Welcome Home to the Russell Kirk Center

Strengthening America’s Tradition of Order, Justice & Freedom

The Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal aims to recover, conserve, and enliven those enduring norms and principles that Russell Kirk (1918–1994) called the Permanent Things. Explore the Center’s programs, publications, and fellowships and join with us to continue Kirk’s work to renew our culture and redeem our time.

Sign up to receive our twice annual newsletter, Permanent Things.

At the Kirk Center

Highlights

Our most recent Classic Kirk Essay on the enduring significance of Irving Babbitt

A look at the 2024 Richard D. McLellan Prizes Gala.

Video recording of “Adapting The Conservative Mind for the Current Generation” panel discussion in Washington, D.C.

Events

February 4 – 25, 2025.  Virtual Course on Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France

March 13-16, 2025. Panel on “Building Places of Intellectual Community” at the Ciceronian Society

On Campus

Explore Kirk On Campus

Russell Kirk understood his work was to convey to America’s rising generations an understanding of the process by which a healthy culture is transmitted from age to age.

We’re continuing this important work through Kirk on Campus as we host conversations about the permanent things on campuses across Michigan. We hope you’ll join us at an event, and help us prepare tomorrow’s leaders with an appreciation of the richness of the conservative intellectual tradition.

From the University Bookman

Proverbs, Virtues, and Callings

Proverbs, Virtues, and Callings

“This is at the heart of Melanchthon’s teaching on virtue in his commentary on Proverbs. We must ‘not undertake anything without our vocation constraining us,’ but within these vocations we must find the specific virtues that will adorn them and make our efforts useful.”

Latest Pieces

The Fessio Phenomenon

The Fessio Phenomenon

“I wish I could say that the recent history of Catholic higher education in America made sense, but, thanks to Father Buckley, it makes more sense to me than it used to.”

The Divine Inspiration of Handel’s Messiah

The Divine Inspiration of Handel’s Messiah

“…to tell the story of the unusual circumstances and influences giving rise to Handel’s religious oratorio while ignoring that the purpose of the great work is to testify to faith in God in Jesus Christ is analogous to writing a biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. and using examples of his use of Scripture to illustrate only his political savvy, and not also what he actually believed in as a Christian minister.”

Buckley at 100: At Sea with William F. Buckley Jr. 

Buckley at 100: At Sea with William F. Buckley Jr. 

“An elegant jet-setter with a flair for literary journalism, Buckley had few rivals in the art of travel writing, especially when it came to sailing. A master storyteller, he adeptly wove devices of fiction together with reportage to craft entertaining narratives full of exuberance and authority.”

About the Bookman

For six decades, the University Bookman, founded by Russell Kirk, has identified and discussed those books that diagnose the modern age and support the renewal of culture and the common good. Currently published online, the Bookman continues its mission of examining our times in light of the Permanent Things that make us human.

Subscribe for all Bookman Reviews and Essays

 

Welcome home to the Russell Kirk Center