Our Acceptance Speech for the 2024 Oswald Spengler Prize
This past October, we had the profound honor of accepting the 2024 Oswald Spengler Prize alongside co-winner Culture Critic and joining the esteemed ranks of…
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The Printing Revolution: How Mass Media Destabilized the West
Gutenberg’s printing press was revolutionary for Western civilization—it increased the spread of information, led to widespread literacy, and catalyzed scientific development as new inventions and…
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How to Change the Culture, According to Charlemagne
Most cultural movements aren’t grass-roots—they’re top-down. Charlemagne’s cultural rebirth, the “Carolingian Renaissance,” proved how real cultural change is accomplished through a concerted effort by society’s…
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A Lesson in Cultural Preservation from Mont-Saint-Michel
Mont-Saint-Michel might be the most aesthetic place on earth. It’s a cultural icon today, but at one point it served as a prison, and then…
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The Great Tree of Western Civilization
By chance I was recently introduced to the ideas of Oswald Spengler – a German intellectual of the early 20th century whose claim to fame…
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Leaders of the Resistance: The Barbarian Kings Who Challenged the Roman Empire
Most discussions of the Roman Empire’s wars focus on its great successes. Battles won by the barbarians are nearly universally described as tragic losses from…
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The Monk Who Saved Western Civilization
Thermopylae, Tours, Vienna—throughout the West’s history were a number of battles that scholars can point to and say ”this was the moment the West was…
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Consequences of Leaving an Agrarian Society
The 20th century witnessed a rare and irreversible shift, not seen since the ancient nomads planted their feet and began to work the land: a…
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Just War Theory in Antiquity
To fight or not to fight – that is the central question of Just War Theory. Though wars are usually waged in pursuit of man’s…
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The Hidden Cost of a Robotic World
With a sense of tragic fatalism I admit that robotics and AI are our future. There seems no way to turn back the dial on…
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Milites Christi: A Brief History of Medieval Warrior Bishops
In a time that honored martial prowess and piety above all else, the warrior bishop was the physical embodiment of the medieval ethos: a literal…
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A Crash Course in Western Church Architecture
I recently posted about the need to return to traditional church architecture. In this post, I’d like to explain exactly what is traditional church architecture…
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A Brief Guide to the Syntopicon
When Hutchinson, Adler, and the team at Britannica undertook the work of compiling and publishing their 54 volume Great Books of the Western World (GBWW)…
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Threads of History: Louis IX and the 7th Crusade
Saint King Louis IX, jewel of the Capetian Dynasty, was the model Christian king. Living a life of chivalry and piety, his adventurous life culminated…
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The Capacity for Good of an Ordinary Man
Mother Teresa, M.L.K. Jr., and Gandhi stand out as a few of the most influential conduits of charity to the 20th century world. Though not…
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![[Video] The Two Qualities that Made Charlemagne Great](https://i0.wp.com/thinkingwest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/kaulbachcoronationcharlemagne.jpg?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
[Video] The Two Qualities that Made Charlemagne Great
After his death in 814 A.D., Charlemagne’s legacy as a great leader continued to live on as folklore, blurring the line between history and legend.…
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On the Proliferation of ‘New History’
Historic literacy has reached all-time lows in the United States. In a recent poll conducted in 2020 and reported on by Forbes, only 15% of…
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![[Video] Montaigne’s Blueprint for Education](https://i0.wp.com/thinkingwest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/montaigne-1024x576-2-705209500.jpg?resize=600%2C450&ssl=1)
[Video] Montaigne’s Blueprint for Education
Who better to inquire about education than a famed 16th century nobleman who inscribed excerpts of wisdom on the wooden beams of his library? Michel…
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3 Ways to Systematically Read the Great Books
Approaching the great books of the West (or East for that matter) is a daunting task, especially for those with little experience in the arts…
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Cathedral Building for Dummies: The Need for Traditional Churches
The towering spires, intricate masonry, and ornate stained-glass windows of a gothic cathedral attest to the vast sums of money and human labor required to…
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![[Video] Tytler’s Cycle of Civilizations](https://i0.wp.com/thinkingwest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/1.png?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
[Video] Tytler’s Cycle of Civilizations
In this video we discuss Tytler’s Cycle of Civilizations, which describes the cyclical nature of societies’ rise and fall. Let’s explore the stages in further…
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The Aim of Technology from a Christian Perspective
Have you ever asked why create new technologies? Every year, companies and governments around the globe spend billions of dollars on the research and development…
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![[Video] Christianity in the Lord of the Rings: Creation, Lembas, and Beyond](https://i0.wp.com/thinkingwest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Capture.png?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
[Video] Christianity in the Lord of the Rings: Creation, Lembas, and Beyond
Middle Earth is full of characters exhibiting Christian symbolism through their words, actions, and relationships, as covered in Parts I, II, and III of this…
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![[Video] Christianity in the Lord of the Rings: The Bad Guys](https://i0.wp.com/thinkingwest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/moutn-doom.png?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
[Video] Christianity in the Lord of the Rings: The Bad Guys
In this part 3 of a series on Christianity in the Lord of the Rings, I cover the subject of Evil in Middle Earth, including…
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![[Video] 5 EASY Books of Philosophy](https://i0.wp.com/thinkingwest.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/easy-philosphy-thumbnail-1.png?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
[Video] 5 EASY Books of Philosophy
The great books often appear daunting, especially for novice or younger readers. Many of the books are long, containing hundreds of pages or several volumes.…
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The Earworm that Rocked the Early Church
The manipulative power of music is well known to those who have a financial interest in persuasion. Popular jingles like “I’m Lovin’ It” and “Gimme…
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10 Great Libraries of the World
Before the advent of computers, libraries were the preeminent aggregators of human knowledge and art. Besides that of the church, no other building occupies such…
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Great Books of Christianity: The Modern Era
The most challenging period in which to select the great books of Christianity is the modern era. The sheer volume of Christian literature produced in…
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Great Books of Christianity: Reformation and Enlightenment
In our third installment of the Great Books of Christianity, we explore the works hailing from one of the most tumultuous times in Christian history:…
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The Dark Side of ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence
ChatGPT is an AI language model that has the potential to revolutionize the way we communicate and access information. However, it also has negative impacts…
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Great Books of Christianity: The Medieval Period
Christianity is no stranger to the great books of the West and stands out among the great books as the inspiration for many of the…
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The Uncommon Act, the Moral Arc, and How We Should Consider Historical Figures
In recent years angry protesters across the United States have toppled several statues depicting historical figures from America’s past. Much of this anger is driven by…
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TW on Youtube: Christianity and the Overlooked Good Guys of Middle Earth
In this part 2 of our series on Christianity in the Lord of the Rings, I cover the often overlooked good guys of Middle Earth…
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Great Books of Christianity: The Early Church
Perhaps no other topic has been written about in the West more than Christianity. In the past 2,000 years, tomes on the faith have been…
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TW on Youtube: Dangers of Democracy
The word “democracy” appears exactly zero times in the United States Constitution. And yet, no form of government is celebrated with the same fervency as…
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TW on YouTube: Christianity in The Lord of the Rings (part 1: The Threefold Office)
Despite numerous attempts to discredit the Christian elements in the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien himself admits his greatest work is indeed a Christian, even…
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The Expansion of Group Identities: From the Village to the Globe
For most of history, the far away problems occupied relatively small spaces in the minds of the average person. The challenges facing the village, city-state,…
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TW on YouTube: 3 Reasons You Should Own Physical Books in the Digital Age
In our most recent Youtube video, we break down why, in an age of online censorship, you should consider owning physical literature as opposed to…
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Battles that Defined the West
In today’s hot political climate, it’s popular to suggest that the West is engaged in a battle of epic proportions, one that will determine the…
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ThinkingWest’s Top 5 Reads of 2022
2022 has been an excellent year for ThinkingWest. We’ve grown our Youtube channel, multiplied our view counts, and increased our social media presence. These metrics…
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Exploring the Oldest Christmas Carols
With the arrival of Advent season and the anticipation of Christmas arriving soon, decorations are taken out of storage, dusted off, and excitedly placed around…
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ThinkingWest on YouTube: 12 Great Books of Western History
In this episode, I highlight a dozen of the most influential works of history, spanning from the Ancient Greeks to the 20th century. While many…
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Tytler’s Cycle of Civilizations
In our recent article Dangers of Democracy we briefly touched on Tytler’s Cycle of Civilizations, named after Scottish historian and writer Alexander Fraser Tytler. The…
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Pertinax and Politics: One Good Leader Cannot Save a Nation
Election season is well underway in the United States with the midterm elections ending just days away. The United States has always been a country…
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12 Great Books of Western History
Much of what we know of the past three thousand years relies largely on the great historians of the millennia. Through excellent scholarship, tedious compilation,…
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Is Freedom Doomed in Populated Nations?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the famous Enlightenment philosopher of the 1700s, wrote in The Social Contract that “the larger the State, the less the liberty”. As a…
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Dangers of Democracy
The word “democracy” appears exactly zero times in the United States Constitution. And yet, no form of government is celebrated with the same fervency as…
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6 Horror Classics to Make Your October Spookier
It’s officially Halloween season, which means scary movies, trick-or-treating, and costume parties. If you’re a book-lover, then it might also include picking up a spooky…
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The Importance of Sport in Society
In the Lascaux caves of southwest France, prehistoric cave paintings depict several fascinating images. Along with the more famous depictions of horses, deer, and bison,…
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Capitalism’s Successor: Corporate Feudalism
Over the past several decades, corporations have steadily increased their power and control on society. One cannot fail to notice the symbols of this control…
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How 3 Royal Saints Walked the Narrow Path to Heaven
In the Gospel of Matthew, a rich man asks Jesus how he can enter the kingdom of heaven. Disappointed in Jesus’ answer, he turns away…
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Christianity in The Lord of the Rings: (Part IV): World Elements
Middle Earth is full of characters exhibiting Christian symbolism through their words, actions, and relationships, as covered in Parts I, II, and III of this…
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Wisdom from Avatar: The Last Airbender
At ThinkingWest we take a special interest in the great books, however in this article we will focus on a different form of media: television.…
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Christianity in The Lord of the Rings: (Part III) Evil in Middle Earth
The Lord of the Rings is full of Christian symbolism, ranging from the Threefold Office of priest, prophet, and king represented by Frodo, Gandalf, and…
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Christianity in The Lord of the Rings (Part II): The Good in Middle Earth
The Lord of the Rings has many characters with aspects reflecting a Christian worldview. In this Part II of Christianity in The Lord of the…
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6 Classic Book Collections for Your Kids
Getting your kids to read books is important. Getting your kids reading the right books is even more important. Yet, selecting appropriate reading material for…
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Christianity in The Lord of the Rings (Part I): The Threefold Office
J.R.R. Tolkien’s legacy-defining book The Lord of the Rings is not an explicitly Christian work. In fact, Tolkien disliked on-the-nose allegory, when a story contains…
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When Civilizations Collapse (Part 3): Aztecs and AI Weaponry
On November 8, 1519 Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes and his exploration party first made contact with Aztec emperor Moctezuma II. After a coup d’état resulting…
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7 Historical Philosopher-Kings to Inspire You
In Plato’s Republic, Socrates envisions the ideal city-state. After describing life within his supposed utopia, his detractors press him on whether or not his dream…
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The Importance of Fairy Tales for Children
For the past year, I’ve been reading stories from classic children’s anthologies (many printed in the 1940s – 1960s era) to my kids before bed.…
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Searching for Wisdom: A Socratic Social Commentary
Few people are more renowned for their knowledge and wisdom than Socrates. Though a legendary thinker himself, the ancient Greek philosopher struggled to find the…
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4 Reasons to Own Physical Books in the Digital Age
We at ThinkingWest have dedicated this website to exploring the content contained in the Great Books. Our aim has always been to spark interest in…
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Gateway to Philosophy: 5 Great Books to Get Reading
Mark Twain once said, “A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.” Glancing through book lists like the Great…
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The Four Domains of War: From Self to Spiritual
Wherever there are people, there is war. Taken in its most general interpretation, bellum or war is a constant in the human condition. War was…
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When Civilizations Collapse (Part Two): Lessons From Rome’s Fall
Like the civilizations of the late bronze age discussed in our previous article, the Roman Empire declined due to a synthesis of several factors. Economic…
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When Civilizations Collapse (Part One): Lessons from the Bronze Age Decline
2012, Apocalypto, Mad Max – we’ve all seen disaster movies depicting the chaotic events that lead to civilizational collapse. Often the events portrayed are cataclysmic,…
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The Benefits of Reading the Great Books
Why read the great books? Apart from fulfilling some antiquarian dream or feeding an ego pining for intellectual praise, these books serve a useful purpose.…
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Reflections on Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations
For a Roman emperor and the most powerful man in the world, Marcus Aurelius lived a notably uncomfortable life. Choosing a life of stoicism rather…
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The Gnostic Roots of the Trans Movements
Some things just won’t go away. Denim jackets, bell bottoms, vinyl – some things tend to creep back into the mainstream just when you thought…
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Insights from Fulton Sheen’s Way to Happiness
The Venerable Fulton Sheen encouraged generations of the faithful through his radio and television broadcasts in the mid 20th century. The bishop’s words carried a…
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A Year of Reading: Books I Read in 2021
As is customary, let’s take a look at the books I read in 2021. My reading heavily favored nonfiction and has begun leaning toward histories.…
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Are Humans Natural?: The Contradictory Ideas of How We Think About Our Species
Humanity is a strange thing. It cannot decide whether it is part of nature or apart from nature. Mankind’s identity crisis has emerged from the…
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New Year’s Resolution for 2022: Resolve To Keep Your Resolve
What does it mean to resolve? According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, the type of resolve relevant to our New Year’s lists means “to make a…
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Codex Gigas: “The Devil’s Bible” and other Illuminated Manuscripts of the Medieval World
At ThinkingWest we often discuss books that have stood the test of time. These “classics” arose from the tremendous impact of their ideas, masterful command…
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A Lost Practice: Coming-of-Age Rituals
The Man-Birth Far in the deserts of western Australia, among an ancient aboriginal people known as the Mardu, a metamorphosis occurs. As a male member…
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The 12 Book Classical Education
A true classical education is a lifelong pursuit of wisdom and understanding with no demonstrable end. The end of the classical education is played out…
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How I Read the Bible Cover to Cover
A week ago I finished a two year journey of reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelations. The Bible is a long and difficult book;…
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The Virtualization of Man
The 2020 show Upload describes a fictional world where, when near to death, one can choose to have one’s mind uploaded into a digital universe,…
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Modern Leadership and the Abdication of Responsibility
289 BC: The legendary Greek general Pyrrhus of Epirus leads an army of over 20,000 warriors to defend his homeland against his brother-in-law Demetrius’s invasion.…
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How Good and Evil Ignore Tribal Lines
Every hero story, every epic fantasy tale ultimately distills into a force of good coming against a force of evil, and it’s the struggle between…
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3 Ways St. Augustine’s Confessions Describes the Fallen Modern World
St. Augustine of Hippo was born in Northern Africa in the 4th century AD. A bishop of the Hippo Regius region in Numidia, he is…
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Confessions of a Bibliophile
Less than two years ago I became a bibliophile when researching what kind of education would be best for my kids and reading Susan Wise…
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Charlemagne: The Pupil and the Penitent
Charles the Great, known today simply as Charlemagne, is regarded as one of the most influential kings to ever rule. King of the Franks since…
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What is a Classic Book?
There’s no single answer for what a “classic” book is. For anyone who ventures an answer, many others will disagree and propose their own definitions,…
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Insights from the Lord of Montaigne on Education
Who better to inquire about education than a famed 16th century nobleman who inscribed excerpts of wisdom on the wooden beams of his library? Michel…
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Christian Themes and Imagery in C.S. Lewis’s The Silver Chair
I recently revisited my childhood and cracked open C.S Lewis’s The Silver Chair, the sixth book in his acclaimed Chronicles of Narnia series. As a…
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Learning History, The Right Way
The typical history class goes like this: “The Peloponnesian War was fought by the Delian league, led by Athens, against the Peloponnesian League, led by…
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6 Ways to Break Free from Big Tech
If you’re no fan of “Big Tech”, be it Facebook, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and the rest, you can make one small statement with the…
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The Origins and Impact of Relativism
I recently had an eye-opening discussion with an undergraduate student that began with the question, “Do you believe there is objective Truth?”. I expected she…
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What Did Socrates Do Wrong?
Socrates, father of western philosophy, was executed by his government, not for murder, assault, or robbery, but because of several non-violent charges brought against him.…
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The Real Reason to be a Prepper
It’s not often I write about particularly time-sensitive topics, but the past several weeks have solidified my resolve to become a “prepper”. Ok, ok, I’m…
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2021 Resolutions: Read the Great Books
The time is here, where we make promises for the new year only to (on average) forget our resolutions within weeks, if not days. I’m…
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The Name of Christmas
It’s almost Christmas, so I’ll keep it short and sweet. Every December of the past few decades has ignited a pop culture contest to reinvent…
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The Case for Homeschooling (Part 3): Child Safety
“Homeschooling … not only violates children’s right to a ‘meaningful education’ and their right to be protected from potential child abuse, but may keep them…
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Applying Machiavelli to Life
“It is better to be feared than loved” is by far the most famous quote from Machiavelli’s The Prince, but the short book has much…
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The Importance of Good Conversation
Read Plato, St. Augustine, Jonathan Swift, Emily Bronte, or any other classic work and you’ll notice the authors’ composition, vocabulary, and coherence in thought far…
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Don Quixote and The Difference Between Wisdom and Intelligence
Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote excellently portrays wisdom’s distinction from intelligence through the character growth (or at least revelation) of Don Quixote and his trusted…
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Why a Classical Education is Needed Now More than Ever
If you were to ask yourself what single aspect of education is lacking in modern society, what would it be? What topic, if better integrated…
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The Nazi Origins of Germany’s Ban on Homeschooling
Given that we are caught up in terms of the history of homeschooling (see here), there is one notable historical anecdote we have left out:…
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The Case for Homeschooling (Part 2): The History of Home Education
If the history of education were a painting, homeschooling would be the backdrop upon which each stroke of the brush marks a new development, for…
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