I love to argue; my parents always told me I would become a lawyer, yet it was not the path for me. Regardless, I somehow found myself in a role as Dean of Students, which provided several opportunities for spirited discussion about what someone may, or may not have done. Despite those moments, when I…

For much of the twentieth century, certain Western sociologists embraced the same prophecy (i.e., theory) with ease and total confidence. They claimed that as science continued to advance, global economies modernized, and literacy and education spread, religion would steadily retreat into history, dismissed as a superstition from a pre-enlightened era. Religious faith, we were told…

Reading these daily postings has become a refreshing ritual for me. As someone who likes books and long essays, I have been a faithful reader of the Christian Scholars Review since its beginning in 1970. Yet, as the blog has developed, the format of short daily pieces has come to be something I cherish. Early…

Earlier this year, an article by the well-known Christian sociologist Christian Smith made the rounds. Entitled “Why I’m Done with Notre Dame,” Smith chronicled his frustration with the University of Notre Dame’s priorities and administrators' lack of effort in promoting its Catholic mission. I found his description of what happens at the University of Notre…

Our politicians have a problem. They like to spend money on things, but they don’t like to pay for those things. This is a bipartisan problem. We citizens also have a problem. We want things from the government, and we don’t want to pay for them either. We vote for representatives who are happy to go…

FIRST: I’ll tell you what I’d like to see in my classroom: genuine Socratic dialogue. SECOND: You’ve been reading too much Classical Education hype. What makes you think that’s the answer? FIRST: Formally, it just works. You’ve got to admit that Plato is so much more engaging than most philosophers, mostly because he wrote dialogues!…