I have been doing a slow walk through J.R.R. Tolkien’s Silmarillion in concert with a Tolkien podcast; concurrently, I am moving through the Old Testament books of Joshua and Judges, accompanied by Fr. Mike Schmitz’s Bible in a Year podcast. The experiences are weirdly similar.... Read More →

  In Herodotus’ Histories we learn that Croesus, King of Lydia, waged war upon his neighbor Cyrus II, the great king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. At the outset, Croesus felt assured of his victory, having been told by the oracle at Delphi that he would destroy a great... Read More →

I have a friend who has condemned herself for over 30 years for her abortion. Jesus’ resurrection means two things for her. Let me reflect on two resurrection Scriptures. First, Jesus came to forgive her sins. St. Paul writes that Jesus was raised because we have been justified... Read More →

Holy Week begins today—the most solemn season of the Church’s year. The gospel readings for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week (John 13:21-33, 36-38 and Matthew 16:14-25) portray the scene of Jesus announcing to his disciples that one of them would betray him. Judas is, of... Read More →

Welcome to Insisting on Life, where I will be greeting you weekly with news, commentary, great links and special guests. The name is the title we gave to our collection of essays by the late, great journalist and Review contributor Nat Hentoff, whom we honored in 2005 as our... Read More →