by Jonathan Bennett | Essays
Jonathan Bennet talks about surefooted stances in the world of shoes and the not-so-surefooted stances of those who argue about them. Among the lesser church councils of the thirteenth century—those trivial, haphazard regional gatherings of abbots and prelates...
by Jonathan Bennett | Essays
In the Angel of the Archive series by Jonathan Bennett, this one is about a footnote that baffled generations. In 1723, a minor German philosopher named Johann Andreas Grüber published a dense metaphysical and epistemological treatise entitled De Tenebris Rationis...
by Jonathan Bennett | Historical
Jonathan writes about a mythic book with marginalia that might reveal more than any book today. What kind of an Ironist are You? Take the quiz and find out. It is well known—at least among those who subscribe to obscure theological journals—that Anselmo of Bruges held...
by Jonathan Bennett | Essays, Historical
Jonathan revives the myth of an angel who collects the edges of the written world. What kind of an Ironist are You? Take the quiz and find out. Among the minor curiosities of the early Rhineland monastic tradition there exists a nearly forgotten medieval legend,...
by Jonathan Bennett | Recipes
Continuing his reflections on the great meals of history and literature, Jonathan Bennett recalls a feast where appetite became an instrument of power. Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin enjoyed his food. By the time of his death in 1953 he had grown stout enough that the...
