The Imaginative Conservative - Latest Essays

When Mother Teresa Came to Washington by Barbara J. Elliott As I looked around that room in Washington, filled with so many powerful people, I realized that one day in Mother Teresa’s life brought more good to the face of the earth than all our efforts combined for a lifetime... Why "The Great Music" Is as Important as "The Great Books" by Peter Kwasniewski Ignorance of the great works of music is as bad, for someone who seeks to be educated in Western culture, as ignorance of Dante and Shakespeare in literature, and Plato and Aristotle in philosophy...  The Lovely Dragon of Choice: The Freedom Not to Be Free by Anthony Esolen Modern man is afraid of the quest, and is not particularly fond of hunger and cliffs, either. He will not see that the very point of an adventure is that you cannot plan it... The Tyranny of Tenderness by Dwight Longenecker Everyone must certainly be amazed at the continued triumph of tenderness, but we now face an unusual problem: Tenderness is biting back...  Is the "Tiny House Movement" Good for America? by Bruce Frohnen The goal of founding, building, and perpetuating a family homestead has been central to the American experience. But do the "tiny housers" hold the moral high-ground?...  Nazissism: The Totalitarianism of the Self by Joseph Pearce In our modern age, the dragon of pride has been unleashed to do its worst, narcissism turned to Nazissism... Should Christians Romanticize the Middle Ages? by James Baresel Many Catholics treat the High Middle Ages as a veritable ideal of civilization. But the medieval period produced problematic ideas about aesthetics, eccentric theories of economics, and dangerous assumptions about politics...  Back to First Principles: Re-Thinking Edmund Burke by Bradley J. Birzer The great American political movements of Goldwater and Reagan found their animating principles in the thought of Burke and de Tocqueville, and any future successful conservative movements must do the same...  René Girard and Secular Modernity by Thaddeus Kozinski René Girard’s unique anthropological lens can help Thomists and Christian thinkers in general see more clearly and deeply into the true nature of secular modernity... Why Won't G.K. Chesterton Disappear?  by Joseph Pearce What is it about G.K. Chesterton, and/or about the present age, that is driving his renewed popularity?...  The Restoration of Tradition by Stanley Parry Civilization itself—tradition—falls out of existence when the human spirit itself be­ comes confused... John Adams on Nobility and Social Architecture by John Paytner Even when wealth and noble birth are connected with talents, the two sets of talents differ, and those possessed by the nobleman are likely to be of greater worth than are those possessed by the man of wealth...  Justice: An Art Form?  by Ian Tuttle The liberal notion of “justice” calls for an orchestra in which every voice blasts the same note. That is not harmony. Determining the mean and developing harmony is an art... The 1783 Treaty of Paris by American Delegates His Brittanic Majesty acknowledges the said United States to be free sovereign and independent states, that he treats with them as such, and for himself, his heirs, andsuccessors, relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety, and territorial rights of the same and every part thereof... Who Is the True Lover of Books? by Erasmus of Rotterdam I consider as lovers of books not those who keep their books hidden in their store-chests and never handle them, but those who, by nightly as well as daily use thumb them... The Windhover by Gerald Manley Hopkins As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding / Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding / Stirred for a bird,—the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!... Support The Imaginative Conservative