About a month ago I had a strange experience in relation to one of the philosophy courses that I teach at St. John’s University. The students and I were about to begin studying the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). As I was looking through my notes I discovered 10 pages of notes about Kierkegaard that I had not looked at in years. These 10 pages were misplaced among other notes. 

There are several reasons why I greatly enjoyed an essay in the October 2023 issue of Commonweal, “From Glory to Glory: Louis Bouyer’s Cosmic Vision” by Robert P. Imbelli. One reason is that it brought back some wonderful memories. 

Two of my friends tell me to watch only 15 minutes of the evening news on television. They tell me that watching more might lead to depression or discouragement. I know what they mean. 

Perhaps I am still being influenced indirectly by Pope Francis’ talk to Catholic artists that he delivered in Rome last May. I did not need to be convinced about the important role that artists can play in our society, but the words of Pope Francis led me to make some good resolutions. 

I think I have seen four or five operas in my life. There is no way that I would describe myself as an “opera buff.” However, as soon as I learned that the opera “Dead Man Walking” was going to be performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in October, I knew that I had to see it.

I am wondering how many readers of this weekly column have a strong sense that they are writing the stories of their lives by the free choices they make. To be more accurate, I would say they are co-creating their stories with God by the free choices they make.  In his book “What Is God? […]

As I mentioned in last week’s column, my favorite American playwright is Eugene O’Neill. In a letter, probably written in 1925, O’Neill expressed what he was trying to do with his dramas. He wrote that he wanted “to see the transfiguring nobility of tragedy, in as much near the Greek sense as one can grasp it, in seemingly the most ignoble, debased lives. And just here is where I am a most confirmed mystic, for I’m always trying to interpret Life in terms of character. 

In my previous five columns I have been trying to promote great literature and other arts and to comment on how they can be a great help in the life of a religious believer.

I have been reading a wonderful book entitled “Western Civilization: A Global Comparative Approach: Volume II: Since 1600” (New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2012). I wanted to read an intellectual history, a book that would relate historical events with what was going on in philosophy and other liberal arts when those historical events were happening. 

Writing this series of columns on art and religious faith has helped me to appreciate art in a new way. The importance of the artistic vocation boggles my mind. In a previous column in this series I made a distinction between two types of judgment that might be made about a work of art.