by W.D. James In light of our reflections thus far, ‘humanism’ takes on a new significance. Previously, humanism indicated viewing the world from the perspective of human needs, human values, and human nature. It still does, but the very existence of the human reality is in question. Further, the concept was rather watered down over … Continue reading Renewed Humanism (Politics of the Heart, Part 5)
by W.D. James C.S. Lewis was a realist in a double sense: he understood the reality of power and he understood the reality of morality. In 1944, writing in The Abolition of Man, he saw that we already stood on the far side of the precipice of a post-human (his term) or transhuman future. He … Continue reading Post-humanism and the Regime of the Heartless (Politics of the Heart, Part 4)
by W.D. James Our hearts know things. Several times in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul states that the natural law is ‘written on the heart.’ That formulation itself is significant in light of the central role of the ‘heart’ in classical psychology as we have explored it in the first two essays of this … Continue reading Written on the Heart (Politics of the Heart, Part 3)
by W.D. James C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) was a dinosaur. In 1954, he took up the newly founded chair in Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University. The 56-year-old Lewis presented himself as a “dinosaur” to his audience; a representative of what he called “Old Western Culture” (Lewis 1969, 13). Lewis, an Ulster-born Irish Protestant, is … Continue reading The Assault on the Heart (Politics of the Heart, Part 2)
by W.D. James Totalitarianism is different from despotism, dictatorship, or tyranny. It does not only command the body but it colonizes the soul. Totalitarianism is interested in the psyches of its subjects to a greater degree than traditional authoritarianism is. It seeks to remake the human psyche in its own image. Theorists from Hannah Arendt … Continue reading The Order of the Soul (Politics of the Heart, Part 1)
by W.D. James And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee … Continue reading Father Christmas is Part of the Resistance
winter oak 