‘Be Strong, Fear Not’: The Case for Christian Stoicism

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Image: Russell Kirk outside his library at Piety Hill (Russell Kirk Center)

By Michael Warren Davis, Crisis Magazine, May 7, 2020

Michael Warren Davis is the editor-in-chief of Crisis Magazine. He is a frequent contributor to The American Conservative and the author of the forthcoming book The Reactionary Mind (Regnery, 2021).

In an age of decadence, the Stoic philosophy held together the civil social order of imperial Rome, and taught thinking men the nature of true freedom, which is not dependent upon swords and laws.” – Russell Kirk

Michael Warren DavisPiety Hill is the name given by the late Russell Kirk, the “Father of American Conservatism,”to his ancestral home in the village of Mecosta, Michigan. The grand Italianate mansion now serves as the headquarters of the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal, which his disciples founded to continue his work after he died in 1994. It’s also still the Kirk family home, and Dr. Kirk’s wife Annette is renowned in conservative circles for her hospitality.

My wife and I were visiting Piety Hill when Governor Whitmer passed her lockdown order. That was… what? Almost two months ago now. And, so, we’ve been squatting in one of the Kirks’ guesthouses ever since (with Mrs. Kirk’s gracious permission, of course). Since the middle of March, Crisis has been published out of Kirk’s library, where he wrote most of his thirty-two books. I think he would have approved: Dr. Kirk was an avid reader of (and occasional contributor to) Crisis. As a matter of fact, there’s a complete set of the magazine’s print editions in the library’s archive.  …

Read more here:  crisismagazine.com/2020/be-strong-fear-not-the-case-for-christian-stoicism