4. Ask the Author

[John]

4. Dr. Esolen is not available to us, but if he were, what question would you ask him about his book?

[Jill]

To whom are you addressing this book? To already-convinced Christians just looking for a more colorful way to buttress their convictions, or to skeptics/unbelievers with a genuine interest in growing in understanding? Your sarcasm and name-calling is counter-productive for that audience.

[Andrew]

I dont know, Jill. Satire is a pretty tried and true form of critiquing the absurd. the baroquely cruel, the blindly amoral. It works pretty well when dealing with the hidden assumptions built into a system as well. Think Jonathan Swift in "A Modest Proposal."

I admit havent read the book, but it is on my list. Based on the reviews and descriptions, it sounds like a biting satire of modern attitudes towards sex and pleasure.

Nothing invalid about your response. Satire isn't to everyine's taste.

[Fonch]

The big Mr. Gillsmith 😍.

[Fonch]

Jill and me have diferent opinions as Mr. Gillsmith i have not been able to read this book but Mrs. Esolen is one of my Facebook's friends and i have read several Anthony Esolen's books for this reason i more agree with the Andrew Gillsmith's opinion.

[Mariangel]

I think Jill rises a good point. Sarcasm or satire have their place, but it will most likely not help convince unbelievers, rather it will send them further away.

[Andrew]

Mariangel wrote: "I think Jill rises a good point. Sarcasm or satire have their place, but it will most likely not help convince unbelievers, rather it will send them further away."

This is a totally valid response. Like I said, satire isn't for everyone.

What do people who have read the book think? Is it written for non-believers? Again, I haven't, so I'm going just off the reviews and descriptions. But it sounds like Esolen writes primarily for the faithful in order to buttress their conviction and give specificity to their intuitive skepticism about the excesses of modernism.

Going back to Jonathan Swift, I doubt that any callous English lords were persuaded by his withering satire of their treatment of the Irish, but the book had an impact nonetheless. It did so by strengthening the arguments of others and, to a certain extent, shaming the establishment of the time. Is that what Esolen is doing here?

[Fonch]

I do not miss the discussion of "Our Lady of Artilects" 😍

[John]

Andrew wrote: "Mariangel wrote: "I think Jill rises a good point. Sarcasm or satire have their place, but it will most likely not help convince unbelievers, rather it will send them further away."

This is a tota..."

I think to some extent this is what Esolen is doing, as well as offering an explanation and option for those who may recognize that something has gone very badly with modernism, but not have the faith background to understand why.

It is certainly not written to attract the alphabet activists or MAP defenders.

[Stef]

I think that many of us in the conservative Catholic homeschooling community see Anthony Esolen as a standard bearer of sorts. Someone who is able to articulate our frustrations and our desires more eloquently and succinctly than we are able to. Many of us are battle-weary, fighting the devolution of culture in our communities and churches and schools. I've read 3 of his other books but just got started with this one, and they seem to have pretty much the same tone. I will say that after a while it gets a bit tiring -- he writes for all of us who keep on trying to fight the good fight, day in and day out, and it feels good to have someone as intelligent as Esolen on our side. But yes, the books he writes are intended more for those who are awake, as opposed to woke. That's true I think for many of our Catholic writers today. The purpose is not evangelization, but camaraderie, at least from where I'm standing.