"Simply put, a little-known classic."

National Review Online has posted the second part of its summer reading recommendations, and Ignatius Press garners a couple mentions. Eric Metaxas, the author of the highly regarded biography, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, recommends:

Chance or the Dance: A Critique of Modern Secularism, by Thomas Howard: Simply put, a little-known classic. If you’ve read it, you understand. It’s a sparklingly written critique of the modern secular-humanist version of reality and an enchanting defense of the medieval Christian worldview, all offered in the inimitable style of the delightful Thomas Howard, a prose stylist among prose stylists. It will forever change the way you see the world, and it will do so with elan and then some.

Agreed! Of course, I like everything written by Howard, but Chance or the Dance, which was first published forty-one years ago (written prior to Howard's entrance into the Catholic Church), continues to be incredibly timely and timeless. You can read an excerpt from it at Ignatius Insight:



The NRO symposium also features some picks by Joseph Pearce, who writes:

A recently published survey by the National Association of Scholars exposed the scandalous anti-Western and anti-Christian bias in the summer reading recommended by U.S. colleges. In response, I feel constrained to recommend the Ignatius Critical Editions, the very purpose of which is to counter the ethno-masochism of the liberal ascendancy in the academy. Like other critical editions of classic literature, these contain the full text of the work, an introduction, and a selection of contemporary critical essays. The difference is that the criticism in the ICEs is exclusively of a tradition-oriented perspective. There is no queer theory, no rampant feminism, no anti-Christianity, no moral relativism, no deconstructionism. It allows the classics to be read without one’s having to ingest the contaminants of the modern academy at the same time. If forced to select one of these editions in particular, for summer reading, I would choose the Ignatius Critical Edition of The Merchant of Venice. The accompanying essays are simply superb and allow this most misunderstood of Shakespeare’s plays to be understood in the way the Bard himself understood it.

Learn more about The Merchant of Venice and the other volumes of the Ignatius Critical Editions at www.ignatiuscriticaleditions.com.

Comments

[SDG]

Chance or the Dance? is awesome, as is its companion piece, Hallowed Be This House. Howard is one of the most graceful writers I've ever read, and his irenic style of thought is irresistible. Must reads!