Joshua Whitfield
March 11, 2019
In his 1942 memoir, Austrian writer Stephan Zweig tells of hearing Hitler’s voice on the radio while riding a train in Texas, of hearing in real time about bombings and atrocities from all over the world, an experience which was new in human history and not altogether welcome. “Thanks to our new methods of spreading news […]
March 3, 2019
“What is most contrary to salvation is not sin but habit.” These are the words of Charles Péguy, instigator, poet, soldier, Catholic. And they’re words which, for me, come to mind as we begin our Lent again. He was talking about those habits which control us, shape us, which although small by themselves, together can define […]
February 28, 2019
My wife and I, we have four children, all younger than 7. Ours is not a quiet house. A house of screaming and a house of endless snot, it’s also a house of love, grown and multiplied every few years. In a house of little sleep, my hobby these days is simply to sit down; fellow […]
February 19, 2019
What passes for Christianity, what people see and mistake for Christianity, that’s what’s wrong with it. That Christianity — the phenomena, not the faith — has been eclipsed by parody; it’s why so many dismiss it. Because what’s laughable and incredible isn’t genuine Christianity, but rather a counterfeit too often misconstrued for the real thing.
January 25, 2019
It was the hat, you see, that smile, that smirk. Julie Irwin Zimmerman, writing for The Atlantic, called it a Rorschach test, which is the best way to think of that viral scene involving students from Covington Catholic High School and Nathan Phillips. Proving true what C.S. Lewis wrote: What you see and hear depends upon your point […]
October 15, 2023
“Still, it was kind of you to share in my distress.”[1]
August 6, 2023
An old saying, an ancient saying: “Character is destiny”—sometimes it’s rendered “Character is fate”—it was, allegedly, the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, who first said it. But it’s been said, since his time, for millennia by many. Because, of course, there’s a lot of truth to it.
July 30, 2023
I was in Paris this past week; we visited the Musée d’Orsay. Mostly I wanted to see Van Gogh; some of his paintings are on the top floor of that museum.
June 25, 2023
The problem with religion, Friedrich Nietzsche thought—especially Christianity—was that it weaponized pity.