Category Archives: Religion and Philosophy

The Virtue of Selfishness

Posted on July 8, 2021 by smellincoffee

The Virtue of Selfishness© 1964 Ayn Rand174 pages How many books and movies have moved audiences by portraying a character who, struggling with persistent unhappiness, is pushed by their despair through to the realization that they’ve been living their life … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

Return of the Primitive

Posted on June 30, 2021 by smellincoffee

Return of the Primitive© 1971 Ayn Rand, The New Left© 1999 Ayn Rand and Peter Schwartz290 pages   The Return of the Primitive  collects Ayn Rand’s  written responses to the eruption of the student movement in the late sixties,  particularly … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Three cheers for anarchy — three reads, anyway

Posted on June 1, 2021 by smellincoffee

While everyone else was honoring dead soldiers by buying things, shooting off fireworks (dear neighbors: why?), and grilling out, I was in bed all weekend with a case of food poisoning. Naturally, I wound up reading books about anarchism and … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reflection, Religion and Philosophy, science fiction | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Beyond Tenebrae

Posted on March 25, 2021 by smellincoffee

Beyond Tenebrae: Christian Humanism in the Twilight of the West© 2019 Brad Birzer258 pages Most people, including myself until a few years ago, would describe humanism as a worldview championing the possibility of, and the need for, humans living moral, … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics and Literary, Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Camino Winds | Jesus the Son of Man

Posted on March 3, 2021 by smellincoffee

Amid a category 4 hurricane that levels homes and floods an entire town, a man is murdered. The police shake their heads, insisting he was merely struck by storm debris. But falling limbs don’t leave blood splatter inside a home … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Selections from Beyond Tenebrae

Posted on February 4, 2021 by smellincoffee

For Marx, man is at heart economic. For Darwin, man is biological. For Freud, man is psychological. Each of these things is true. But man—a complexity and mystery even to himself—is all of these things and so much more. True … Continue reading →

Posted in General, quotations, Religion and Philosophy | 2 Comments

The Screwtape Letters

Posted on December 23, 2020 by smellincoffee

In the 1940s, as war waged in Europe, another war raged in England:  a struggle for one man’s soul. Advised by his uncle Screwtape, a young demon faced with a new convert to Christianity must work overtime to stifle his … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Selections from “How Dante Can Save Your Life”

Posted on August 13, 2020 by smellincoffee

Review of Book Great art speaks with wisdom and authority to what is eternal in the human condition. The presence of God radiated from the Chartres cathedral so powerfully that it even pierced the dark wood into which I had … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations, Religion and Philosophy | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

How Dante Can Save Your Life

Posted on August 13, 2020 by smellincoffee

How Dante Can Save Your Life: The Life-Changing Wisdom of History’s Greatest Poem © 2015 Rod Dreher 322 pages Selected Quotations How Dante Can Save Your Life is one man’s account of how that Renaissance poet’s epic  tale of a … Continue reading →

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Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth

Posted on April 3, 2017 by smellincoffee

Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth:  Understanding Middle-Earth © 2002 Brad Birzer 255 pages How better to kick off Read of England than by visiting the world of Tolkien, who has enraptured readers for decade after decade now?  Tolkien is not merely an … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion and Philosophy, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments