Culture

The televised Democratic presidential sound byte pageants will not be true debates by any realistic standard. They are reminiscent of the 2016 Republican primaries that started with 16 candidates preening on a platform and enduring “gotcha” questions by reporters/moderators trying to get themselves into the news story. Until the nominee field narrows, these shows are almost a parody of real debates in the Lincoln-Douglas or Oxford Union manner. That’s too bad. We need to bring back real debates in America, and not just among candidates. Name the issue (climate change, foreign interference in our elections, abortion, immigration, tariffs, privacy online, the future of artificial intelligence, the meaning of “free speech,” whatever): Americans are badly divided. Since media and politicians often …

The Hobbit Party, by our colleagues Jonathan Witt and Jay W. Richards, has been named one of the top books of 2014 for Christians. Kevin DeYoung, a Reformed church spokesman, lists a surprisingly catholic (small “c”) Top Ten selections. Of The Hobbit Party, DeYoung writes, “More people should be talking about this book. It’s full of excellent background information on Tolkien and the worldview that shaped his creation of Middle Earth. Even LOTR enthusiasts will see things they hadn’t seen before.”

The Thanksgiving holiday is a perfect occasion for reading The Hobbit Party by Jonathan Witt and Jay Richards, both of them Discovery fellows. It’s an amusing and sage guide to Tolkien’s philosophy as applied to modern times–to economics, for example. The distinguished Catholic priest/cultural guide, Fr. C. John McCloskey does the book proud in Catholicity.com. .