Princess Mononoke, an animated film from legendary Japanese writer and director Hayao Miyazaki, is a fantasy tale of the struggle between man and nature that in many ways echoes themes of innocence and evil found in writings and fantasies of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Miyazaki sets the […]
“I have a story that will make you believe in God”[1] – Yann Martel, Life of Pi “Comparative religion is very comparative indeed… it is only comparatively successful when it tries to compare. When we come to look at it closely we find we are really trying to compare things that are really quite […]
Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack, a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in. Leonhard Cohen, Anthem (Selected Poems, 1956 – 1968) “Without friends no one would choose to live,”[1] Aristotle declares, while C.S. Lewis states: Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like […]
With the onset of Spring, it dawned on me that not only did Lewis have a fair amount to say about new life and Spring, he also had quite a bit to say about all the seasons at one point or another. Using some of Lewis’s own words, usually poetic enough on their own unmetered […]
We continue our look at Hamilton from the perspective of Oxford Professors C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. Part one showed how issues of group and individual significance, courage and cowardice, and race, gender, and family are prominent in Hamilton, and that Lewis and Tolkien both had some significant things to say about […]
Hey yo, I’m just like my country I’m young scrappy and hungry And I’m not throwing away my shot.[1] By means of all created things, without exception, the divine assails us, penetrates us, and molds us. We imagined it as distant and inaccessible, whereas in act we live steeped in its burning layers.”[2] ~ […]
How do we become good or evil? … All these philosophers are wrong, probably because most of them do not have children. Parents and children know the answer: by example. By having moral heroes.[1] ~ Peter Kreeft Recent blockbusters such as Broadway’s 2015 musical Hamilton and Hollywood’s 2018 film Black Panther offer us moral […]
City of stars Are you shining just for me? City of stars There’s so much that I can’t see Who knows? Is this the start of something wonderful and new? Or one more dream that I cannot make true?[1] Young, hopeful, and maybe even star-crossed lovers, Sebastian and Mia dance, sing and act their […]
All good sci-fi series have at their heart some unique observation about man and his place in the cosmos. Whether it be the swashbuckling defense of humanity in Captain Kirk or the divide between reason and emotion of a Commander Spock or Data, space seems to (rather oddly) bring out the humanity in its explorers. […]
C.S. Lewis’ essay The Abolition of Man, delivered as a set of lectures in 1943, was both timely for audience of the day, as well as timeless. Subtitled Reflections on Education with Special Reference to the Teaching of English in the Upper Forms of Schools, Lewis intended The Abolition of Man (AoM) as a corrective […]
