Actually I am a Christian, so that I do not expect “history” to be anything but a “long defeat”—though it contains… some samples or glimpses of final victory. – J.R.R. Tolkien

This Substack is a place for me to reflect on topics that interest me; primarily political theory, political theology, meta-history, and cultural reflections. I write and podcast elsewhere and you can find more of what I am up to here.

Here are some general indications of the framework in which I ideologically operate:

-Augustinian Classical Protestant— I am a Reformed catholic of sorts, with heavy emphasis on Creedalism over Confessionalism; though I have been influenced by the Reformed tradition of Protestant theology. In terms of the overall structure of redemptive history, I tend to be more Anglo-Lutheran than a follower of Puritan Covenant Theology. This comes out as well in some of my more Lutheran interpretations of doctrines such as the Preservation of the Saints and Limited Atonement. I do love absorbing the Anglican tradition, but it’s hard to realize this tradition in the present American context (without it becoming a LARP). Thus I serve as a layman in a small church that absorbs the influence of an Anglican liturgical format, confesses the broad 39 articles, and emphasizes the preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments.

-American Paleoconservative; I’ve been influenced heavily by the Counter Neo-Conservative front waged by Chronicles Magazine, Paul Gottfried, Sam Francis, Mel Bradford, during the Reagan and Bush years. Currently writing a biography of, and editing a festschrift for, Paul Gottfried (yes, it’s still going; slow, but going)

-Reactionary/Traditionalist Rightist; I’m also a lover of Old Europe, its civilization, and its history. I consider the original American project as an outpouring of European civilization; all of us being part of “The West,” or Christendom. I am sentimentally and instinctually a Southern-style, regionalist American; but have in recent years recognized that the American nation is a real concept as well and must be upheld as a counter-challenge to various attempts to undermine the American Heritage.

-Agrarian/Distributist: I’m a constant critic of modernity’s predominant political systems: industrial/financial capitalism and communism. I’m very much a political realist and particularist, which means I think that our economic priorities can change with time and in light of political circumstance. Politics and culture are paramount and economics should serve the interests of the political well-being of our people, considered as a whole.

-Fascinated by historical revisionism, especially in the 20th century.

A Few Influences

St. Augustine

Richard Hooker

Roger Scruton

Paul Gottfried

Eric Voegelin

Sam Francis

Carl Schmitt

Christopher Dawson

Oswald Spengler

Herbert Butterfield

Mel Bradford

Russell Kirk

Robert Nisbet

Thomas Carlyle

Richard Weaver

The Southern Agrarians

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Dispatches from the Long Defeat

People

Heritage American