St. Crispin’s Day Speech Contest
Tomorrow is St. Crispin’s Day! Record yourself reciting Shakespeare’s famous St. Crispin’s Day Speech, and post it to the Roman Roads Facebook page or email us the link. The best recitation of the speech will win a $20 Amazon Gift card, and a free Old Western Culture: Rise of England video set ($56 value) when it comes out aext year!nce UPDATE: New “Kids Edition” of this contest. Children 12 and under can recite 12 lines or more, with the best recitation winning a separate $10 Amazon Gift Card. OR, tag-team 12+ lines with siblings and/or a parent, completing the speech, and become … Continue Reading “St. Crispin’s Day Speech Contest”
Augustine on the use of Rhetoric
Christians need to learn the tools of Rhetoric both to persuade and to gain wisdom and understanding of our times. “Since, then, the faculty of eloquence is available for both sides, and is of very great service in the enforcing either of wrong or right, why do not good men study to engage it on the side of truth, when bad men use it to obtain the triumph of wicked and worthless causes, and to further injustice and error?” —Augustine, On Christian Teaching (quoted in Fitting Words: Classical Rhetoric for the Christian Student by James B Nance).
Supposing He’s Super
By Kaycie Kelly Second Place Winner of the 2016 Scribenda Summer Essay Contest [dropcap]J[/dropcap]esus is my Superhero.” Those were the words I saw posted big and bold on the back of a t-shirt. Call me irreverent, but it made me laugh. It sounded so cheesy, as if we were trying to advertise Jesus. “Lookie here kids, Jesus is just as cool as Superman.” Out of all the awe-inspiring, glorious names of Jesus (Almighty God, King of kings and Lord of lords, to name a few), superhero is all we could come up with? But though at first laughed, I now … Continue Reading “Supposing He’s Super”
The Last Enemy
The Last Enemy By Sophia Klomparens Winner of the 2016 Scribenda Summer Essay Contest [dropcap]S[/dropcap]uperhero stories have existed as long as humanity can remember, beginning with epics such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. The larger-than-life characters of Achilles and Odysseus share much in common with the powerful figures of Batman and Superman, the wind-swept shores of Troy echo the dark streets of Gotham, and the sweet island of Ithaca reminds us of the planet Krypton. Clearly, superheroes have been a part of human history for much longer than the term itself has existed. But every superhero story, whether ancient or … Continue Reading “The Last Enemy”
Athenian reaction to defeat similar to US reaction to 9/11 terrorist attacks
In this excerpt from The Histories, part of the Old Western Culture series, a Great Books video course, Wes Callihan shows how the reactions that the Athenians had to a defeat is very similar to other reactions of democracies throughout history, and specifically similar to the reaction of the United States to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. Thucydides wants us to make these parallels as he explains at the beginning of “The History of the Peloponnesian War.” YouTube version here.
Feeding the Dragon
The realm of fairy-story is wide and deep and high and filled with many things: all manner of beasts and birds are found there; shoreless seas and stars uncounted; beauty that is an enchantment, and an ever-present peril; both joy and sorrow as sharp as swords. —J. R. R. Tolkien, On Fairy Stories [dropcap]T[/dropcap]here is a certain something about fairy tales that keeps us coming back for more. It’s quite puzzling, really, when you think about it: we know these stories so well, and yet we never tire of hearing them. By all accounts, we ought by now to be … Continue Reading “Feeding the Dragon”
74 Books I Read Aloud to my Children
I recently had the pleasure of listening to Andrew Pudewa, the director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing and a father of seven, speak at an education conference on the importance of reading aloud to your children. As he spoke, I recalled with delight the many hours I spent reading to my four children before they went to sleep. My eldest is about seven years older than the youngest. I would first read the Bible, making sure I at least turned the page every night. We read it all the way through, Genesis to Revelation, over and over again (once we finished … Continue Reading “74 Books I Read Aloud to my Children”
Elie Wiesel, RIP
Elie Wiesel died today. He is one of the 30 famous orators featured in Fitting Words: Classical Rhetoric for the Christian Student. Elie Wiesel (1928–July 2nd, 2016). Wiesel was a professor, author, political activist, and Holocaust survivor. He has received numerous awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize. Wiesel has delivered speeches before several U.S. presidents. “I learned the perils of language and those of silence.” —Speech to Ronald Reagan objecting to his visit to a German cemetery, 1985 Find out more about Elie Wiesel in this CNN video, and this one. His gentle demeanor and kind disposition were … Continue Reading “Elie Wiesel, RIP”
Fitting Words: Classical Rhetoric, illustrated
Fitting Words: Classical Rhetoric for the Christian Student is a comprehensive high school rhetoric text by James B Nance, author of the best-selling Introductory and Intermediate Logic curriculum. It is beautifully illustrated by George Harrell. Here are a few of the illustrations. All the illustrations below are from the “Famous Orators” marginalia of the textbook. There are a total of 30, one for each chapter.
Could your child enter Harvard in 1869?
[dropcap]H[/dropcap]arvard University adopted the following words, based on their mission statement, as part of their “Rules and Precepts” in 1646: Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the maine end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3) and therefore to lay Christ in the bottome, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and Learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth wisedome, Let every one seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seeke it of him (Prov. 2:3). Thoroughly dedicated to Scriptures as … Continue Reading “Could your child enter Harvard in 1869?”