I just finished my first year of teaching at the college level. I spent the first three quarters of the year teaching an introductory humanities course at Southeastern University, and I spent the final quarter of the year teaching an MA class in apologetics at Houston Baptist University entitled “Ancient Philosophy and Culture.” To say that this experience has been eye-opening would be an understatement. I recently told one of my former professors that I …
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Alexander Pushkin wrote a fairy tale called “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish”, which is based on an older telling by the Brothers Grimm. In this story, a poor fisherman manages to catch a miraculous golden fish, which promises a wish to the fisherman in exchange for his freedom. The fisherman is too surprised and taken aback to take advantage of this offer and instead frees the fish. When he returns home he …
World mythologies and regional folktales have always served as source material for modern fantasy, with some (like Greek or Celtic myths) having well-established influence and others (like African or Asian tales) enjoying their first widespread audience in recent years. Young adult novels have their fair share of fantasies based on the old stories, and also their fair share of both successful and failed retellings. In the last year or two, young adult readers have been …
What follows is not meant to be a political rant or op-ed. It is an observation followed by the assertion of a simple solution to one of the most enormous and complex bugbears facing society today. The hobgoblin I have in mind is not one of your typical most-wanted public enemies that dominate conversations in the public square. In one particular way, it is a serpent more dangerous than legalized abortion, more slimy than same-sex …
The Education of John Quincy Adams In this letter (full letter below), John Adams is writing to his son about his education, its importance, and the subjects that should be the focus of his attention, which were “Your exercises in Latin and Greek” which “must not be omitted a single day…”. He also encourages him to plod steadily, staying that “a regular distribution of your time is of great importance.” The Precious Advantage of a …
[ This post originally appeared on my classical teacher site, Locus Classicus. ] [ Concluded from Part 1 ] For myself, I desire to take the classical Christian tradition with the utmost seriousness, meaning that I do not simply reject something found in it because it is not immediately apparent to me how that thing is sensible and might be true. On the other hand, our tradition itself permits us to imagine that, if we …