John Paul II’s Song of the Earth, by James Matthew Wilson

By James Matthew Wilson, The Catholic Thing, July 25, 2020

James Matthew Wilson has published eight books, including, most recently, The Hanging God (Angelico) and The Vision of the Soul: Truth, Goodness, and Beauty in the Western Tradition (CUA).  …

Most years, I teach, in one of my seminars, Karol Wojtyla’s – that’s to say, John Paul II’s – play The Jeweler’s Shop. A quietly dramatic work that depicts three marriages, it consistently engrosses the students. Does it capture them because it’s an ingenious verse drama, or for some other reason?

The most obvious answer is that the students have little idea what marriage is, and this play shows them with power. Marriage is a heated, contested item in our long, wretched, and ugly cultural debate. One consequence of this has been to silence, in much of polite society, any discussion of the internal components, much less the true essence, of marriage.  …

Continue reading >>>