About

bird on stackpole crest

About This Website:

I will rarely comment on current events here. Instead, this site was originally intended to focus mainly on secularism as a cultural condition, rather than as an ideology; it will also pay some attention to the way that secularism foregrounds questions about meaning and value (when it strays from this purpose directly, I hope it can provide context for related matters at least indirectly). Since I am in the West, specifically an American, this means treating the dual heritage of the Enlightenment and of Christendom, but not myopically or sectarianly. This is not an apologetics website, as I am not interested in selling you anything, dear reader, only clarifying the contours of the historical space we all share. It is to that shared space that I turn my attention. In order to treat secularization, however, one must fittingly approach the significance and scope of de-Christianization, and before one does that, one must first look at the processes of Christianization.

I’ll be posting several papers, some much shorter topical pieces, and summaries of essays & book chapters. Poems have already appeared (though I’m an awful poet — the only two poems I’ve written that might meet the threshold of passable are here and here). On occasion, I may post parallel translations of sections of older texts.

My plan is to post on topics ranging from spiritual practice and poetry to the character and history of secularism — which, as mentioned above, is a backdrop that we all share and make our decisions within (rather than a perspective or set of convictions that one can opt out from).

About Me:

My family’s coat of arms is of a red rampant lion with a gold collar on a silver shield, together with the words PRO DEO ET PRO PATRIA; eventually a crest was added of a pelican feeding her three young with drops of her own blood, and added were the words, I DIE FOR THOSE I LOVE.

I can’t die for you, reader, but I’ll do what I can to leave some bits of food for you.

Links to Books:

I have recently joined the Amazon.com affiliate program, so if you buy books through the links I have provided in recent (and future) posts as of Feb or March 2019 or so, I’ll get a cut of Amazon’s profit, with no added expense to you.

39 thoughts on “About”

  1. As a descendant of the Stackpole Family, I love the motto. My Three Greats Grandmother was a Stackpole. I feel in essence this makes me one. My Mother, as am I, was very proud of our heritage. I can’t die for you either! I can, however, be proud to call you family! Deb.

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      • I believe that his first marriage was short, and that he and his first wife were divorced. His long marriage was to his second wife, the mother of his daughter Anne. He and his second wife moved to Australia. She became ill, and ultimately died of Lou Gehrig’s disease. I don’t believe they ever divorced, but they were estranged. He continued to spend extended time with her during her fatal illness. Several years later he married his third wife. I am sorry to learn of John’s passing.

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  10. Gregory,

    Given that we sometimes publish on similar subjects, I would like to propose that we do a “diologue”, which I (or both of us) can publish later on our respective blogs. A while back, me and a Catholic blogger did something similar:
    https://theologyandjustice.wordpress.com/2015/11/28/me-and-a-catholic-talk-scripture-and-tradition-part-1/
    https://theologyandjustice.wordpress.com/2015/12/03/me-and-a-catholic-talk-scripture-and-tradition-part-2/
    https://theologyandjustice.wordpress.com/2015/12/09/me-and-a-catholic-talk-scripture-and-tradition-part-3/
    If this is something you’d be interested in doing, hit me up, go to my blog, to the contact page, and get in touch :).

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    • I am honored that you would even comment. I feel haunted by him in a good way, and, going through his writings slowly, feel that he has been unjustly set aside. The peculiar positions he held, and upon which he was attacked, have more merit than his critics are able to give them while being critical; it is also nearly certain that his students and critics would not have found the stature of mind to criticize him without his tutelage.

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    • Also, if there are any memories you have of him in the domains of relationships, scholarly pursuits, the vocation of teaching, religious counsel, ethical advice, or political exhortation (or warning), I’d be enthused beyond speech.

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  13. Pingback: …and to All a Good Night? | Into the Clarities

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