New online course on Russell Kirk

Over the next twelve weeks, I shall be presenting a course of discussions on the thought of the American Catholic intellectual, Russell Kirk.

I'll say more during the course on why I think Kirk's thought is worth engaging with from a Catholic point of view. As a brief taster, however, I'd give the following reasons:

a) Russell Kirk is an important social thinker and figure within American conservatism. He was also a Catholic convert. It would be surprising, given such a combination, if nothing worthwhile resulted from reflection on his thought.

b) He was a conservative and an important historical figure, together with other Catholics such as William Buckley and Brent Bozell, in the revival of American conservative thought and activity after World War II. This US Catholic intellectual engagement with politics is significantly different from the Christian Democratic tradition of Continental Europe, or the more centre-left tradition of Christian social thought in the UK. This difference will allow us to revisit Catholic social teaching from a fresh perspective.

c) Kirk thought of himself as a Burkean thinker. One of my own intellectual interests is in the importance of the 'little platoons' of Edmund Burke's view of society and the resonance in Catholic social teaching's understandings of subsidiarity. Apart from this, there is much else to be gained from comparing and contrasting other aspects of Burkean conservatism with Catholic thinking in politics, particularly in the area of natural law.

Suggested preparatory reading:

George H. Nash: The Life and Legacy of Russell Kirk (here)

Wikipedia article: Russell Kirk (here)


Format of course:

The course will run online for eleven weeks from 1 August 2016 on. It will take the form of weekly posts with the opportunity to engage in discussion in the comment boxes. All necessary material will be found online, although suggestions for further reading off line will be made.


[Details of image: By Russell Kirk Center - http://www.kirkcenter.org/kirkbio.html, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1278459 ]