Anthony Esolen Exposes Modern Liberal Fallacies in The Lies of Our Time

The theologian writes in a lyrically beautiful manner, peppering his pages with biblical and literary references.

The Lies of Our Time By Anthony Esolen (Sophia Institute Press, 224 pages, $19) Catholic scholar Anthony Esolen refutes the lie that there is no God and disproves seven other popular falsehoods widely disseminated by today’s progressive ideology in his latest book, The Lies of Our Time.  The God whom we meet in Genesis, Esolen posits, has several unique characteristics: He has no beginning, no end, and, by definition, no progenitors. He is associated neither with any theogony nor with the establishment of a city or empire, and he lacks any connection to the natural world. As Esolen writes: He is not a sun god, because He made the sun. He is not a corn god, because He made the earth and every living thing in it. Everywhere you go in the world, wherever you investigate the myths of mankind, you will find a theogony, entangled with cities and the vines that give the people their food, smudged with soil and soaked in blood. But God is, and that is all. Propagating the notion that God does not exist and that the practice of organized Judeo-Christian religion is the stuff of mythology endangers society, Esolen argues, because those who eschew God and the Judeo-Christian tradition must still seek guidance and redemption elsewhere, despite their protestations to the contrary — and they often do so through political structures. The state thus becomes the god to whom they metaphorically bow their heads while unwittingly sacrificing their liberties. (READ MORE by Anthony Esolen: The Classical Education Reformers Have a Chance)

Esolen writes in a lyrically beautiful manner, peppering his pages with biblical and literary references. He buttresses his argument with an analysis of the Ten Commandments in which he systematically illustrates society’s present-day defiance of them. For example, the Fourth Commandment, “Honor the father and mother,” has been trivialized, Esolen argues, through the breakdown of the traditional familial relationships of husband and wife and parent and ...