Eric Scheske

Cracked me up: > When Trevor-Roper attacked R. H. Tawney's theory of the progressive bourgeois giving rise to the Puritan revolution in England, one of the editors of the journal to which he sent his attack wrote to his coeditor: “I find it difficult to decide whether T-R

On T.S. Eliot's alleged anti-Semitism: > But might it be allowed that one can write or say anti-Semitic things without being an anti-Semite? Eliot is guilty of the former, but does not, I think, stand guilty of the latter. There is no record of anything on his

"[A]s the wise have always known, a “dead” language breathes life into a timeless liturgy. It is indeed part of the same permanent paradox that real life is to be found in death. In the “dead” Latin is to be found the unchanging death and resurrection of the

'A God all mercy is a God unjust' (Edward Young, 'Night', iv, Night Thoughts, The Complaint). Found in The Virgin Eye. The dear reader can draw whatever connection he wants to the monotone mantra of today's Jesuits.

Interesting nugget I learned from Brooklyn Bartender: Laird's (or "Laird & Company") was the first licensed American distillery. The brandy manufacturer still has "License # 1," issued in 1780.

Perhaps one of the best opening passages to an article in 2017: > In a world of change and flux, it is reassuring to know that some things remain the same. Take, for example, the motion passed by the Church of England General Synod, calling for a liturgy to help

Miscellaneous Rambling Slow blogging winds blowing. It's the Fun and Sun time of year. Netflix now has the current BBC "Father Brown" series. I'm pretty stoked. Recommended: War for the Planet of the Apes. Perhaps the best movie I've seen this year.

"Almost the entire developed world is mired in deathbed demography from which no functioning society has ever recovered. Meanwhile, there is a demographic tsunami underway from the non-functioning parts of the world, manifest in the ceaseless flotilla of boats crossing the Mediterranean every single day (and nothing to do

Miscellaneous Rambling Congratulations, Federer. First man to win Wimbledon eight times. And this is also pretty cool: "Federer became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1976 to win the Wimbledon title without dropping a set." Link [http://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/40625069]. He's apparently

I'd expect nothing less: > The Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica published an essay attacking conservative Catholics in the United States of embracing fundamentalism from evangelical Protestants. The essay says that American conservative Catholics have come to see their country as righteous, and other peoples as enemies to be