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Pius V vs. Francis: A Tale of Two Popes 2
- History
- March 28, 2016
Over Easter weekend, Pope Francis delivered a lovely if banal message to the world in the wake of the brutal attacks in Brussels. He called upon the world to use “weapons of love” to combat the “blind and brutal violence” employed by ISIS. It is difficult to admonish the Pope too harshly for using the
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7 Benefits Latin Offers Today’s Students 0
- Culture
- March 28, 2016
In recent years, a number of people have advocated for the teaching of classical languages like Latin and Greek to make a comeback in the schools. Schools in Australia have tried this and seen amazing results on test scores in a variety of subjects. So why does instruction in languages like Latin and Greek boost
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Reading Silently Used to be Considered WEIRD 0
- History
- March 28, 2016
Nowadays, the norm when reading a book alone is to read it silently to oneself. Apparently, this practice was unusual in the ancient world. As an undergraduate I had to read St. Augustine’s Confessions (397-400), which some claim to be the first autobiography written in the Western world. At the time, I remember being taken
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Why it’s so Easy to Relate to Pontius Pilate 0
- History
- March 25, 2016
Who would sympathize with the Roman official who had Jesus crucified? Even among many who don’t consider themselves Christian, Pontius Pilate is a cultural symbol of an abusive, authoritarian power. But there are a few movies, such as Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, that present him as an almost sympathetic figure. That’s not
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Huxley’s Disturbing Prophecy 0
- Economics
- March 25, 2016
A decade and half after the publication of Brave New World (1931), Aldous Huxley penned a foreword to his magnum opus that has attracted relatively little attention. Written shortly after the conclusion of the Second World War, the article is fascinating in both its frenetic pace and bold conclusions, some of which appear prescient, others
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Blame Terrorism On Engineers and Conservatives?0
- Politics
- March 25, 2016
Apparently, we’ve been missing the secret decoder ring that would reveal the true psychological profile of Islamic terrorists. It’s not really Islam, or even a propensity for mayhem. It’s the need for “cognitive closure.” That habit of mind, along with others that psychologists closely associate with it, gives us the key clue—at least according to
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