Today we remember a profound thinker who continues to remind us of the danger of instrumentalized art in the service of merely ideological ends—and the role of hospitality, personal influence, in the upholding of truth. Read More… On this particular day … we had just said to one another that if our nature was so unhappy as to possess only a pseudo-intelligence capable of everything but the truth, if, sitting in judgment on itself, it had to debase itself to...

The decline in education standards can be directly traced to a decline in respect for the lib-eral arts. But before they can be revived, one question must be answered: What exactly are they? Read More… For those of us who’ve devoted out lives to the liberal arts, it’s all mon to encounter doubters. As a high school English teacher, I encounter this all too frequently. Naturally, I’ve developed my own arguments, and because my interlocutors are teenagers, I’m usually successful...

Award-winning playwright Jonathan Leaf has just published his debut novel, a modern noir filled with murder, mayhem, scandal, intrigue, drugs, sex cults—you know, the usual. Read More… Dreams can often turn into nightmares. And dreams in Hollywood are a special kind, as are the nightmares that can follow. One day you’re getting ready to audition for a role in a movie. You’re full of hope, depending of course on how much time you’ve spent among the crowd of overly aesthetic...

A parliamentary group has denounced the loss of press freedom in Hong Kong, even as the Chinese Communist Party insists freedom fighters like Lai are “doomed to fail.” Read More… As 75-year-old Jimmy Lai languishes in prison, the Hong Kong government, pressured by the Chinese Community Party (CCP), is dedicated to ensuring that the country’s most famous freedom fighter fails to win any further support for his cause. Lai’s story has spread across the world, and the regime currently holding...

Hollywood has been hit with its first strike in 15 years, and it may not end the way the last one did. That doesn’t mean the writers don’t have a legitimate cause—or that audiences don’t deserve better than the rebooted and woke pap that studios have been serving up of late. Read More… Although most people probably haven’t noticed yet, there is a currently a writers strike happening in Hollywood. For the time being, the main programs affected have been...

A new book by eminent legal philosopher Hadley Arkes, Mere Natural Rights, puts forth the case for the “self-evident truths” of “mere natural law” as the foundation of our constitutional system, without which “originalism” is doomed to failure as a coherent judicial philosophy. Read More… It is never out of season to recall James Wilson’s line that the purpose of the Constitution was not to invent new rights “by a human establishment,” but to secure and enlarge the rights we...

Jessica Hooten Wilson has produced a fascinating guide on how to turn reading into a spiritual practice that will enrich mind, soul, and character. Read More… Widespread literacy is taken for granted in America today. Our global economy, societal structures, professional success, and everyday activities depend upon our ability to read, even as our interest in reading books appears to be declining. Even among those of us who read as a pastime, we don’t always ask ourselves why or how...

A biography of Timothy J. Keller paints a picture of a man of many influences, many successes, many critics, and who will continue to influence the evangelical world for many years e. Read More… Billy Graham was often called “America’s Pastor.” Throughout the 20th century, few rivaled his spiritual influence over the nation. But as we slink into the 21st century, its seems that the pastor for our day is Timothy Keller. Collin Hansen, who serves as vice president of...

Professor and author Abigail Favale has built an academic career in gender studies and feminist literary criticism. Her latest book brings a wealth of experience and meditation on these subjects and provides both guidance for Christians and a potential source of vexation for enemies of the permanent things. Read More… Abigail Favale’s The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory presents a positive vision of gender as part of God’s good creation. She describes and responds to contemporary gender theory, showing...

One more obstacle has been put in the way of securing justice for Hong Kong’s most famous and outspoken voice for freedom. Read More… Jimmy Lai is Hong Kong’s most persecuted freedom fighter. Jailed in December 2020 for the crime of protesting the Chinese Communist Party’s clampdown on civil rights in Hong Kong, the 75-year-old fashion mogul and entrepreneur faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted of violating the CCP’s National Security Law, which took effect in June...