Timeless Essays

A Progressive Conservative ~ The Imaginative Conservative

As a settler in seventeenth-century New England and as a female poet, Anne Bradstreet was a trailblazer. A progressive female poet, she also took delight in her role as wife and mother, while remaining committed to her conservative Puritan theology and beliefs. Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672) was a pioneer in two ways: She was a pioneering […]

“Joseph” ~ The Imaginative Conservative

If the stars fell; night’s nameless dreamsOf bliss and blasphemy came true,If skies were green and snow were gold,And you loved me as I love you; O long light hands and curled brown hair,And eyes where sits a naked soul;Dare I even then draw near and burnMy fingers in the aureole? Yes, in the one […]

An Alzheimer Odyssey Postscript ~ The Imaginative Conservative

August 1, 2021. A date of little import in world affairs. A day of savage sorrow, forlorn failure—and exhilarating liberation—for me. Few days in my life have I ever looked forward to so eagerly. None had I ever dreaded more. My eagerness was and remains unseemly and obscene. My dread, overwhelming and persistent. No more lies, no […]

An Honorable Hero? ~ The Imaginative Conservative

In his last moments, Brutus voiced a sentiment about the ultimate tragedy of the virtuous life in those evil days, in which the good was punished and the evil rewarded. This does not make virtue worthless for the individual; it just may place him on the losing side. [E]veryone knows that some young bucks among […]

American History on the Banks of the Potomac

Across the mighty Potomac sits the capital of our once noble and humane republic, founded upon the idea that all men are created equal, endowed with the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. What do the women and men who occupy the innumerable office buildings on either of the Potomac think about […]

Von Balthasar & Sacred Architecture ~ The Imaginative Conservative

Architecture, just like sacred music or art, must fulfill its highest calling, aiding the participant in seeing the glory of God. An architecture that is ordered to fulfill only its human, or even liturgical use, fails its higher purpose. The theological work of twentieth-century theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar has only recently begun to take […]