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History

A collection of 249 issues

Emil Lunden: Blasphemer to Believer

He wanted to forge the ultimate artifact of our unraveling age: black metal songs so steeped in malice that they might summon the demons. The Faust wannabe threw himself at Latin grammars to unearth lyrics to curdle the soul. He hadn't reckoned with the Desert Fathers.

Why June 1 is a Great Day to Honor the Copts

A little Coptic history, a feast day to remember, and a great drink I concocted from my garden produce.

Benedict in the City

My Kindle’s a cluttered attic, stuffed with a few books I pick at like a vulture when the mood strikes. Nothing I’d sink into, just odds and ends for those moments when the world’s noise gets too shrill. One of them’s E. Michael Jones’ Benedict’s

Why Weak Fools Can Dominate

Exploring the fool in Christ and the fool in Antichrist. Ivan the Terrible v. Nicholas of Pskov. Nietzsche v. Everyone

History of Western Civilization in Just Five Minutes

My first Substack project. It might take ten minutes, btw.

We Either Flee Devils or Fight Them

Toward the end of The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield tells himself he will move out West and shut himself off from everyone and everything, possibly by posing as a deaf-mute. If he pretends to be a deaf-mute, he reasons, people would have to write messages to him on

Magic in Everyday Renaissance Europe

Laura Miller at Slate

Black Magic and Scientism

Magic has fascinated me since I learned that the high watermark of magic was the Renaissance. The cutting-edge Renaissance thinkers were magicians. Magic and science were intertwined, its practitioners flitting between the two practices (arts) in their attempt to understand and, ultimately, control/manipulate the world, unaware that they are

Misshapen Creatures that Live in the Earth Can Give Us Sage Advice?

Well, no. But: Don't Fear the Gnome The first philosophical event in the Greek world, the selection of their seven sages, gives the first distinctive and unforgettable characteristic of Greek civilization. Other people have saints, while the Greeks have philosophers. They are right when some state that a