Updates and Writing Round-Up

And an apology

Lookout Mountain Hotel, now Covenant College. Unknown(Life time: 1920's), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A Brief Apology

I should start by apologizing to my readers, new and old, for my long absence from regular posting here. This semester was more difficult than I had anticipated, and my habit of taking notes on my readings and brainstorming essays specifically for my Substack fell off rather quickly in the new year. I don’t want to over-promise, but my aim this summer and heading into the fall is to resume my Reading Recap posts, as well as fleshing out some ideas I’ve had for short essays that are more personal.

Additionally, I must thank

Jared Henderson

, whose

Walking Away

Substack is a true delight, for sending many of you my way. His recommendation has lately led to a huge increase in followers and subscribers here, despite my long absence from posting, and it is much appreciated. For those of you who have found me through other avenues, please give Jared’s writing a look. I promise it will be rewarding.

Professional Updates

The past two academic years, I have served as a sort of postdoctoral fellow and “Visiting Scholar” at the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism. In my time at the CISC, I’ve taught a host of wonderful students in my Introduction to Political Theory class, as well as a course on the Political Thought of the American Founding. The CISC’s “Lyceum Program” allows students to pursue an education in moral and political thought through a Great Books program, and draws some of the most exceptional students I have had the pleasure of working with.

But, life is change, and my time with the CISC is coming to a close. Beginning this summer, I will be taking a position as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. This fall, I will begin teaching courses in American government and Constitutional law, and in the future hope to work to expand Covenant’s offerings in Political Theory as the Poli Sci program there grows. I am so excited for this opportunity, though it will be bittersweet to leave behind Upstate South Carolina and the truly special program I’ve been a part of at Clemson.

Writing Round-Up

Though I have taken a marked break from writing here, I have not stopped writing in general. If you’re interested in what I’ve recently published elsewhere, see below:

• Ridley Scott Vs. Napoleon, Current

  I had the opportunity to review Ridley Scott’s new NAPOLEON for Current, and suffice it to say I was unimpressed. Scott seems to have a vendetta against Napoleon the historical figure, and the film does little to show viewers what about Napoleon made him such a captivating historical figure.

• Liberalism in its Complexity, The University Bookman

  This review combines some thoughts on Alan Kahan’s recent book Freedom From Fear, as well as Joshua Cherniss’s slightly older book Liberalism in Dark Times. Together, these two books provide a rich exploration of liberalism as a political philosophy and as applied in practice in the fraught days of the 20th century. I would heartily recommend them to any student of political theory or anyone interested in liberalism, its failings, and its future.

• And it was Good: A review of Marilynne Robinson’s Reading Genesis, Plough

  I have long adored Robinson’s fiction, and also find her non-fiction captivating. Her recent literary interpretation of Genesis has received a mixed bag of reviews, but I think handles the text in illuminating ways. I was grateful, as well, for the chance to write for Plough, a magazine that has benefitted me greatly and that regularly publishes wonderful essays and reviews on Christian life and thought.
  

• What Scouting has Lost, The Dispatch

  The Boy Scouts of America has announced a planned name change to simply “Scouting America,” which I take to be reflective of Scouting’s general downward trajectory. As the organization has attempted to diversify its appeal, it has sacrificed on distinctives, and shows little sign of recovering from the collapsing membership numbers it hopes to fix.

Thank you again for subscribing, and I look forward to returning to writing here at Everything Was Beautiful more regularly going forward.