Information-driven societies arrange their world into categories. Tests measure the subject’s suitability for various tasks. Today children around the world are weighed and ranked through standardized intelligence…… Read more “The Quotients of Intelligence”

Featured Image: Joan of Arc at the Stake, Hermann Stilke (1843). Courtesy Wikimedia Commons For several years the Shadow’s Wormtongues have been trying very, very hard to…… Read more “Race Wars, Holy Wars and Just Wars”

Featured Image Courtesy Wikimedia Commons You have certainly heard Tolkien’s stories. By now they are as ubiquitous as the tales the Grimm brothers compiled and Hans Christian…… Read more “What We Know of the Ring”

Featured Image: James Archer, Death of King Arthur, 1860. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons For generations your people told stories of their impending demise. Prophets predicted Antichrists; scientists tracked…… Read more “Toward The Unknown Shore”

Featured Image: “Shoggoth” by Nottsuo (2016) A devout Roman Catholic jump-started a generation’s interest in elves, wizards and quests. An ascetic Providence atheist gave us a much…… Read more “H.P. Lovecraft: Portrait of an Honest Atheist”

Featured Image: Addison’s Walk, Magdalen College, Oxford, England. Photo Wikimedia Commons/Miles Underwood, 2002 On September 19, 1931 three Oxford dons sat down for dinner. Hugo was a…… Read more “The Golden Sceptre and the Iron Crown”

Featured Image: “The Last Judgement” by Jehan Cousin the Younger (1585). Courtesy Wikimedia COmmons The penultimate episode of NBC’s critically acclaimed The Good Place presented a heaven…… Read more “Infinity in the Palm of your Hand”

Featured Image: Apotheosis of St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. As the erasure of Confederate monuments continues, some have set their sights on a…… Read more “The Saint, The Bonfire, And The Bastard Son Of A Whore”