To the tomb, all life hastens. But while death is ineluctable, the growing good of the world is not. There is an intrinsic vulnerability to civilization (and parenthood), in large part because the beings who comprise it have the capacity both to sustain and destroy it; to be “the … | Continue reading
Despite Americans’ instinctive openness, decades of deadly overdoses and mass shooting victims remind them that there have to be boundaries. The difficulty of controlling protests in Russia and China reminds them that closing down too hard can destabilize the government’s hold on … | Continue reading
This Realness, a touch of authentic mythology--much like Niggle who finally saw the Real Tree he had modeled his painting after throughout his life without knowing it--comes alive when the legends are approached the way they were intended to be: as if they were true. Here Myth be … | Continue reading
I’d always wondered what woodland flowers had to do with morels and fishing. I’d also marveled about how robins knew when to return north or questioned why certain mayfly imitations work better than others during the opening weekend of trout season. What did one have to do with t … | Continue reading
My infrequent episodes of bringing death to animals have always taken an emotional toll on me. Making a weekly trip to the slaughterhouse for over a decade, as Comis did, seems bound to leave a mark. Can such a wound be redeemed or is the purpose of this pain to dissuade us from … | Continue reading
Mark Mitchell’s book is the latest title published under the FPR Books imprint. If this excerpt whets your appetite, do order a copy of Plutocratic Socialism: The Future of Private Property and the Fate of the Middle Class. It is the crisis of the middle class, and not simply the … | Continue reading
I’ll be taking the month of June off email and, for the most part, the Internet. FPR will continue publishing essays while I’m away–we have some substantive essays on tap–but my weekly Water Dipper posts will be on hiatus until sometime in July. I’ll be enjoying some good books w … | Continue reading
We may heap much of the blame or praise upon generals and czars and presidents, but they are rarely in the trenches. We may want to avoid taking responsibility for what happens, but big things often require many people working together. Individuals alone do not shape history. It … | Continue reading
A number of Werntz’s suggested practices—e.g., regular use of corporate and pre-written prayers, and identifying with a classic confession of faith rather than a mission statement—are already common in many, more traditional Protestant churches and in Roman Catholic churches. Ind … | Continue reading
Dominican Friar Fr. Gregory Pine is a host of the podcast Godsplaining and frequently appears on Pints With Aquinas. He is author of the new book Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly published by Our Sunday Visitor. Fr. Pine and I discuss the idea of prudence, its philosophi … | Continue reading
Woods may be Californian by birth, and a Floridian by residence, but I believe there’s something in his latest comeback capable of stirring the soul of even the most reticent, celebrity-wary Middle American. I would never say that Tiger is us—he’s rich and famous and talented bey … | Continue reading
“The Colorado River is in Crisis, And It’s Getting Worse Every Day.” In a beautifully produced, well-illustrated essay, Karin Brulliard journeys down the Colorado River and highlights the communities and ecosystems that depend on its dwindling flow. “Is Reading Fiction a Waste of … | Continue reading
The old neighbourhoods are not coming back amid the glass and concrete of today’s Shanghai. Half of the Andean countryside is beginning to look less like villages and more like mining settlements whose denizens want to leave. And the last few years have shown that liberty and tru … | Continue reading
It is a hard task to learn to plant roots in a place from which you know you will be uprooted. It is also the task that we, mirroring Israel in Jeremiah 29, are called to do. Through the process of planting gardens, marrying, having children, raising our children, and being plant … | Continue reading
All of the biases, all of the bloodlessness, and all the banalities of Tractor Wars, I suggest, are the products of a whole way of thinking about technology, agriculture and the economy, one that values invention over implementation or use, innovation over maintenance or care, an … | Continue reading
“Not That Brothers K.” Ken Sundet Jones praises David James Duncan’s brilliant novel on the thirtieth anniversary of its publication: “It’s about American angst, familial drama, and Seventh Day Adventist questions of theodicy. Not only that, it’s got baseball and war, along with … | Continue reading
We might not use the word “genius” in all these contexts, but the mystery is the same. Where did this exceptional ability come from? Is it just another trait like brown eyes or curly hair? We know only that this aptitude defies our disciplines and formulas and couldn’t have been … | Continue reading
Grove City, PA. Last week I wrapped up a rich semester of reading and discussing Wendell Berry’s writings with a group of engaged and thoughtful students. Despite plenty of particular critiques and quibbles, the students were all sympathetic to Berry’s ideas. They volunteered, af … | Continue reading
Host: John Murdock Guest: Charles “Chuck” Marohn Chuck Marohn, the founder of Strong Towns and author of Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, discusses streets, roads, “stroads,” and the perils of the American traffic system. A trained engineer himself, Marohn once imbibed th … | Continue reading
Chris Hytha is a laudable example of somebody civilizing our approach to digital assets, and I fully support him. I’m glad to see fellow Philly Porchers Anthony Hennen and Nick Russo elevate Hytha’s work, but I don’t see any way to align the Wild West NFT economy with Wendell Ber … | Continue reading
The status of NFTs in the world of 2027 depends, in large part, on how well we’re able to incorporate them into our positive vision of the good. We can, and should, step back and question them. But to stay removed from the craze is to abdicate our duty to shape the future in acco … | Continue reading
“Introduction to Christian Anarchism Summer 2022 Seminar.” Laurie Johnson is offering an online seminar exploring the tradition of Christian anarchism: “The five sessions will center on these themes: 1. basics of Christian anarchism, 2. Christian anarchism confronts the state, 3. … | Continue reading
Stowe’s book is both timeless and timely. Our physical embodiment as human creatures is always essential, but it is especially so amid increasing digitality. The last two years of pandemic-related economic fluctuations and supply-chain instabilities have further driven home the i … | Continue reading
Anthony Amore is a Boston based New York Times bestselling author and art security expert. He is author most recently of The Woman Who Stole Vermeer: The True Story of Rose Dugdale. He also works as Director of Security and Chief Investigator at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Muse … | Continue reading
We should certainly turn our attention to making the credentials necessary for economic participation affordable. But so many of those losing the prime years of their life to debt and stress did nothing wrong. I don’t need any other argument to be in favor of student loan forgive … | Continue reading
Vodolazkin's novels do for Time what Wendell Berry does for Space: We can't just live where we are, we have to live when we are, too. So thanks to Vodolazkin for the timely reminder. And requiescat in pace, Jack: thanks for doing just that. | Continue reading
“Christopher Beha Left the Catholic Church and then Came Back. Now He’s Writing a Book about Why..” Mary Grace Mangano talks with Chris Beha about his sickness, his return to Catholicism, and his love of fiction. “Detroiters Are Not Waiting to Be Saved.” Nate File describes the d … | Continue reading
Ordinary practices may not seem to warrant the kind of energy and attention we devote to global and international affairs, especially given the present calamity. But they most certainly do. After all, even the biggest tasks—including the call to partner with God to rule, bless, a … | Continue reading
There is a significant difference between staring at a computer screen and seeing the world through a porch screen. Hailey emphasizes the benefits of seeing from the “threshold between stability and precariousness,” which is nothing like viewing the world from the comfort of a co … | Continue reading
For Quinones, the twin opioid and meth epidemics have their origins in the destruction of community. The decline of local institutions creates a vacuum of isolation and hopelessness in which drugs can gain a foothold, despite all efforts to keep them out. Reading The Least of Us, … | Continue reading
“Spring 2022.” The Berry Center’s spring newsletter has several good pieces, including Wendell Berry’s note of gratitude for the continued practice of local subsistence, in this case manifest during a hog butchering. “The Pandemic Gave Small Farmers an Upper Hand for Once. Now Wh … | Continue reading
By reducing the value of words and, hence, constitutions, common good constitutionalism seems even more likely to veer into the dangerous realm of personal preference-based decision-making. Many figures could be clothed by the “loose fitting garment” that Vermeule has tailored. B … | Continue reading
If only I had the patience of trees; if only I let time inch me, push me, stretch me ever upward, defying gravity’s pull. My demand for instant responses mocks the good work of time. Trees chasten my fleeting desires that dart hither and thither by slowly pressing, intentionally … | Continue reading
Jessica Hooten Wilson is author of the new book The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints from Brazos Press. Jessica is a professor at the University of Dallas and has written previously on Walker Percy and Fydor Dostoevesky. She current … | Continue reading
Christians, then, have the proper perspective from which to read literature. We can see the profound truths of literature, be they ancient or modern, “pagan” or Christian. Furthermore, we can also rebut those scholars and interpreters who would rather praise the rage of Achilles … | Continue reading
The majority of Americans want peace and prosperity and cooperation. The biggest question is—and this is a question that The Batman does not answer, except by implication—where are the heroes willing to build this honest, just, and prosperous society? | Continue reading
“Repair and Remain.” Kurt Armstrong shares some wisdom about fidelity that he’s picked up along a winding life: “for twelve years now I’ve had a hybrid operation, juggling a one-man autodidact home-repair business and part-time lay ministry at a little Anglican church in Winnipeg … | Continue reading
Christ touches. With his hands he heals the sick, opens mouths, unstops ears, blesses the children, and raises the dead. And ultimately it is the marks in Christ’s hands that fully and definitively reveal his true identity in his post-Resurrection appearance to Thomas. Christ him … | Continue reading
Look at our priests or bishops now. Do they seem any more advanced in the cure than anybody else? Some do. But so does the guy who took the snow tires off my car last week, and I don’t know if he’s ever darkened the doors of a Church. I just know that he had an air of spiritual f … | Continue reading
While in my current brief stint in D.C., I am often given a puzzled look when I tell someone that I am going back to the farm: “You’ve made it to D.C., haven’t you? Why would you go back?” I’m going back because the farm and all it means are more important than anything I can do … | Continue reading
“Will Technology Enhance or Deplete Relationships?” Matthew Loftus draws lessons on electronic medical records and our broader use of technology from What is Not Sacred?, a book by the Tanzanian priest Laurenti Magesa: “Our local affections will have universal implications for ho … | Continue reading
We have a date, location, and keynote for our fall conference. Stay tuned for a full schedule and registration information, and make plans to join us! | Continue reading
The dominant lens through which our world views mathematics is undeniable. Yet as we careen down this path, we feel a dearth of important and weighty things in our life–community, relationship, connectedness, and alignment on how to approach the greatest tragedies of our day. Per … | Continue reading
My guest is art historian Danielle Oteri who wrote a wonderful article published in The Paris Review about the Unicorn Tapestries in the Met Cloisters. Danielle and I discuss mystery and wonder, angels and unicorns. And a security guard named Howie. Oh, and a squirrel. Cultural D … | Continue reading
Poetry is the creative ordering of words to bring forth the fruits of the human heart and intellect. The poet is called to lose himself, so to speak, in listening to inspiration, a power that is classically understood to be beyond him. Similarly, the farmer is called to lose hims … | Continue reading
“The Death Spiral of an American Family.” Eli Saslow profiles a family in Detroit who are at loose ends after the death of their patriarch, a man who had done well for himself and yet ended up dying with not even enough money to pay for his funeral. It is a difficult story, yet t … | Continue reading
The day will come when parents in the poorest communities will be able to say that they cannot imagine a better place to raise their children than in their neighborhoods surrounded by family and friends. This will not happen because government bureaucracies finally use the correc … | Continue reading
On return trips to Illinois, or when talking to relatives on the phone, I can tell the difference. Life is a little slower where I grew up, and the people are often more polite and considerate of others. I know from experience how considerate they can be. | Continue reading