Index (A-Z)

A

• Aeschylus
  • The Idea of the Enemy in Aeschylus’s The Persians
  • A Brief Note on Aeschylean Tragedy
  • The Seven Against Thebes and The Phoenician Women Considered
  • A Defense of Nomos in The Suppliants
  • Dialectic in Agamemnon
  • The Oresteia: An Affirmation of the Noble Lie
  • Electra in Aeschylus vs. Euripides
  • Thoughts on Aeschylus
  • Comparing Clytemnestra and Lady Macbeth
  • Notes on Aeschylus
• Aesop
  • What Is A Fable?
• Saint Ambrose
  • Brief Notes on the Life of Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan
• Aristophanes
  • Who is Aristophanes?
  • Thoughts on Aristophanean Comedy
  • Treason in the Acharnians
  • Cleon Ridiculed in the Knights
  • Socrates Ridiculed in the Clouds
  • The Courts Ridiculed in the Wasps
  • A Parody of Greek Mythology In The Peace
  • Aristophanes’s The Birds: A New City in the Sky
  • The War Between the Sexes in Lysistrata
  • The Persecution of the Poets in Thesmophoriazusae
  • Dionysus’s Descent Into Hades In The Frogs
  • The Triumph of Socialism in the Assemblywomen
  • The Worship of Wealth in the Plutos
• Aristotle
  • On Aristotle’s Four Causes
  • Perception in Aristotle’s On The Soul
  • Introductory Notes on Aristotle’s Metaphysics
  • Reflections On Aristotle’s Prime Unmoved Mover
  • Nature in the Nicomachean Ethics
  • Thoughts on Aristotle’s Political Philosophy
  • The Teaching of Aristotle’s Politics
  • Thoughts on Aristotle’s Political Philosophy
  • Further Thoughts on Aristotle’s Politics
  • Aristotle’s Politics Book I: “Man Is A Political Animal”
  • Aristotle’s Politics Book II: Polemics Against The “City In Speech”
  • Aristotle’s Politics Book III: The Limits of the City and Citizenship
  • Aristotle’s Politics Book IV: Democracy and Oligarchy
  • Aristotle’s Politics Book V: Factions and Changes of Government
  • Aristotle’s Politics Book VI: On The Endurance of Democracies and Oligarchies
  • Aristotle’s Politics Books VII-VIII: The Best City and the Education of its Citizens
  • Ethos, Pathos, Logos: On Aristotle’s Rhetoric
  • Aristotle on the Passions
  • Aristotle, Oedipus, and Greek Tragedy
  • What Is The Teaching of Aristotle’s Poetics?
• Athanasius of Alexandria
  • On Athanasius’s “On The Incarnation of the Word”
  • Thoughts on Asceticism in Athanasius’s Life of Antony
• Saint Augustine
  • Who is Saint Augustine of Hippo?
  • Wrestling with Divine Epistemology in Saint Augustine’s Confessions, Book I
  • Reflections on St. Augustine’s Moment of Conversion
  • Saint Augustine on Time
  • History, Providence, and Progress in Saint Augustine’s City of God
  • Considering Theodicy in St. Augustine “On the Free Choice of the Will”

B

• Barnes, Margaret Ayer
  • Thoughts on Years of Grace
• Bible (Old Testament)
  • Reason and Revelation in the Bible
  • Notes on the Context of the Tanakh
  • Where did the Hebrew Bible Come From?
  • Political Theology in the Bible: An Exegesis
  • Genesis III: In Defense of the Serpent
  • Genesis I: The Seven Days of Creation Examined
  • Genesis I-III: The Birth of Law
  • Genesis XI: The Lord versus the City of Man
  • What is Mosaic Law?
  • Moses as Lawgiver
  • Notes on Leviticus
  • Notes on Numbers
  • The Words of Moses
  • What Is The Old Testament?
  • Joshua: A Book of Conquest
  • Reflections on Judges
  • I Samuel Chapters 8-14: Israel’s Demand for a King
  • Saul Weeps, David Dances, And Solomon Judges
  • Prophecy and Apocalypse in Isaiah
  • Thoughts on Jeremiah
  • Thoughts on Ezekiel
  • Infidelity in Hosea
  • Plague and Drought in Joel
  • Notes on Amos
  • The Reckoning of Edom in Obadiah
  • Notes on Jonah in Nineveh
  • Further Consideration of Jonah
  • Notes on Micah
  • Notes on Nahum
  • The Just Shall Live By His Faith: Habakkuk Considered
  • “The Day of the Lord” in Zephaniah
  • Haggai: A Plea To Rebuild the Temple
  • Eight Visions in Zechariah
  • The Messenger in Malachi
  • In Consideration of Psalms
  • “Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death” – On Psalm 23
  • Thoughts on the Book of Proverbs
  • Theodicy in the Book of Job
  • In Appreciation of the Song of Songs
  • The Harvest of Ruth
  • Sorrow, Anger, and Hope in Lamentations
  • Qohelet’s Somber Reflections
  • The Persian Fantasy of Esther
  • Daniel: A Book of Dreams and Dark Prophecy
  • Thoughts on Ezra-Nehemiah
  • Thoughts on Ezra-Nehemiah
  • Thoughts on Chronicles
• Bible (New Testament)
  • Thoughts on the “Newness” of the New Testament
  • Where Did The New Testament Come From?
  • Notes on the Twelve Apostles of Jesus
  • The Story of the King James Bible
  • Political Theology in the Bible: An Exegesis
  • Matthew Chapter 5-7: The Sermon on the Mount
  • Comparing the Death of Jesus in the Four Gospels
  • Notes on Luke-Acts
  • On the Logos in the Gospel of John
  • The Law in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans
  • Discord in the Early Church: Paul’s Letters to the Corinthians
  • Rejection of Mosaic Law in Galatians
  • Notes on Paul’s Letter to Ephesus
  • Notes on Paul’s Letter to Philippi
  • Notes on Paul’s Letter to Collossae
  • Notes on Paul’s Two Letters to Thessolonica
  • On the Corpus Pastorale
  • A Brief Note on Philemon
  • “Jesus As Superior To Moses” – Thoughts on Hebrews
  • Thoughts on the Epistle of James
  • Peter’s Message in His First Epistle
  • The Question of Scriptural Authority in Peter’s Second Epistle
  • Eyewitness Testimony in the Johannine Epistles
  • Notes on the Unusual Epistle of Jude
  • A Vision of Horror and Apocalypse in John’s Revelation
• Biblical Apocrypha(Old Testament)
  • Notes on 1 and 2 Esdras
  • Tobit: An Apocryphal Romance
  • Judith: Israel’s Great Heroine
  • Brief Notes on the Rest of Esther
  • Thoughts on the Book of Wisdom
  • Thoughts on Wisdom in Ecclesiasticus
  • Notes on the Book of Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy
  • Notes on Additions to the Book of Daniel
  • Susanna: An Apocryphal Fable
  • Notes on Additions to the Book of Daniel
  • Thoughts on the Prayer of Manasseh
  • The Maccabean Revolt and the Birth of Hanukkah
• Biblical Apocrypha(New Testament)
  • The Story of the Nag Hammadi Library
  • The Story of the Dead Sea Scrolls
  • Thoughts on the Shepherd of Hermas
  • Notes on the Epistle of Barnabas
  • Mary Magdalene in the Gospel of Philip
  • Thoughts on the Gospel of Thomas
  • Two Texts Called The Apocalypse of Peter
  • On Clement’s Letter to the Corinthians
  • Thoughts on the Didache
• Bromfield, Louis
  • On Early Autumn
• Buck, Pearl S.
  • The Struggle for Land in The Good Earth
• Bunyan, John
  • Thoughts on Pilgrim’s Progress
• Burns, Robert
  • The Story Behind “Auld Lang Syne”

C

• Cather, Willa
  • The Harsh But Forgiving Prairie in O Pioneers!
  • Modernism in My Ántonia
  • The Pioneer Spirit in One Of Ours
• Cervantes, Miguel de
  • Who Is Miguel de Cervantes?
  • When Poetry Conquers Philosophy: Reflections on Don Quixote
  • On Authorship in Don Quixote
• Chaucer, Geoffrey
  • Who Is Geoffrey Chaucer?
  • Chaucer’s Silence: On The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales
  • “Make Of Two Sorrows One Perfect Joy” A Reading of The Knight’s Tale
  • The Idea of Requital in The Miller’s Tale
  • A Defense of Justice in The Reeve’s Tale
  • Notes on the Unfinished Cook’s Tale
  • A Story of “Joy after Woe” in The Man of Law’s Tale
  • The Wife of Bath’s Tale: Autobiography and Arthurian Parody
  • Intentionality in The Friar’s Tale
  • Aristotelian Mimesis: The Conflict Between the Friar and the Summoner
  • The Scholar’s Desire for Power: A Reading of The Clerk’s Tale
  • A Qualified Defense of Marriage in The Merchant’s Tale
  • On The (Interrupted) Squire’s Tale
  • Pity and Promises in the Franklin’s Tale
  • History Contra Poetics in The Physician’s Tale
  • Disingenuous Authorial Intent in The Pardoner’s Tale
  • The Principle of Exchange in The Shipman’s Tale
  • A Hollow Story of Martyrdom In The Prioress’s Tale
  • On Chaucerian Irony in the Tale of Sir Thopas
  • Deprivation and Excess in The Tale of Sir Thopas and The Tale of Melibee
  • Seventeen Tragic Biographies in The Monk’s Tale
  • “The latter ende of joye is wo” On The Dangerous Significance of Poetry in the Nun’s Priest’s Tale
  • Authorship in the Second Nun’s Tale
  • Trickery and Alchemy in the Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale
  • On The Wisdom of Silence in The Manciple’s Tale
  • An Appeal to Common Wisdom in the Final Tale: The Parson’s Tale
• Churchill, Winston
  • Pre-Roman Britain
  • Roman Britain – Julius Caesar Invades Britannia (55-54 BC)
  • Roman Britain – Claudius Invades Britannia (AD 43) & the End of Roman Britain
  • Anglo-Saxon England, Part I
  • Anglo-Saxon England, Part II
  • Alfred the Great (871-899)
  • Anglo-Saxon England, Part III
  • Anglo-Saxon England, Part IV
  • William the Conqueror & The Norman Invasion of 1066
  • The Norman Kings: William II, Henry I, Stephen & Matilda (1066-1154)
  • The Plantagenets (Angevin): Henry II (1154-1189)
  • The Plantagenets (Angevin): Richard I “Coeur de Lion” (1189-1199)
  • The Plantagenets (Angevin): John and Magna Carta (1199-1216)
  • The Plantagenets: Henry III (1216-1272)
  • The Plantagenets: Edward I “Longshanks” (1272-1307)
  • The Plantagenets: Edward II (1307-1327)
  • The Plantagenets: Edward III & the Hundred Years War (1327-1377)
  • The Plantagenets: Richard II (1377-1399)
  • The Plantagenets: Henry IV (1399-1413)
  • The Plantagenets: Henry V (1413-1422)
  • The Plantagenets: Henry VI, Edward IV, & The Wars of the Roses (1422-1483)
  • The Plantagenets: Edward V & Richard III (1483-1485)
  • The Tudors: Henry VII (1485-1509)
  • The Tudors: Henry VIII & The English Reformation (1509-1547)
  • The Tudors: Edward VI & Lady Jane Grey (1547-1553)
  • The Tudors: Mary I (1553-1558)
  • The Tudors: Elizabeth I (1558-1603)
  • The Stuarts: James I (1603-1625)
  • The Stuarts: Charles I & The English Civil War (1625-1649)
  • Interregnum: Oliver Cromwell, The Commonwealth, & The Lord Protectorate (1649-1660)
  • The Stuarts: Charles II & The Restoration (1660-1685)
  • The Stuarts: James II & The Glorious Revolution (1685-1689)
  • The Stuarts: William and Mary (1689-1702)
  • The Stuarts: Anne & The United Kingdom of Great Britain (1702-1714)
  • The Hanoverians: George I (1714-1727)
  • The Hanoverians: George II (1727-1760)
  • The Hanoverians: George III (1760-1820)
  • The Hanoverians: George IV (1820-1830)
  • The Hanoverians: William IV (1830-1837)
  • The Hanoverians: Victoria (1837-1901)
• Clement of Rome
  • On Clement’s Letter to the Corinthians
• Clement of Alexandria
  • Clement’s Attack on Hellenism
• Confucius
  • Notes on The Great Learning
  • Introduction to the Analects
  • Confucius and Socrates
  • The Twenty Books of the Analects
  • Aristotelian Moderation in The Doctrine of the Mean
• Cozzens, James Gould
  • Guard of Honor: A Dreary Pulitzer Prize Winner

D

• Davis, Harold “H.L.”
  • Honey In The Horn: A Portrait of Oregon Pioneers
• Defoe, Daniel
  • Robinson Crusoe’s Diary of Survivalism
• Diodorus Sicilus
  • On The Arginousai Affair in Xenophon and Diodorus Sicilus
• Diogenes Laertius
  • Toward an Understanding of Diogenes Laertius and his Lives of the Eminent Philosophers
  • What Is The Value of Biography?
  • On the Prologue to Diogenes Laertius’s Lives of the Eminent Philosophers
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Thales
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Solon
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Anaximander
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Anaximenes
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Anaxagoras
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Socrates
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Xenophon
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Plato
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Aristotle
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Diogenes of Sinope
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Zeno of Citiam
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Pythagoras
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Empedocles
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Heraclitus
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Parmenides
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Democritus
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Pyrrho
  • On Diogenes Laertius’s Biography of Epicurus

E

• Egyptian Book of the Dead
  • The Trial of the Heart: Initial Thoughts on the Egyptian Book of the Dead
• Enuma Elish
  • Notes on the Enuma Elish
• Euclid
  • On the Definitions, Postulates, and Common Notions of Euclid’s Elements
  • On The Puzzling History of Euclid’s Fifth Postulate
  • Working Through Book I of Euclid’s Elements
• Euripides
  • The Context of the Greek Tragedians
  • What Is The Chorus in Greek Tragedy?
  • On Euripides’s Alcestis
  • On The Medea
  • Tragedy and Patriotism in Euripides’s Heracleidae
  • Oaths and Truth-Telling in Hippolytus
  • Thoughts on Andromache
  • What Is Tragic About Greek Tragedy? Euripides’s Hecuba Considered
  • Thoughts on The Suppliants
  • Electra in Aeschylus vs. Euripides
  • Comparing Clytemnestra and Lady Macbeth
  • The Lack of Hamartia in Euripides’s Heracles
  • Brief Thoughts on The Trojan Women
  • Thoughts on Iphigenia in Tauris
  • Euripides and the Gods: Ion
  • Examining Euripides’s Helen
  • Thoughts on The Phoenician Women
  • The Failure of Orestes
  • The Dangers of the Poets in The Bacchae
  • The Tragedy of Mob-Rule: Iphigenia in Aulis
  • Brief Notes on the Rhesus
  • Euripides’s Opinion of Odysseus: The Cyclops Considered
• Eusebius
  • On Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical History and the Origins of the Gospels

F

• Ferber, Edna
  • The Pursuit of Beauty in Edna Ferber’s So Big
• Fielding, Henry
  • A Note on Fortune and Fate in Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book I
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book II
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book III
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book IV
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book V
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book VI
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book VII
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book VIII
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book IX
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book X
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book XI
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book XII
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book XIII
  • Refections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book XIV
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book XV
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book XVI
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book XVII
  • Reflections on Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, Book XVIII
• Five Chinese Classics
  • Notes on the “Classic of Poetry”
  • What is the Book of Documents?
  • Thoughts On The Book of Rites
  • Infinite Interpretations in the I Ching
  • Notes on the Spring and Autumn Annals
• Flavin, Martin
  • Thoughts On Martin Flavin’s Journey In The Dark
• Fleming, Ian
  • Thoughts on Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale (1953)
  • Thoughts On Ian Fleming’s Live and Let Die (1954)

G

• Gathas
  • An Introduction to the Gathas
• Gilgamesh, Epic of
  • The Walls of Gilgamesh
  • Notes on the Origins of the Epic of Gilgamesh
• Glasgow, Ellen
  • In This Our Life: A Bleak Pulitzer Prize Winner

H

• Hammurabi, The Code of
  • Thoughts on the Code of Hammurabi
• Hemingway, Ernest
  • On the Epic Life of Ernest Hemingway
  • Notes on Hemingway’s “Writers At Work” Paris Review Interview (1958)
  • Heroism and Tragedy in The Sun Also Rises
  • Love and War In For Whom The Bell Tolls
  • The Writer’s Endurance: The Old Man and the Sea
  • A Fall From Grace in “Up In Michigan”
  • Thoughts on “On The Quai at Smyrna”
  • A New Beginning in “Hills Like White Elephants”
  • Contemplating Nihilism in “A Clean Well-Lighted Place”
  • The Mask of Politeness in “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”
  • The Experience of Placelessness in “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”
• Herodotus
  • On Herodotus
  • The Purpose of the Histories: Notes on Book I
  • The Empires of Croesus and Cyrus
  • The Rise of Egypt: Notes on Book II
  • Egypt, Persia, and the New Regime: Book III
  • Darius and the New Persian Regime
  • The Battle of Marathon: Book VI
  • Xerxes, Thermopylae, and Salamis: Books VII – IX
  • Notes on Athenian Democracy
  • What Is History?
  • What Was The Cause of The Persian Wars?
  • An Inquiry into Herodotus’s Project
  • Notes on History
• Hersey, John
  • Old Customs, New Traditions, and a Good Man in John Hersey’s A Bell For Adano
• Hesiod
  • Two Myths in Hesiod’s Works and Days
  • Comparing Virgil’s Georgics with Hesiod’s Works and Days
  • Notes on Hesiod
• Hippocrates
  • “Above All, Do No Harm” Notes on Hippocrates and the Hippocratic Oath
• Homer
  • Political Philosophy in the Iliad
  • On the Homeric Question
  • What is the Rage of Achilles?
  • Thoughts on Odysseus and Achilles
  • On the Homeric Gods
  • Persuading Achilles: Books IX, XVI, XXIV Considered
  • The Iliad and the Odyssey: Two Proems Compared
  • Book XVIII of the Iliad: Examining the Shield of Achilles
  • On the Homeric Question
  • Thoughts on Odysseus and Achilles
  • Notes on the Telemachia, Books I-IV
  • On the Homeric Gods
  • Nature and Order in Homer
  • The Iliad and the Odyssey: Two Proems Compared
  • Phemius and Demodocus: Two Bards Considered
  • Notes on Odysseus’s Tale to the Phaeacians
  • Books X-XI: Revisiting Odysseus’s Descent into Hades
  • Commentary on the Form of the “Homeric Hymns”

I

• Ignatius of Antioch
  • On Ignatius’s Seven Epistles
• Irenaeus of Lyon
  • Irenaeus’s Attack on Heresy

J

• Jackson, Shirley
  • On Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”
• Johnson, Josephine Winslow
  • Thoughts on Now In November
• Josephus
  • Jesus and John the Baptist Briefly Mentioned in Josephus
• Justin Martyr
  • An Attempted Union of Hellenism and Christianity in Justin Martyr’s First Apology
  • Christianity Contra Judaism in Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho
• Saint Jerome
  • The Story of Jerome’s Vulgate

K

L

• La Farge, Oliver
  • Laughing Boy: A Tragic Romance of the Navajo Indians
• Lee, Harper
  • The Meaning of Innocence in To Kill A Mockingbird
• Lewis, Sinclair
  • The Un-Wholesome Character of Main Street
  • Babbitt: A Satire of Middle Class Complacency
  • Arrowsmith: A Pulitzer Controversy and a Satire of American Medicine
  • Elmer Gantry: A Satire of American Evangelism
  • A Collapsing Marriage in Sinclair Lewis’s Dodsworth
  • On The Prescience of Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here

M

• Maclean, Norman
  • The Haunting Waters of A River Runs Through It
• Magna Carta
  • King John and Magna Carta (1199-1216)
• Marquand, John P.
  • Reflections on The Late George Apley
• Menander
  • Menander and Dyskolos
  • Notes on the Samia
• Mencius
  • Mencius and Rousseau
• Michener, James
  • In Appreciation of James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific
• Miller, Caroline
  • Lamb In His Bosom: A Portrait of Georgia Pioneers
• Mitchell, Margaret
  • Gone With The Wind: An American Epic of Nostalgia and Survivalism

N

• Nicene Creed
  • On The Nicene Creed

O

• Origen of Alexandria
  • On Origen’s First Principles

P

• Papias of Hierapolis
  • Notes on the Fragments of Papias
• Saint Patrick
  • Thoughts on St. Patrick’s “Confessio”
• Perrault, Charles
  • Notes on Charles Perrault’s Fairy Tales
• Peterkin, Julia
  • Questioning Forgiveness in Scarlet Sister Mary
• Pindar
  • Who Is Pindar? What Is An Ode?
• Plato
  • Examining the Platonic Dialogues
  • On the Authorship of Plato
  • Mapping the Platonic Dialogues
  • Thoughts on the Trial of Socrates and the Socratic Project
  • Thoughts on the Apology of Socrates
  • Notes on Plato’s Crito
  • Thoughts on Plato’s Charmides
  • Initial Thoughts on Plato’s Laches
  • The Question of Courage in the Laches
  • Socrates’s Failure In The Lysis
  • Notes on Plato’s Euthyphro
  • The Problem of Rhapsody in Plato’s Ion
  • The Exploration of Beauty in the Greater Hippias
  • On Truth and Lies in the Lesser Hippias
  • Thoughts On The Gorgias
  • The Gorgias, A Dialogue of War and Battle
  • The Examination of Virtue in the Protagoras
  • Socrates and Meno
  • Thoughts on the Euthydemus
  • Euthydemus’s Form of Relativism
  • Cratylus: Plato’s Dialogue on Language
  • On the Significance of the Death of Socrates
  • Initial Notes on Plato’s Phaedrus
  • Socrates and Phaedrus on Love
  • An Analysis of the Soul in the Phaedrus
  • The Soul in the Phaedrus and the Republic
  • Thoughts on the Setting of Plato’s Symposium
  • The Symposium I: Phaedrus
  • The Symposium II: Pausanias
  • The Symposium III: Erixymachus, Aristophanes, Agathon, Socrates, and Alcibiades
  • What is Love in the Symposium?
  • Plato’s Republic, Book I (Part I): Introduction
  • Plato’s Republic, Book I (Part II): Cephalus 
  • Plato’s Republic, Book I (Part III): Polemarchus
  • Plato’s Republic, Book I (Part IV): Thrasymachus
  • Plato’s Republic, Book II (Part I): Glaucon and Adeimantus
  • Plato’s Republic, Book II (Part II): The City In Speech
  • Plato’s Republic, Book III: The Noble Lie
  • Plato’s Republic, Book IV: The Cardinal Virtues
  • Plato’s Republic, Book V: Communism and the Philosopher King
  • Plato’s Republic, Book VI: The Defense of the Philosophers
  • Plato’s Republic, Book VII: “The Allegory of the Cave”
  • Plato’s Republic, Book VIII: The Decay of the Regimes
  • Plato’s Republic, Book IX: The Soul of the Tyrant
  • Plato’s Republic, Book X: The Poets and the Myth of Er
  • The Soul in the Phaedrus and the Republic
  • The Teaching of the Republic
  • Outline of the Theaetetus
  • Why Theaetetus
  • A Note on Temporality in the Theaetetus
  • The Silence of Socrates: Plato’s Parmenides
  • Considering Plato’s Sophist
  • Thoughts on Plato’s Statesman
  • Wandering Thoughts on the Philebus
  • Timaeus and the Likely Story
  • Plato’s Laws, Book I: The Divine Puppet
  • Plato’s Laws: Notes on Books II-IV
• Platonic Apocrypha
  • Notes on Plato’s Seventh Letter
  • On The First Alcibiades
  • On The Idea of Prayer in The Second Alcibiades
  • The Platonic Epinomis: A Sequel to the Laws
  • Considering A Funeral Oration Speech in the Menexenus
  • On the Hipparchus, or Lovers of Gain
  • Notes on Plato’s Lovers
  • On the Cleitophon
  • On the Theages
  • What is Law in the Minos?
• Plutarch
  • What Is The Value of Biography?
• Polycarp of Smyrna
  • On Polycarp’s Epistle to the Philippians
• Poole, Ernest
  • Thoughts on His Family

Q

R

• Rabelais, Francois
  • The Absurd World of Pantagruel
• Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan
  • Thoughts On The Yearling
• Robinson, Marilynne
  • On The Idea of Home in Housekeeping
  • The Quiet Simplicity of Gilead

S

• Sappho
  • Notes on Sappho
• Serling, Rod
  • On Rod Serling’s “The Mighty Casey”
  • On Rod Serling’s “Escape Clause”
  • On Rod Serling’s “Walking Distance”
  • On Rod Serling’s “The Fever”
  • On Rod Serling’s “Where Is Everybody?”
  • On Rod Serling’s “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street”
  • On Rod Serling’s “The Lonely”
  • On Rod Serling’s “Mr. Dingle, The Strong”
  • On Rod Serling’s “A Thing About Machines”
  • On Rod Serling’s “The Big, Tall Wish”
  • On Rod Serling’s “A Stop At Willoughby”
  • On Rod Serling’s “The Odyssey of Flight 33”
  • On Rod Serling’s “Dust”
  • On Rod Serling’s “The Whole Truth”
• Shakespeare, William
  • Who Is William Shakespeare?
  • On Stephen Greenblatt’s “Will in the World”
  • Some Notes On As You Like It, Act I
  • Some Notes On As You Like It, Act II
  • “All The World’s A Stage” Considered
  • Introduction to Hamlet
  • “Crawling Between Earth and Heaven:” A Reading of Hamlet
  • Reflections on Norway, Denmark, and Hamlet’s Ghost
  • Introduction to Macbeth
  • A Classical Hero in the Modern World: A Reading of Macbeth
  • “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” Considered
  • Examining the Thanes in Shakespeare’s Macbeth
  • Comparing Clytemnestra and Lady Macbeth
  • On Children and Natural Limits in Shakespeare’s Macbeth
• Sinclair, Upton
  • On Upton Sinclair’s Dragon’s Teeth
  • On Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle
• Sophocles
  • Summary of the Oedipus Story
  • Oedipus and Greek Tragedy
  • Aristotle, Oedipus, and Greek Tragedy
  • Fate Considered in Sophocles’s Ajax
  • Notes on the Trachiniae
  • Notes on Sophocles’s Electra
  • Comparing Clytemnestra and Lady Macbeth
  • The Question of “Deus Ex Machina” in Philoctetes
• Simonides
  • Who Is Simonides?
• Steinbeck, John
  • The Grapes of Wrath: An Epic Dust Bowl Tragedy
  • The Troubling Concept of Timshel in East of Eden
• Stribling, Thomas Sigismund
  • The Store: A Darkly Tragic Pulitzer Prize Winner
• Suetonius
  • What Is The Value of Biography?
• Swift, Jonathan
  • Who Is Jonathan Swift?
  • Thoughts on “A Tale Of A Tub” and the “Battle of the Books”
  • Jonathan Swift and the Idea of Satire
  • Whither Gulliver? Reflections on Gulliver’s Travels
  • Disentangling Irony in Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”

T

• Tarkington, Booth
  • Thoughts on The Magnificent Ambersons
  • The Forgettable Alice Adams
• Tertullian
  • Who Is Tertullian?
• Thucydides
  • Thucydides on Greek Origins
  • Reflections on Thucydides
  • Thucydides on Pericles and the Plague
  • The Peloponnesian War, Book I: Setting The Stage for War
  • The Peloponnesian War, Book II: Proxy Wars and Pericles’s Funeral Oration
  • The Peloponnesian War, Book III: Invasion and Revolution
  • The Peloponnesian War, Book IV: Armistice and Mounting Losses
  • The Peloponnesian War, Book V: Battle Recommences and Melos Is Enslaved
  • The Peloponnesian War, Book VI: Sicily, Alcibiades, and the Hermae
  • The Peloponnesian War, Books VII-VIII: Athens in Decline and an Abrupt Ending
  • What Is A Eulogy? Ethos, Pathos, and Logos In Pericles’s Funeral Oration Speech
  • The Sicilian Expedition: Alcibiades and Nicias in Thucydides’s Peloponnesian War (Books VI-VII)
• Tzu, Lao
  • Important Reflections on the Tao Te Ching

U

• Upanishads
  • Introduction to the Upanishads
  • Notes on the Isha Upanishad
  • What is the Teaching of the Upanishads?
  • Six Questions in the Prana Upanishad

V

• Vedas
  • Introduction to the Rig Veda
  • Notes on Creation and Death in the Rig Veda
• Villeneuve, Madame de
  • Thoughts on Beauty and the Beast
• Virgil
  • Notes on Virgil’s Ten Eclogues
  • “Omnia Vincit Amor” – On Virgil’s Eclogue X
  • Comparing Virgil’s Georgics with Hesiod’s Works and Days
• Voltaire
  • Who Is Voltaire?
  • On Suffering in Voltaire’s Candide

W

• Walker, Alice
  • Reflections on The Color Purple
• Warren, Robert Penn
  • The Dangers of Populism in All The King’s Men
• Wharton, Edith
  • On the Absence of Mirth in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth
  • The Age of Innocence on Trial
• Wilder, Thornton
  • Experiencing the Sacred in The Bridge of San Luis Rey
• Wilson, Margaret
  • The Unremarkable Able McLaughlins
• Wouk, Herman
  • What Makes A Good Leader? On The Caine Mutiny

X

• Xenophon
  • Initial Thoughts on Xenophon’s Cyropaedia
  • On Xenophon’s Ascent
  • A Brief Introduction to Xenophon’s Hellenika
  • Xenophon’s Hellenika Book I: The Return of Alcibiades
  • Xenophon’s Hellenika Book II: Lysander, The Thirty Tyrants, & The Downfall of Athens
  • Xenophon’s Hellenika Book III: Sparta’s Struggle for Hegemony
  • Xenophon’s Hellenika Book IV: Greek Rebellion Against The Spartan Hegemony
  • Xenophon’s Hellenika Book V: Teleutias and The King’s Peace
  • Xenophon’s Hellenika Book VI: Proxy Wars of Sparta, Thebes, and Athens
  • Xenophon’s Hellenika Book VII: The End of Battle With Little Gained
  • On The Arginousai Affair in Xenophon and Diodorus Sicilus
  • On Xenophon’s Account of Socrates in the Memorabilia
  • Socrates’s Desire to Die: On Xenophon’s Apology
  • A Gentleman Laughing, Dancing, and Singing: Socrates in Xenophon’s Symposium
  • Xenophon’s Perfect Country Gentleman in the Oeconomicus

Y

Z

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