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Meaning-and-Calling

Items on the purpose and meaning of life

Jacques Barzun Centennary: Critic and essayist Jacques Barzun turned 100 this September: “Barzun may be the very exemplar of the enlightened and humble humanist, and he long ago cut down to the core of the greatest difficulty in modern schooling: if we want young people to be humanized by the knowledge they acquire, they must be taught by humanists—that is, by those who themselves have been humanized by that same knowledge, who have been, in a word, changed, and changed for the better, by what they know.” (Tracy Lee Simmons, The University Bookman )

Mon 26 Nov 2007 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Harry Potter & the Art of Dying Well: “Our attitude toward death defines in many ways how we live. The medieval theme of memento mori, the virtuous cultivation of the memory of death, acts as a counter to modernity’s vacillation between unhealthy obsession and tragic forgetfulness. . . . Readers of the final book are left to puzzle over, not just the mysterious powers of mercy and self-sacrifice, but also explicit references to the New Testament, the one from Corinthians cited above and a passage from Matthew, ‘where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’ Harry encounters these statements on tombstones and knows neither their source nor their precise import. In that respect, Harry is a stand-in for most modern readers. Although he never explicitly formulates it this way, Harry’s great quest in Deathly Hallows leads him toward an understanding of the meaning of these scriptural passages, an understanding not just theoretical but eminently practical.” (Thomas Hibbs, National Review )

Mon 23 Jul 2007 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Religious Tolerance and the Common Good: Must read. “God made you for a purpose. The world needs the gifts he gave you. Adulthood brings power. Power brings responsibility. And the meaning of your life will hinge on a simple, basic choice. Will you engage the world with your heart and brains and faith, and work to make it a better place—not just for yourself and the people you love but also for people you don’t even know whose survival depends on your service to the common good? Or will you wrap yourself in a blanket of noise and toys and consumer junk, and stay a child?” I hadn’t realized he is on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom with Mike Cromartie.  (Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, On The Square )

Fri 25 May 2007 from Peter Edman • Link & Comments

The man who ‘murdered’ slavery: Includes a review of the Metaxas book on Wilberforce and an excellent assessment of Wilberforce's accomplishments and their lessons for today. “It is amazing to read a letter from Wilberforce and realize that he is, in fact, articulating precisely 220 years ago what New Yorkers came to know in the nineties as the 'broken windows' theory: 'The most effectual way to prevent greater crimes is by punishing the smaller.'” (Mark Steyn, Macleans)

Mon 12 Mar 2007 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, RIP: A great thinker and human being has died. See this First Things posting for some details and links. See her conversion story too, which touches especially on the cultural assumptions she encountered in the process, and the thinking that brought her to Jesus and his church. One quote: “It seemed difficult to imagine a world in which each followed his or her personal moral compass, if only because the morality of some was bound, sooner or later, to clash with the morality of others. And without some semblance of a common standard, those clashes were more than likely to end in one or another form of violence.” Too much to summarize. Take a few minutes and read. (First Things)

Mon 08 Jan 2007 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

The Way That Leads There: Augustinian Reflections on the Christian Life: A review of the new book by Gilbert Meilaender. “Underlying the entire book is Meilaender’s assertion that Augustine ‘is one whose power lies chiefly in his sense that the way that leads to God (and hence to fulfillment) is a way that often hurts and wounds us.’” (Brad Mercer, Reformation 21)

Thu 26 Oct 2006 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments