Throughout Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, the great Bolkonsky household is a home bereft of affection and the caresses of love for which perhaps every child and every parent longs. The father, Nikolai Bolkonsky, proud, intelligent, eccentric, and cynical, has tormented his daughter by his schedule, his demands, his scoffing at her faith and manners. But … Continue reading On Maria and the Death of Nikolai Bolkonsky in War and Peace
Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation. Psalm 149:3-4 Debts There are certain debts that are never be paid back, that we never fully make good on.* If a woman saves my child’s life, there is no sufficient currency … Continue reading Liturgy, Religion, and the Obligation of Worship
A talk Given at New College Franklin, Prospective Weekend, Spring 2018 Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, the great Western text on virtue, concludes in a very strange way. After all his work discussing virtue, Aristotle unexpectedly relegates it to second rank. But if I am to make clear the remarkable nature of this move, I first need … Continue reading Virtue and its Limits: from Prudence to Contemplation
from a talk given at New College Franklin in the Fall of 2013 Main Texts: Homer’s Odyssey, Book 8, lines 42-45, 62-94, 483-499, 521-534 Homer’s Iliad, Book VI, lines 440-465 My goal in giving this talk is to inspire wonder and excitement about the program of study here, to encourage intellectual enthusiasm. With this goal … Continue reading A Question of the Liberal Arts: Why is Song a Gift from the Gods?
After a delightful dinner with friends, somebody brings out a tray of cookies. I help myself to one, and then to another. I am now full, but I still want to eat another. Why? How can this be possible? All men by nature desire happiness. But the happiness which we desire is not a certain … Continue reading Thomas Aquinas Explains why I can Always Eat Another Cookie
A friend recently gave me a Star Wars button with the the phrase “I find that answer vague and unconvincing.” While wearing it at school the other day, I realized that a large part of my job is communicating this to students, helping them see why it is the case, and what a sufficient answer … Continue reading Vague and Unconvincing
Richard Carstone in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House is a quintessential gambler. A promising young man who holds the heart of a lovely young lady, who is supported by a wealthy benefactor, and who is surrounded by well wishers, he is only in need of a bit of steady application. But in this he fails because he is … Continue reading The Terrible Fatalism of Gambling and the Providence of God
Does God see us and love us or does he instead see only Christ? It is often preached that God looks not to our sins, but to the merits of Christ in whom he is well pleased. Or, that when God looks at those in Christ, he sees not them, but Christ. This might suggest … Continue reading On Whether God Loves the Individual or Christ
St. Anselm is often pigeon-holed for his rather extraordinary proof of God. But perhaps more important than this endeavor (which is itself quite stunning when looked at generously and carefully), is his conviction that faith precedes understanding. I thank thee that thou hast created me in this thine image, in order that I may be … Continue reading Wrench, Hammer, or Reason?
Why do the faces of animals evoke wonder in us? Perhaps three reasons. First, they are beautiful. Second, we recognize in them a common consciousness, a beholding and being beheld, and it is a delight to see this. Finally, we see this consciousness in animals more readily than in ourselves (with the exception of babies … Continue reading In the Faces of Animals
Same & Other 