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Grunter’s Plea: The Ancient Philosophy of Vegetarianism
One of the more fascinating tales of Homer in the Odyssey is that of the bewitching of Odysseus’s men by the witch Circe. Odysseus and his men have arrived at an unknown wooded island. Odysseus sends a detachment of men … Continue reading
Posted in European history, General Essays, Natural History
Tagged Homer, Plutarch, Vegetarianism
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Icons
We live in a world of icons: cloth, stone, digital, metal, paper: money, electronic devices, flags, statues, scriptures, media stars, and so on. Icons have been the stuff of human worship for centuries: the Hebrews worshiped the golden calf, early … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity
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Sibyl’s Leaves
One of my favorite authors is Michel de Montaigne, author of Essays. In Montaigne’s final essay, “Of Experience,” he traces his experience with the disease of kidney stones. He wrote about his anxiety and fears, his expectation of death, which became … Continue reading
Posted in books, European history, Michel de Montaigne
Tagged books, Montaigne, Poem
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The Shawl
The Shawl, by Cynthia Ozick, is a small book combining a brief short story and a short novella that are connected together by the central characters, an event in the past, and a shawl. This book has many themes combined … Continue reading
When is a Historian Judge and Jury?
Over a century ago, the world became intrigued by the theories of Sigmund Freud and his interpretation of humans as irrational, rather than rational, creatures. People wondered about the significance and consequences of irrationality in courts of law, legislatures, schools, … Continue reading
Is Science Inherently an Act of Piety?
During the past century science has become so focused on the material and the secular as to deny what was one of the essential characteristics of Western scientists going back three millennia: piety. Ancient Greek scientists perceived religion and science … Continue reading
Posted in Christianity, History of Science
Tagged history, History of Science, Piety, Science
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The Liberal Arts: The Continuing Foundation for Learning in Our Society by means of the Trivium and Quadrivium
The Liberal Arts are based in the historical trivium and quadrivium. The Trivium is Latin, literally “a place where three roads meet”. Quadrivium is Latin for where four roads meet. The Liberal Arts of today derive from the meeting of … Continue reading
The Small Liberal Arts College in Crisis: Is there a Solution?
I teach at a small parochial liberal arts college in Oklahoma. Like other such colleges, parochial and secular, this college, Bacone College, is continually in crisis: financial crisis, enrollment crisis, staffing crisis, management crisis. There are a host of reasons … Continue reading
The Return to McCarthyism
Almost seventy years ago, an obscure senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, used fear as a means to initiate widespread panic and intimidate the innocent. Fear can do this to people. Fear makes the rational become irrational, the innocent become guilty, … Continue reading
Posted in American History, General Essays, Government
Tagged Demagoguery, McCarthyism
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Is the Message Still Relevant?
For 2000 years, since Jesus commanded his disciples to go spread the good news to all nations, Christian messengers, or missionaries, have traveled throughout the world spreading the message of hope and redemption. There are few people on the Earth … Continue reading
The American Plutarch 