Monthly Archives: May 2026

GOP’s Faustian Bargain May Backfire

Having seen Trump spurn various politicians who sold their souls to serve him, it’s worth revisiting Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus to see what happens next.

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A GOP Pol Pays for Relinquishing the Ring

Tom Massie once warned quoted Tolkien on the corrupting nature of power. Unfortunately, Republicans enamored with power yesterday booted him from the House.

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The 100 Greatest Novels (or Not)

In which I discuss the Guardian’s recent “100 Best Novels of All Time.”

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Leo: Reading Trumps Reductive Views of Reality

Pope Leo recently called for reading books, which he said is “an antidote to closed-mindedness, which manifests in rigid attitudes and reductive views of reality.”

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Intimate with Heaven, as Light

Ascension poems by Donne, Vaughan, and Guite emphasize how, through Jesus, we touch the numinous.

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Expanding Outward at 60

In my latest installment, I look at how my vision began moving beyond the college and my disciplinary field to the broader world and my young adult children.

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Childhood Imagination: Encourage It or Lose It

Reflections of childhood imagining and how too often our society fails to foster it.

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Antigone Taught Mandela Leadership

While in prison, Mandela performed the role of Creon in Antigone. The experience may have helped train him for leadership years later.

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The Joys of Reading Fanny Burney

In which I share my first-time reading experience of Fanny Burney’s Cecilia, which I couldn’t bear to put down.

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