The Context for Human Dignity
On the Dignity of Society: Catholic Social Teaching and Natural Law By F. Russell Hittinger. The Catholic University of America Press, 2024. Paperback, 490 pages, $39.95. Reviewed by Rev. Joseph Scolaro. The Church needs a strong leader now more than ever. The dignity...
Between Greatness and Hubris
Gems of American History: The Lecturer’s Art By Walter A. McDougall. Encounter Books, 2025. Hardcover, 336 pages, $32.99. Reviewed by Nicholas Callaghan. As we rapidly approach the semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independence, a question remains at the fore...
Protestant Institutionalism and Christian America
Religion & Republic: Christian America from the Founding to the Civil War By Miles Smith. The Davenant Press, 2024. Paperback, 350 pages, $42.95. Reviewed by Glenn Moots. Beginning in the 1970s, American Christians sensing a cultural shift engaged in a war of...
Reviving the Vanished Voice of a Maker
The Worlds of Dorothy L. Sayers: The Life and Works of the Crime Writer and Poet By Stephen Wade. Pen & Sword History, 2025. Hardcover, 256 pages, $39.95/£25.00. Reviewed by Adam Schwartz. In 2011, A. N. Wilson numbered Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) among authors...
A Scholar for all Seasons
Flannery O’Connor and the Church Made Visible: A Revolutionary Witness for the Sake of the Gospel By Ralph C. Wood. Baylor University Press, 2024. Hardcover, 181 pages, $42.99. Reviewed by Henry T. Edmondson III. Ralph C. Wood, over his long and remarkable career,...
The Formless Void of the Therapeutic
The Philosophy of Philip Rieff: Cultural Conflict, Religion, and the Self Edited by William G. Batchelder, IV and Michael P. Harding. Bloomsbury Academic, 2025. Hardcover, 324 pages, $115. Reviewed by Albert Norton, Jr. We should care about the philosophy of Philip...
Thales College Essay Contest Winners
Thales College, a liberal arts and professional education institution based in Raleigh, North Carolina, hosted an international essay contest for high school students. In line with its tradition of publishing rising thinkers alongside established humane voices, The...
Individualism for the Greater Good
Thales Essay Contest: First Place By Alexander Luna. One of the great things about Americans is their ability to overcome great obstacles. This nation was founded by the union of thirteen squabbling colonies, who, with one of the most ragtag armies in history,...
Me to We: Changing the I-llusion
Thales Essay Contest: Second Place By Evie Lee. Walk into any modern coffee shop and you’ll see dozens of people, each in private bubbles of headphones and laptops, together yet completely alone. The carefully choreographed distance between strangers isn’t...
A Christmas Carol is great literature. Ghosts are a must for Christmas.