Catholicism & Culture Archives

That life exists and identity: Thoughts on Robin Williams and depression.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • August 18, 2014 • Catholicism & Culture; In the News; Literature

The powerful witness in all of this, in depression, in suicide, in loss, in unbearable confusion and grief and pain, is the witness of life. That life exists. That you are here, and that it matters. The great horror and pain of depression is that it robs you of any sense of self and identity. And that may be why, in a cruel irony, some seek relief from it in self-annihilation. But they value their life, and they do not want it to end. They only want the pain to end. But one of the great joys of recovery from depression is the joy of discovering identity again, and who you are.

Seven reasons to reject Catholic fundamentalism about the arts: 7QT XI, seriatim.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 25, 2014 • Catholicism & Culture; Seven Quick Takes

The Church’s traditional attitude toward pagan culture was not to destroy it but to preserve it. It was the barbarians who destroyed Greek and Roman culture; it was monks who helped preserve it. And it was good that they did: The Renaissance would not have happened unless Catholic artists and scholars had those Greek and Roman models. In a similar way, if a Catholic revival in the arts is to happen again, it may very well rely on what the modern world has given us. Tertullian’s famous “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” was, at heart, a false dichotomy.

Taylor Marshall shows us how not to talk about The Beatles.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 14, 2014 • Blind Guides & False Prophets; Catholicism & Culture

I have searched, and I can find no one (other than Dr. Marshall) who suggests that the cover has anything at all to do with abortion. Not one. Unless there are some fairly obscure references out there, Dr. Marshall is the first and only in fifty years. If the cover were intended to “promote abortion,” how is it that that escaped discussion back in 1966? The Beatles, and their lackeys in the press, certainly did an excellent job keeping quiet about it. The Beatles must have been very bad at publicity. Shh. I am going to promote abortion, but don’t tell anyone about it. You are not to discuss this.