There are generally two main complaints I hear every time Christmas rolls around. The first is that Christmas has become hectic and exhausting. The second is that it has been stripped of all that is meaningful and neutralized so as not to give offense. I thought of these two complaints when I came upon a
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You’ve most likely heard the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” played during the holiday season. What you might not know is that it refers to a yearly tradition that begins on December 17 each year, namely, the “O Antiphons.” It is the Christian belief that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, and that his coming
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Charles Dickens was mad. He was angry at his father, who was sent to debtors’ prison, forcing young Charles to pawn his belongings, drop out of school and work in a shoe-polish factory. He was also angered by the conditions in which England’s poorest children lived and worked. He was going to publish a political
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The majority of our relationships are in shambles. The U.S. divorce rate hovers at 40 percent, but that’s not the whole story. Many intact relationships are on life support. According to a survey by the National Opinion Research Center, 60 percent of people in a relationship say they’re not very satisfied. There are some familiar
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The ideas of the great modern philosophers have shaped the way men and women today view the world. Therefore, for the sake of cultural literacy, one should have some familiarity with these ideas. Take this brief quiz below to see if you’re up to speed with some of the basics of modern philosophy.
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A prominent intellectual at a recent private meeting was asked the difference between nationalism and patriotism. His response was similar to the explanation Justice Potter Stewart once offered on the difference between “obscene speech” (i.e. porn) and “protected speech”: “I know it when I see it.” George Orwell, in his essay Notes on Nationalism, offered
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