Is Realistic Fiction or Speculative Fiction a Better Form of Culture Creation?

This past week, I was at St. Tikhon’s Monastery in Pennsylvania engaged in a work of culture creation. Benedict Sheehan, the director of the music program at the seminary, recently completed a new liturgy that a professional choir performed, then recorded. I was involved in both, to my great joy. But the time commitment for both was significant, and so I have no new post this week for my readers. However, I…

Ivan Ilyin: The Problems of Christian Culture

In last week’s post, I offered parts of Ilyin’s introduction to his never-before-translated workĀ The Foundations of Christian Culture. In that introduction, he diagnosed the spiritual problems of modernity in a way frighteningly prescient for a man writing in 1937, before WWII, the Cold War, and the Sexual Revolution. He followed the introduction with a section where he discusses the problems that attend a specifically Christian culture: How is Christian culture even possible…

The Crisis of Modern Culture: Ivan Ilyin’s Opening Salvo

In about one month, I will be presenting a lecture on the creation of Christian culture at the Ancient Faith Writing and Podcasting Conference.Ā Part of my presentation will be a brand new translation of Ivan Ilyin’s fascinating work on the subject ofĀ The Foundations ofĀ Christian Culture. It has not, as far as I know, ever been translated. But it deserves to be studied and considered by all culture creators, especially because of the…

How a Group of Young Russians Create Culture with Music, and Other Stories

After I published my manifesto A Call for A New Christian Culture, a rich discussion began in the comments. Most people provided suggestions or helpful criticism. A few seemed overwhelmed by the idea of culture creation. Some laughed at it outright. It’s not simply neo-Romantic mumbo-jumbo. I’m talking about rolling up your sleeves and working with people to recapture an experience of something they didn’t even know they were missing. To help…

Why Digital Minimalism Is Integral to Culture Creation

It’s rare that a book grabs hold of you and doesn’t let go. It’s even more rare when that book is, essentially, a self-help book. But what if that self-help manual tells a profound truth about one’s culture and times in a way that no one else seems to be able to? Then it becomes a manifesto, a call to a new way of life. This is exactly what Cal Newport’sĀ Digital MinimalismĀ is.…