Culture

ADVENT MEDITATIONS

As I pondered the subject of Advent on this unusually mild and sunny Friday afternoon, November 22, my recollections drew me back to a very sad day of remembrance sixty-one years ago, November 22, 1963.  As a fourth grader at the time, the principal of my school announced over the

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THE CONSECRATION OF LEARNING

BACKGROUND As a new Western Europe was approaching the second millennium, the kingdoms that for centuries had been warring among themselves, and with fighting bands of organized (and disorganized) plunderers fighting for “their share,” the nations of Western Europe as we know them today began to emerge.  These “old and

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Prelude: Towards the Consecration of Learning

In my previous two postings [See Aristotle’s Impact on The Wisdom Tradition; and Carolingian Renaissance] I discussed the state of education – its goals, its effects, and the conditions in which it flourished or floundered – to provide background and context for the subject of this post.  The title (Prelude:

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CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE

At the beginning of the Common Era, nothing seemed as certain to endure as the Roman Empire.  Having defeated all contenders and potential adversaries, Octavian (later given the title Caesar Augustus by a pliant Senate), bestrode the Mediterranean world and western Europe in a showcase of marble monuments to his

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Aristotle’s Impact on The Wisdom Tradition

IS THERE A SINGLE WISDOM TRADITION? The Wisdom Tradition (sometimes referred to as “wisdom traditions”) is the common pursuit of men and women to find meaning and purpose in this life, and its significance as a whole in the eternity of time.  Different wisdom traditions individually express their own coming

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Sigrid Undset: Chronicler of the Northern Way

“I have been unfaithful to my husband.” Mrs. Marta Oulie (published in 1907).  Sigrid Undset (1882-1949) The above opening statement that introduces the referenced literary work by Sigrid Undset may seem, at first glance, to be an inappropriate quote, upon which a blog devoted to commentary from a traditional perspective

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A photo of people walking

FAMILIES OF NATIONS

In previous postings, I had laid out some essentials of what is meant when people use the term tradition to describe ways of living or ways of being.  Depending on particular circumstances, tradition is referenced in such phrases as “traditional ways of doing things”, or “following the traditions of the

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