The Secular Experiment

"[T]here is something unique in our modern “secular,” Western culture, in that it is the site of the only large-scale attempt in human history at living an exclusive humanism. The self-congratulatory discourse about our exceptional status on this score is right in this respect: no one else ever tried it. And by virtue of living through this experiment, we will be in a better position to understand why."

Charles Taylor, A Catholic Modernity 105-06 (1999), quoted in Brennan, A Quandary in Law?: A Qualified Catholic Denial, 44 San Diego L. Rev. 97 (2007).

The Cruciform Life

"However learned, however cosmopolitan, however politically aware and culturally engaged he or she may become,  The Christian must always register a clear and final deferral on the world's favor in view of the cross and its benefits."

 Charles Marsh, Wayward Christian Soldiers, pp. 135–136.

On Unity - From Mao's Little Red Book

One requirement of Party discipline is that the minority should submit to the majority. If the view of the minority has been rejected, it must support the decision passed by the majority. If necessary, it can bring up the matter for reconsideration at the next meeting, but apart from that it must not act against the decision in any way. “On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party” (December 1929), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 110.

Mastered by the Lust for Mastery - Augustine's account of the earthly city

"Most glorious is the City of God: whether in this passing age . . . or in the security of that eternal home which she now patiently awaits . . . . In this work I have undertaken to defend her against those who favour their own gods against her Founder. . . .

I know . . . what efforts are needed to persuade the proud how great is that virtue of humility which, not by dint of any human loftiness, but by divine grace bestowed from on high, raises us above all the earthly pinnacles which sway in this inconstant age. . . .

Thus, when the nature of the work here undertaken requres us to say something of it . . . we must not pass over in silence the earthly city also: that city which, when it seeks mastery, is itself mastered by the lust for mastery even though all the nations serve it."

The City of God, Book I, Preface (Dyson, trans.)

Augustine, City of God Book II - The "happiness" of Rome

Chapter 20.—Of the Kind of Happiness and Life Truly Delighted in by Those Who Inveigh Against the Christian Religion.

But the worshippers and admirers of these gods delight in imitating their scandalous iniquities, and are nowise concerned that the republic be less depraved and licentious.  Only let it remain undefeated, they say, only let it flourish and abound in resources; let it be glorious by its victories, or still better, secure in peace; and what matters it to us?  This is our concern, that every man be able to increase his wealth so as to supply his daily prodigalities, and so that the powerful may subject the weak for their own purposes.  Let the poor court the rich for a living, and that under their protection they may enjoy a sluggish tranquillity; and let the rich abuse the poor as their dependants, to minister to their pride.  Let the people applaud not those who protect their interests, but those who provide them with pleasure.  Let no severe duty be commanded, no impurity forbidden.  Let kings estimate their prosperity, not by the righteousness, but by the servility of their subjects.  Let the provinces stand loyal to the kings, not as moral guides, but as lords of their possessions and purveyors of their pleasures; not with a hearty reverence, but a crooked and servile fear.  Let the laws take cognizance rather of the injury done to another man’s property, than of that done to one’s own person.  If a man be a nuisance to his neighbor, or injure his property, family, or person, let him be actionable; but in his own affairs let everyone with impunity do what he will in company with his own family, and with those who willingly join him.  Let there be a plentiful supply of public prostitutes for every one who wishes to use them, but specially for those who are too poor to keep one for their private use.  Let there be erected houses of the largest and most ornate description:  in these let there be provided the most sumptuous banquets, where every one who pleases may, by day or night, play, drink, vomit,113 dissipate.  Let there be everywhere heard the rustling of dancers, the loud, immodest laughter of the theatre; let a succession of the most cruel and the most voluptuous pleasures maintain a perpetual excitement.  If such happiness is distasteful to any, let him be branded as a public enemy; and if any attempt to modify or put an end to it let him be silenced, banished, put an end to.  Let these be reckoned the true gods, who procure for the people this condition of things, and preserve it when once possessed.  Let them be worshipped as they wish; let them demand whatever games they please, from or with their own worshippers; only let them secure that such felicity be not imperilled by foe, plague, or disaster of any kind.  What sane man would compare a republic such as this, I will not say to the Roman empire, but to the palace of Sardanapalus, the ancient king who was so abandoned to pleasures, that he caused it to be inscribed on his tomb, that now that he was dead, he possessed only those things which he had swallowed and consumed by his appetites while alive?  If these men had such a king as this, who, while self-indulgent, should lay no severe restraint on them, they would more enthusiastically consecrate to him a temple and a flamen than the ancient Romans did to Romulus.

Ambition

"Ambition for artists is like life on this earth:  it's self-replicating, and there's no end to it. All of us, especially novelists, are damaged, psychologically damaged.  We have big problems, and we're not good people.  We're drug addicts, we're drunks.  So we want to even the score-- we want adulation.  If you are single-mined, as many writers are, as I am, the work is all you are.  There is nothing else.  And so if the work goes away, then it's the gun."

-T.C. Boyle
WSJ Magazine, March 2015, p. 62.

Democracy as a "Least Worst"

"[L]ogically and empirically, it cannot be the case that "Thou shalt take responsibility for governing the world" is an univocal moral obligation. . . . All civil government is oligarchy; all of it is a few people (to use the language of Jesus) 'lording it' over the rest of us. The value of democracy is the relatively greater capacity which victims and third parties nonetheless have to speak critically."

-John Howard Yoder, On Not Being in Charge