“The Meaning of Life” and Responsible Parenthood

December 8, 2015 By Jack Butler

Everyone knows Monty Python. The British comedy troupe’s show, movies, and comedic style have thoroughly permeated culture, and not just popular culture. Indeed, the song “Every Sperm Is Sacred” from The Meaning of Life—Monty Python’s 1983 satirical comedy film attempting to make sense of existence—has become a shorthand refutation of Catholic sexual teaching, especially its prohibition of artificial contraception. The song is all too familiar to the beleaguered defenders of Catholic teaching. Sung in Meaning by a patriarch of a poor... Read more

Pick Up Your Feet: Understanding Our Bodies as Gift

November 27, 2015 By Ellen Petersen

This past Saturday I was lucky enough to have Nick Davidson speak at an event my college does called Underground—a certain night set aside once a month for an hour talk, an hour of Adoration, and an hour Mass. I usually skip the speaker, but this time the posters around campus all read “Theology of the Body” in big letters and really, who doesn’t love a little Theology of the Body? For those of you who may not have heard... Read more

Vocation in the Service of Beauty

November 12, 2015 By Anna Pfaff

Image courtesy of Pixabay This morning I came across Saint Pope John Paul II’s “Letter to Artists,” an open letter written in 1999 to all artists of the world. An inspirational video summary was previously posted on Patheos, but the thoughts that John Paul II records in his letter are too good not to spend some time considering within the context of his Theology of the Body. I would like to showcase a few essential parts of his message with... Read more

On the Humane Treatment of Zombies

October 31, 2015 By Anna Pfaff

Hello everyone! I would first like to introduce myself as the new editor for Love Among the Ruins, taking over for Kathryn. I am in awe of everything she does and incredibly humbled that she would entrust me to carry on this project. I developed my deep love for the Theology of the Body in the Hillsdale College class that served as the inspiration for LAR. To say that the TOB is simply an interest or even a passion, however,... Read more

Happy Feast of JPII and New Editor for LAR

October 22, 2015 By Kathryn E.

Happy feast of St. John Paul II, everyone! I thought today would be a good day to check in after a few months of inactivity and share the big news: I’m stepping down as editor of Love Among the Ruins because I can no longer find time to keep it up. I have resumed teaching high school after being away for several years. I’m handing the blog over to a very capable young lady, Miss Anna Pfaff, who was in... Read more

“Inside Out” and the Ache

July 31, 2015 By Kathryn E.

Here’s an excerpt from a post over at The Cor Project written by Christopher West’s eldest son, John Paul. If you haven’t seen Inside Out yet, get to it this weekend! Good stories have always helped me get in touch with the ache in my heart – that burning, yearning, empty feeling we all have inside which is meant to point us to the infinite. Knowing that Pixar has a gift for creating beautiful art, I was anticipating Inside Out for months. But... Read more

Self Gift in the m.A.A.d City: The TOB Meets the Christian Drama in Kendrick Lamar

July 24, 2015 By Chris McCaffery

[Editor’s Note: If you appreciated Jennifer Fulwiler’s affection for Tupac Shakur as expressed in her book, Something Other Than God, this is especially for you.] Kendrick Lamar Duckworth’s second studio hip-hop album, good kid, m.A.A.d city: A Short Film by Kendrick Lamar, is a striking mixture of artfully confessed Christian conversion and all the popular conventions of the genre. Lamar guides his listener through the ghetto of Compton, California, where he grew up surrounded by a culture of gang violence... Read more

Marriage is Funny: Comedy and Complementarity in “The Last Man on Earth”

July 9, 2015 By Christy Isinger

Saturday Night Live alum Will Forte has recently created a new television comedy for FOX called The Last Man on Earth. It’s a slightly odd, offbeat show that takes place in a post-apocalyptic Tucson where the titular character, Phil Miller (Will Forte), grapples with being the last human alive. With that premise comes all the existential angst you would expect, albeit with a hearty helping of physical comedy, hold the bleakness. But what I found fascinating is that the best laughs come from the... Read more

Not Your Average Love Songs: “Heaven’s Knife” & “Like the Dawn”

July 2, 2015 By Eileen A. Bobs

Preparing for a concert in my usual fashion, I’ve been immersing myself in Josh Garrels’ new album, “Home.” The concert, as expected, was amazing, but it is one of the songs that he didn’t play that has captured my imagination. It’s the song “Heavens Knife,” and it’s about Adam and Eve. For a long time now, the Oh Hellos “Like the Dawn” (also about Adam and Eve) has been one of my favorites, so when I discovered “Heavens Knife,” I... Read more

Divine Reality in “Final Fantasy”

June 25, 2015 By Rob L'Arrivee

The first video game I purchased for Nintendo was Final Fantasy I in 1989. I immediately fell in love with its colorful maps and the exotic bestiary I fought on my quest to save the world. By today’s standards the graphics are poor, but at the time their simplicity fueled my imagination. I gleefully watched my 8 bit heroes attack motionless red skeletons in strange realms. To this day chills run down my spine when I recall battling the fallen... Read more