My Intellectual Diary ... Just One Man’s Journey Through the Western Intellect

Latest Updates and Thoughts: 

August 3rd, 2026

I finished Emily Wilson's translation of the Odyssey yesterday. I listened to it as an audiobook, so I don't have as many insights as if I had read and annotated a physical copy, but overall I enjoyed the translation. It it not overly wordy. In fact, I would say that it has a short, punchy-ness to the lines. There is a bit of a modernization in the English used compared to other more wordy and formal translations, such as Robert Fagles. My favorite part would actually be the reading that Claire Danes did of the audiobook. Having a great reader really makes or breaks the audiobook genre in my opinion. 

I have to be honest, though, it bothered me listening to Wilson's introduction to the work. She went off tangentially on feminism and colonization, and I just had to stop and skip to Book I. Likewise, the actress that played Helen said in a interview that she would point out to Homer how much screen time that women get in the movie (in a rude way). 

I have seen a lot of critical review of Nolan's film, but in my mind these type of epics are just an impossible genre for film to do well. And so of course he is going to leave a lot on the table for those who are scholars or who deeply love the book. What he accomplished, in my opinion, was truly incredible. Did he add some Christian elements to maybe smooth over the harshness of the actual story, yes. 

I have also been reading Josef Ratzinger's Introduction to Christianity. The first 80 pages are essentially a look at Christian belief in relation to the challenges presented by 19th and 20th Century philosophies. He traces the loss of metaphysics in philosophy and its subsequent decline into truth as certainty, historical fact, and then the man-made. 

Sorry these thoughts are kind of disconnected, but that's my brain right now.  

July 27th, 2026

I am just wondering if real people actually visit this blog or if it's just bots. It says hundreds of people visit daily, but there hasn't been a comment in years. I guess it doesn't really matter as this is more something I do for myself. It's how I really think deeply about things. I am getting towards the end of The Odyssey but still struggling to be more productive in general. Oh well... enjoy this funny saying from William F. Buckley below. 

July 24th, 2026

Over the last few weeks I don't think I've been super productive. I read Plato's Critias for the first time. This is the dialogue where a description of Atlantis is given. Other than that, I've continued in Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey, as well as going to see the movie. I thought the movie was incredible (despite the forced character played by Ellen Page - though to be fair I thought she did a good job in the underworld scene), and especially the emphasis on how the Trojan war was catalyst for the breakdown of society and especially "Zeus' Law" of xenia. While I don't remember Odysseus having any remorse for his actions, I do think it fits with what happened historically after the war: Greece entered into a dark age of 500 years where all writing ceased. 

I have also been pondering Origen's notion of "apokatastasis," though seemingly heretical there is a philosophical beauty and fittingness to it, but more on that later. 

July 7th, 2026 

In the wake of the SSPX consecrations I have been listening to more podcasts regarding the whole issue. It seems to me that their core problems with Vatican II are: Religious liberty and the notion of individual conscience, the collegiality of the bishops (and even the question regarding the nature of the difference between priest and bishop), ecumenism and the related teaching on salvation, in general the "new theology" or "return to the sources" movement of the 20th Century, and of course the liturgical reforms of the Novus Ordo Missae. I could be missing something, but that's what comes to mind right now. This has made me want to go back and either reread some of the relevant documents of Vatican II or approach some of them that I never got to in my studies. I started by rereading Nostra Aetate and am continuing on. Those posts are coming soon. 

I have to be honest ... there are arguments flying every which way and quoting this document versus that papal bull versus this decree. I think a lot of the issues could be solved with a simple philosophical distinction between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd principles. First principles are those which are most universal and all encompassing in nature. By being most universal they have the least relation to particular and individual circumstances. These first principles of revelation are then translated into more specific and circumstantial times and places as second and third order principles. It seems to me that the SSPX may be hung up over what seem to be "changes" ... of course we don't want to see changes when it comes to dogmatic truth. But the point is that if Vatican II conveys a first order principle which changes a second order principle which was applied to a particular period of time that doesn't mean that dogma changed, just that the times and circumstances have changed and so we need to return to the most universal understanding of the law. This is very similar to what John XXIII was getting at when he said Vatican was going to be a pastoral council representing the faith anew to the world because times have changed so drastically. Check out my post on his speech "Gaudet Mater Ecclesia" for more on that. 

I am also uploading a lot of resources regarding Aristotle's Organon as I prepare to teach it again this year, so check out the side bar for lots of helpful content and guides through his works on logic. 

June 27th, 2026

This is an amazing talk by Jonathan Pageau and, gosh, it is such a pressing issue right now. It relates to these to articles I have written in the past year regarding technology and its proper use. 

The "Amish Problem" - Some Personal Thoughts on Technology and the Modern Project

A Review of "A Canticle For Leibowitz" - A Novel by Walter Miller

June 19th, 2026 

Over the last few weeks I have been listening to the newer Emily Wilson translation of The Odyssey which is read in audiobook form by Claine Danes. 

I also have gotten sucked into a few podcasts of the Connor Gallagher show relating to the Second Vatican Council. 

That has prompted me to look at some material that I haven't looked at since 2015, when I had a graduate course on the theologians of Vatican II. I have been glancing through this book about Henri De Lubac's life. 

I am also always working and preparing the sources for my teaching course work and working on Ancient Greek every day. 

June 6th, 2026

The Pope's new encyclical Magnifica Humanitas just came out. I look forward to reading and unpacking it soon! Summer is coming, and so will more posting :)

My reading for pleasure for 2026 has looked like: finishing The Fellowship of the Ring in January. Then I read Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, followed by Emma also by Austen. Finishing Emma basically corresponded with the end of the school year, so I read a portion of A Canticle for Leibowitz again, but have stopped for now.