by Nick Patricca | Jun 4, 2014
“I think this classic American Dream existed as a reality for many families right after WWII up until the mid-1960s when social and cultural changes started to shatter the harmony of the American middle-class dream.” In 1630, when John Winthrop uttered...
by Nick Patricca | May 7, 2014
In his 1762 treatise ‘The Social Contract’ Jean-Jacques Rousseau presents the principles necessary to construct legitimate political authority in the modern world, a world that had lost or destroyed the traditional foundations for government. In Book 8, he...
by Nick Patricca | Apr 2, 2014
In 1912, in the publication of his work Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse ), the French sociologist Emile Durkheim codified some of the best thinking from the 19th century about the social functions of religion. In...
by Nick Patricca | Mar 5, 2014
Religion, for better and for worse, is a fundamental force in all human cultures, including our contemporary ‘secular’ civilizations, allegedly built upon non-religious principles. Religion, for better and for worse, is a fundamental force in all human...
by Nick Patricca | Feb 5, 2014
The historical existence of many of the saints we cherish has been called into question by modern scientific-critical methods. But, not to worry, this is not the problem with St. Valentine ( Latin name: Valentinus ). In his case, we have at least two, and perhaps...
