Birzer on Tolkien's Christian Humanism

The Christian Humanism of J.R.R. Tolkien (essay by Bradley J. Birzer) https://t.co/zal1U3Jt69

— ImaginativeConservat (@imaginativecons) November 7, 2020

Imaginative Conservative

Holding on to Renaissance Ideals

The Renaissance elevation of the humanities as being able in themselves to effect moral change needs to be replaced by something more realistic.

Join us & @Collegium_Penn this Thursday, 9/10 at 7:30 pm for ‘Humanities for Humanity: Toward an Ethics of Encounter & Civil Engagement.’
DETAILS: https://t.co/B4bYavxr97

— America Magazine (@americamag) September 8, 2020

Meanwhile...

Today we've launched "An Ignatian Guide to Civic Engagement," reflecting on our Gospel call to promote the common good in the public square. https://t.co/IFZtNX8zZp pic.twitter.com/71VaszOU3Z

— Jesuit News (@jesuitnews) September 8, 2020

So excited this is finally out in the world! From the Jesuits of Canada and the USA, "Contemplation and Political Action: An Ignatian Guide to Civic Engagement." https://t.co/YDkzGEpPKO. pic.twitter.com/0c73OKk9UM

— Mike Jordan Laskey (@mikelaskey) September 8, 2020

OPEN SOCIETY DI GEORGE SOROS FINANZIA I GESUITI. https://t.co/2alWhlx0R5

— Marco Tosatti (@MarcoTosatti) September 8, 2020

Matt Stewart Interviews Bradley Birzer

Brass Spittoon: Bradley Birzer on Christian Humanism by Matt Stewart | https://t.co/3w82waGBb1 pic.twitter.com/7ntd4jKcdA

— Front Porch Republic (@FrontPorchRepub) September 7, 2020

Matt Stewart interviews @bradleybirzer about his new book, BEYOND TENEBRAE: CHRISTIAN HUMANISM IN THE TWILIGHT OF THE WEST. https://t.co/3w82waGBb1 pic.twitter.com/0JVRVNcyp4

— Front Porch Republic (@FrontPorchRepub) September 7, 2020

Angelico Press

Elizabeth Stice Reviews Breaking Bread with the Dead by Alan Jacobs

This is a good review of a good book. I’m not planning to review it myself, so I’ll just add that I wish Jacobs would distinguish more carefully between the goods of reading history and the particular goods of reading old stories and poems. 1/x https://t.co/8IufReHM1H

— Jeffrey Bilbro (@jeff_bilbro) September 5, 2020

Penguin/Random House What little I've seen by Jacobs makes me question whether his Christian humanism isn't just a form of liberal humanism.

Whose Pet Project Is This?

Instead of in Assisi, “The Economy of Francesco” meeting will be held “totally online” Nov. 19-21. The gathering is billed as a chance to “dream of a new humanism.” A face-to-face meeting is planned for the fall of 2021 in Assisi if health conditions allow https://t.co/ZsTy8ashis

— Edward Pentin (@EdwardPentin) September 5, 2020

How is this supposed to help the "New Evangelization," assuming that it is even some sort of Christian humanism?

John Colet

John Colet, Catholic Humanist (essay by Thomas Banks) https://t.co/HPMgDPteAk

— ImaginativeConservat (@imaginativecons) August 29, 2020

Imaginative Conservative

Colet’s life and learning represent Catholic humanism at its finest. He advocated for such reforms in education as the soundest minds of his day also desired, and gave real impetus to the study of the Greek language, which was then seen by certain more cautious authorities as too powerful an intoxicant. He knew the value of learning and—unlike more than a few intellectuals—he knew also the limits of its advantages. So much we find in one of his surviving letters to Erasmus, in which he writes, “Of books and learning there is no end; but there is nothing better in this short life than to live purely and holily, to strive daily after perfection and enlightenment, as these books teach us; but that can only be done by a tender love and imitation of Jesus Christ.”

Would it be unfair to criticize the Christian humanists for failing to appreciate Greek theology on its own terms and as a proper inheritance from Hellenism, and instead of focusing too much on the pagan Greeks (and Latins)?

Academic Fantasy Continue During Collapse

Conservatives interested in education reform ought to study the Italian Renaissance, which saw independent schools dedicated to the study of humane letters spring up independent of the calcified institutions of the medieval university, which only feinted at liberal education 1/8

— John Peterson (@thejohnpeterson) June 21, 2020

Reminds me of Hankins' book.

...classical schools. Do not narrow your focus or specialize but study the human things--including Greek and Latin-- and pass them on. When this republic crumbles, which could happen anytime, there will be many centers of power, and many opportunities for the truly educated 5/8

— John Peterson (@thejohnpeterson) June 21, 2020

And then there is the nod to modern egalitarian sensibilities.

But more likely the collapse of American imperium will magnify, not diminish, the opportunity for men and women of true learning to be more fully human in the classical sense, to participate in the life of the city, to rule and be ruled in turn. A mere six centuries separates 7/8

— John Peterson (@thejohnpeterson) June 21, 2020

The Humanities in the Service of Liberalism

Public Discourse: Liberal Learning beyond Liberalism: The Humanities as Soulcraft in the Renaissance and Today by James Hankins

Liberal justifications of liberal education are no longer effective. Teachers of humanities need another way of defending what we do. The Renaissance can teach us how argue for the study of old books in a way that upholds the values of a pluralist society. https://t.co/PcXf07SrlJ

— Public Discourse (@PublicDiscourse) June 14, 2020

A reminder of the original liberal inspiration behind the "Great Books." If "Great Books" are such because they transmit and explain a particular moral tradition, then separating them from those traditions in order to support a different tradition (liberalism) is to ignore or distort the meaning of those texts. Moreover, one passes on the tradition not merely because it is tradition but because one believes that conveys truths, not because of some liberal pseudo-virtue of "thoughtfulness."

Hankins:

"Thoughtfulness built on the natural desire to know, but cultivated a kind of skepticism that was not purely negative, not driven merely by the desire to tear down received beliefs. It sought to reconstruct our true beliefs on a sounder basis to fulfill the promise of the desire to know by finding truth."

This sort of moral epistemology is proper to liberalism and rationalism but it is not so for the great classical Greek and Latin moral works, or of the great Christian texts...."

Hankins' attempt to appropriate a justification for a "humanities" education in Renaissance humanism may not conflict with his liberal commitments, but Renaissance humanism, as he characterizes it in his essay, was erroneous in its claims about moral education.

I don't know if Renaissance Humanism was influenced by Platonism in this regard, but the belief that study (of the humanities) alone could produce virtue was wrong. While there may have been serious flaws with later with medieval scholastic education, the main reasons why people remained sinful despite having received a university education lay not with the universities so much as with the Christian paideia (or lack thereof) they had received up to that point.

While some form of higher education may be needed for a few in the future, recovering and preserving an appropriate paideia is even more impotant.

An Orthodox Perspective on Humanism

A Curious Piece at the Imaginative Conservative

Down Home American Zen by Stephen Masty

The author recommends "Japanese aesthetics, particularly the portions derived from Zen Buddhism and specifically at what is called wabi-sabi" for American cultural conservatives.

Can the beauty of profane items also remind us of God?

I am reminded that this week there was this piece on the connection between the Japanese tea ceremony and Catholicism over at Crisis.

“The Integration of Theory and Practice”

Begun on October 16.

“The Integration of Theory and Practice:” Eric Heubeck’s Proposal For Cultural Guerilla War against the Leftist Establishment

I was looking through Orthosphere, and this caught my attention. As the introduction explains, the author of the essay is "Eric Heubeck, a protégé of Paul Weyrich at the Free Congress Foundation." Is the essay reconcilable with a localist/right communitarian program? Certain much of that proposal is precisely that. But it's more. Alan Roebuck writes in his introduction to the essay:

What I find most appealing about Heubeck’s proposal is that it combines the two different strategies that traditionalist conservatives propose, but that are generally regarded as mutually exclusive: retreat, in order to develop a non-liberal counterculture, and attack, in an attempt to retake the nation.

Let's take a closer look at one section:

Support of an Elite More Valuable than Support of the Masses

We will initially operate according to the belief that it is more important to win over the elites (or create a new, better one) than to build up a mass movement. Furthermore, it is more important to have a few impassioned members than a large number of largely indifferent members. The amount of energy, élan, and self-assurance that we are able to inculcate in the leaders of our movement will ultimately determine its success or failure.

The new movement must be, in part, exclusive and elite. It must not be afraid to pass along a body of knowledge that is not readily accessible to and understandable by everyone. The strong appeal of a feeling of exclusivity and superiority will give our members a reason to endure the slings and arrows of popular disapproval.

The New Traditionalist movement will appeal to the masses, but not immediately. The ideas of the masses never come from the masses. To the extent that the masses are more conservative than the elites, this is primarily because the masses have a long collective memory, and they still value the beliefs articulated by a long-lost elite. The conservative instincts of the American people will continue to erode unless a new elite is formed to refresh that memory.

We must recognize that literature and philosophy do not appeal to the masses. This is why we must develop ways to spread our philosophy using non-rational means–especially the moving image.

Is he talking about the political, economic, intellectual, and social elites of this country? If the former, I don't think there is much of a shot at this happening, unless they already happen to be devout Christians. There may be a few, but how many of them are believers in "capitalism" or partisan Republicans? Certain priests who come into contact with the elites (like members of PSHC of Opus Dei) may evangelize and convert some, but how likely is this to happen? We do not seek to change just "private" morality, but healthy communities, and these need to have some measure of autarky, as well as be sustainable and resilient. It is more likely that a new "elite" will have to be created, but how?

A healthy and flourishing Christian community may be able to convert some of the wealthy, who can then act to preserve that community through their monetary support.

As it is unlikely that traditional conservatives could gain control of a national media outlet, what about employing alternate mass media sources (like the internet)? But is this not already being done now? What obvious results can we see from this?

Leaders for the group will be selected - but will there be a formal mechanism for this? Who gets to decide who gets to be a leader, unless they are already leaders? Or will leaders be recognized informally by the other members of the group, standing apart from the others because of their abilities, dedication, and the respect that they've gained? They may not have money but they make up for it in character and the commitment to a place. Do we Uhmericans have the sufficient humility that enables us to recognize that others are more qualified for leadership than we?

Traditional communities can foster a local identity (we recognize that there are valid differences between local cultures) while adhering to a common intellectual patrimony (or [Western] culture). Is that intellectual patrimony sufficient to define a group? No. There are also the [local] customs and mores.

As for the place of modern mass "art" in such an effort - they may be a necessary "cultural" reference points, but do movies and television suffice as stories and bearers of tradition? I am doubtful of their cultural value as a whole, other than providing images for the development of the moral imagination for beginners - scenes of heroism and virtue. The problem with the moving image is that one cannot replicate it through words, either spoken, through [lyric] poetry, or written, in books. To make use of the moving image one must have the means to display it, and  in a future without cheap electricity, one should not depend too much upon it for the transmission of culture to the next generation.

Referring to the classics may not be enough to recover the tradition, if people are ignorant of the classics, but substituting movies and television shows is inadequate because they are unable to provide a long-lasting foundation for the transmission of the tradition. The neo-traditionalist leadership may need to study the classics, philosophy, political science; what suffices for the "average" traditionalist conservative? The knowledge of their history, familiarity with the intellectual tradition, coupled with a sound moral formation?

What stories do we tell and what history do we remember? Is it possible to create a history wholly anew? No, because we are not generated spontaneously from nothing. The Christian community will have their saints, but it is proper that we remember those who may not have been as holy but nonetheless contributed to the well-being of those who came before us and of our communities. As for our experience in being part of a nation/empire - this is reality, not something we can ignore in our history-telling, as if we could just wish it away. But the degeneration of the federal union into empire can be a useful warning to future generations.