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Every Man Is a Liar. I am a Man. Therefore I am a Liar. (You're Not? I'm Impressed.) How do I lie? I take some impulsive action that uncannily just happens always to gratify myself. Before I'm even done doing it, I start making up a story, as if I had pre-frontally, consciously planned the whole thing, according to my warped, personal "ethics". Either the situation forced me, or other people's unfairness to me made me have to do it, so that I was completely justified in doing what I wanted to anyway. It's because deep in my brain, I...

A friend wrote me about a school principal, a religious sister, speaking to a parent and requesting school funds. The gentleman was described as an "ultra-Catholic." My friend asked me: "What is that, do you know?" Evidently, the "non-ultra" principal thought it all right to siphon needed cash from the "ultra" parent. No strings were attached. Once the funds were donated, the non-ultra establishment would go its non-ultra way. The ultra was good for his cash, if he still had any. His ideas were, well, ultra. Clearly, I cannot resist taking a stab at defining what a modern ultra-Catholic...

Fr. James V. Schall on Political Philosophy By Ken Masugi Posted December 23, 2003 James V. Schall, S. J. has had a venerable career in teaching and publishing. He is Professor in the Department of Government at Georgetown University. His books include: Another Sort of Learning, At the Limits of Political Philosophy, On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs, Schall on Chesterton, Idylls and Rambles, What Is God Like? and Jacques Maritain: A Philosopher in Society. His writings are posted here. Last December, the Claremont Institute's Ken Masugi interviewed Fr. Schall at length. He picked up the conversation again, earlier this...

“THE ONE GOOD THING TO DO WITH MONEY” Collections of letters can be charming. One of the things I like best about them, and I like this about journals and essay collections also, is that they can be so random. One’s day is not usually an organized treatise in which one thing flows directly from another in some logical patter. I have nothing against logic or organization, but I rather like to live in a world in which I am not quite sure what will happen next. I like it when folks can just “drop by.” The end of my...

February 13, 2003, 11:10 a.m.The Pious & the WarIraq and justice.By James V. Schall, S. J. ith the exceptions of Archbishops O'Brien and Hannon, both military chaplains, and the generally positive statement of Archbishop Pell in Sydney, we have apparently a worldwide clerical chorus against war. The common theme is, "I don't have enough evidence," a theme echoed by French and German politicians, among others. A sub-theme is that things might get out of hand. Islam might "arise." Or, all preemptive strikes are bad. The main problem is the wicked Americans and their pride. Danger is subjective. Iraq does not...

ReviewLighten Up!On the Unseriousness of Human Affairsby James V. Schall Wilmington, Delaware: ISI Books, 2001 (189 pages; $24.95, cloth)reviewed by Eric J. Scheske Shortly before he was martyred with others in 203, St. Saturus related a vision he had had of heaven. He said he and the other martyrs were carried eastward to a garden, where a handful of angels started exclaiming, "Here they are! Here they are!" They were taken to a group of elders and an aged man with a youthful face. The martyrs kissed the aged man, and he touched their faces with his hand. Then...