of Job)
“There is nothing more to be done!” exclaimed Gogo, dramatically plopping himself into a pile of ashes in the middle of the stage. The noxious dust, displaced by the weight of his body, exploded into a large cloud engulfing his wife, Didi, and his three friends, Vlad, Pozzo, and Lucky, who having come to comfort […]
Sola Deo Gloria
“Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of […]
Fellow Works and Not Ashamed of the Gospel
“Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen. I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord. Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you.” -Romans 16:21–23 By including the greetings […]
Pax Christi
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” -Romans 16:20 Paul concludes his exhortation concerning their unity—to be wise concerning those thing that are good and innocent toward those things that are evil—with a promise and a pray. He reassures them with […]
Oratio – Sexagesima or The Second Sunday Before Lent
O Lord God, who seest that we put not our trust in any thing, that we do, mercifully grant that by thy power we may be defended against all Adversity through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Wise and Innocent
“For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.” -Romans 16:19 Immediately upon warning them of the scandal makers, the wolves so to speak, he commends them for their obedience lest they […]
A Brief Thought About Gyges’ Ring and the Internet
In Plato’s Republic, Socrates and his interlocutors are in pursuit of a good definition and understanding of justice. In Book Two, Glaucon suggests there is no man so virtuous that he could resist the temptation of doing injustice to whomever he pleased if he could do so without fearing detection. Glaucon says, Even those who […]
Beware of Wolves!
“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.” -Romans 16:17–18 […]
The New Tribe of the Redeemed
“Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles, and they were in Christ before me. Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. Greet Apelles, who is approved […]
The First-fruits of Ministry
“Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia.” […]