The Humanitas Forum

Of all arguments against love none makes so strong an appeal to my nature as “Careful! This might lead you to suffering”.

To my nature, my temperament, yes. Not to my conscience. When I respond to that appeal I …

“If you want to know what water is like, don’t ask the fish.”  This Chinese proverb could aptly be rewritten, “If you want to know about pop culture, don’t ask the Americans.”  For the most part, it’s …

Fame, achievement, popularity, image, and financial success—these are the top five values expressed on the popular television shows watched by children ages 9-11.  And other closely related values are high on the list:  ambition, comparison to others, attention …

The times require distinct and decided views of Christian doctrine. I cannot withhold my conviction that the professing Church is as much damaged by laxity and indistinctness about matters of doctrine within, as it is by skeptics and unbelievers without. …

Anthony Lawton will make you laugh.  He will make you think.  He will also make you examine your own soul as he portrays the rationalizations and self-deceptions used to refuse Heaven. 

Anthony’s masterful performance combines with …

“In the moral life the enemy is the fat relentless ego.”  By this, Iris Murdock means that self-absorption is a high risk condition—its all-consuming nature makes it the enemy of virtue.

Self-absorption taints our perception of goodness so …

It has become a commonplace in cultural discussion in the last half century to recognize the power of film as a significant shaper of American society and its values. This popular annual lecture, delivered a dozen or so times a …

What to make of television?  The debate began soon after television sets became commonplace in American homes in the 1950s.  It’s been described as the “boob tube” and the “idiot box,” and its content as “chewing gum for …

“God is not only interested in saving souls from the [earthly] city but desires to see the flourishing of the city.”  As Christians, we are citizens of the earthly city and at the same time citizens of the heavenly …

“The Puritans aspired to be worldly saints—Christians with earth as their sphere of activity and with heaven as their ultimate hope. … For them, both worlds were equally real, and life was not divided into sacred and secular.”

Worldly …