A couple of posts ago, I said that limited government was absolutely dependent upon public virtue. Here’s why. It all goes back to Burke’s “little platoons.” Raw individualism is not the opposite of the collective. It is what makes the collective possible. The collective likes it. The Hive can handle a pothead bee. The collective …
Boys of Blur
What could be better than a novel releasing in just a few weeks, involving a Grendel story and some young boys, and football, and Florida? And ancient secrets? Well, not much actually.
Sanctuary and Parish
I have written before on the ideal relationship of church and kingdom, comparing it to the church at the center of town, and life in the kingdom fanning out into the parish from that center. Word and sacrament are at the center, and they shape and form the lives of believers outside the sanctuary, but …
What Mardi Gras Has for Breakfast
This is happening in lots of different areas, so I don’t want to pick on Rand Paul. But for the sake of convenience, let us start with him. He recently called for a “truce” within the Republican Party on “social issues,” but what such a truce would actually amount to is total capitulation on the …
The Apocalypse Is Here. Now Calm Down.
I recently noted with interest a new reading technology/app that is about to be rolled out. The technology is called Spritz. I also noted with interest some of the responses to it — as in, “won’t be long now, one more clean shirt, o tempora, o mores . . .” This spritzing technology enables you …
First Church
“All churches have traditions, and the older they are, the more pernicious they are. We should never forget that Cain was the eldest. If he had founded one, his church would have had the very best claim on antiquity” (Against the Church, p. 40).
Preparing for the Refugee Column
A couple of posts ago, I made a joke about “lesbyterians,” which resulted in some objections and ongoing discussion. I have made a particular distinction on this topic before, but I really should mention it again. You could look here, or put apostle and refugee in the search bar and see what happens. My rhetorical …
Grace Perfects Nature
“The transformation of the water at Cana was a supernatural act, but it did not have a supernatural result. Jesus made natural wine, not supernatural ambrosia, but He nevertheless did it by supernatural means. In the new birth, God makes a new man out of an old one; He makes a true man out of …
And Also Like the Lesbyterians
“Our baptist brothers see the problem, and (in my view) want to uproot the tares before it is time. They wind up damaging the wheat. The sacramentalists, I believe, are too careless about letting everything grow together, until eventually, like the Episcopal Church, they think that morning glory is wheat. And why shouldn’t we ordain …
Skootch Around a Bit
After my post on Rand Paul and National Review, I got various responses, and so I want to write about two divergent but representative takes. In effect, one response is that things are better than I think, and the other response is that things are way worse than I think. Because I am Chestertonian in …