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The Holdovers and the Odor of Sanctity

When it comes to film genres, the kinds, the sorts, the categories of picture defined by certain conventions and characteristics, we’re all familiar with sci fi, the western, the detective crime drama, the war epic, fantasy, comedy (which includes mini-genres like rom-com, absurdist (think Airplane! Continue Reading...

The Quiet Revolution of Place

Sociologist Robert Nisbet declared our era to be “singularly weak” in social inventiveness. In a new book on local solutions to America’s social ills, author Seth Kaplan agrees—with some exceptions. “Our modern era is not the first one in which the U.S. Continue Reading...

Can the State Love God?

The 20th century was an outlier in the history of the human race. For the first time, secularizing movements spanned the globe. In many places, they succeeded by suppressing the political expression of religion. Continue Reading...

The Capitalist Manifesto

Fulton Sheen once remarked that “not over a hundred people” hate the Catholic Church, but “there are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church.” The same might be said for free market economics. Continue Reading...

Religious Freedom Upheld in Finland—Again

In Finland, a prominent politician and a Lutheran bishop have been acquitted of hate crimes for the second time in as many years. On November 14, 2023, the Helsinki Court of Appeals issued its unanimous decision that Finnish Member of Parliament Dr. Continue Reading...

Mental Illness and the Suffering Word

He knows. This John knows. How? Has he peered down into the bottomless pit in the middle of the Wilderness? Seen the Stranger trapped in a small iron Cage lowered on a long iron chain so far into the darkness that only a pinprick of light is visible? Continue Reading...

The Little Corporal Gets a Little Film

Among all art forms, the movies have the greatest propensity to glorify violence, brutality, and savagery of all sorts. Because the medium is inherently kinetic, cinema captures the thrill, terror, and barbarism of battle; and because it is empathetic, cinema trains audiences to identify with and immerse themselves in the action they’re shown onscreen. Continue Reading...

Put Down the Phone and Pick up the Psalms

Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age makes a compelling argument. Its author, Samuel James, asks readers to consider how long it’s been since they’ve checked a phone for notifications, or whether they’re in the habit of checking email while talking with people in person—or checking texts while driving. Continue Reading...