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Jon D. Schaff

Jon D. Schaff of Professor of Political Science at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. He’s the author of Abraham Lincoln’s Statesmanship and the Limits of Liberal Democracy and co-author of Age of Anxiety: Meaning, Identity, and Politics in 21st Century Film and Literature. 

“The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”

Jon D. Schaff   |  December 7, 2023

It is time to settle once and for all the key debate: just how long should you leave your Christmas tree up?

Liberal education isn’t selling this year

Jon D. Schaff   |  November 14, 2023

Recent events seem to cry out for a massive revival of liberal education. Will we listen?

Let’s get cynical

Jon D. Schaff   |  November 9, 2023

Tolkien

What if cynicism is the dumb guy’s version of being smart? Unable to construct any positive vision or defend any normative claims, he contents himself with tearing things down.

Here’s to the losers

Jon D. Schaff   |  October 26, 2023

If your whole identity is built on grievance and bitterness, the worst thing that can happen is to actually win.

Rachel Lu on the future of the family

Jon D. Schaff   |  October 5, 2023

Why have we as a society stopped building families, and how might we reverse this trend? Rachel Lu offers some answers.

REVIEW: Power to the People

Jon D. Schaff   |  September 29, 2023

In the midst of our own conflict and contention, the crisis of antebellum America yields wisdom 

No, Donny, these men are nihilists

Jon D. Schaff   |  September 20, 2023

Are we a pagan people? There seems to be an upsurge in concern, in some cases celebration, that Western culture in general and perhaps the United States in particular may be experiencing a repaganization. There is an online doofus, whose […]

Hunting invisible elephants

Jon D. Schaff   |  September 14, 2023

As I look out the window, there is a large ash tree. In that ash tree is an invisible elephant. You don’t believe me? Well, prove there is no elephant in the tree. You can’t see the elephant, you say? […]

A letter to my freshman self

Jon D. Schaff   |  August 31, 2023

A couple years ago, when my nephew set off for college, his father (my brother-in-law) asked many of us to write a letter to our freshman selves stating what advice we’d give to ourselves if we could communicate through time. […]

Who’s to blame?

Jon D. Schaff   |  August 24, 2023

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;They shall not be ashamed,But shall speak with their enemies in the […]

What is a man?

Jon D. Schaff   |  August 17, 2023

Recently Tucker Carlson, the bow-tie wearing paragon of journalistic courage, interviewed professional misogynist Andrew Tate. If you have never heard of Andrew Tate, consider yourself lucky, although perhaps a bit ill-informed. If you have a daughter (I do) you’d better […]

Bombs, justice, and historical humility

Jon D. Schaff   |  August 3, 2023

In 1982 The Gap Band had a hit record with the song “You Dropped a Bomb on Me.” That song was a rather unconventional take on the love song. I guess if someone drops a love bomb on you that’s […]

Always let your conscience be your guide

Jon D. Schaff   |  July 13, 2023

A recent kerfuffle between pro-abortion rights Catholic legislators and the American Catholic bishops offers a convenient reason to consider a pesky little word: conscience. The legislators cite the Catholic Catechism (paragraph 1790) to the effect that a “human being must […]

REVIEW: The Regimes They Are A-Changin

Jon D. Schaff   |  July 12, 2023

Or are they?

Harry Potter sixteen years later

Jon D. Schaff   |  June 29, 2023

In 2007 I took a trip to the United Kingdom. Toward the end of the trip, I found myself in a small used bookstore in a quaint Scottish village. Needing something to read on the plane ride back, I spotted […]

Politics and education

Jon D. Schaff   |  June 15, 2023

What is the purpose of education? That’s a big question, perhaps too big for an Arena blog post, but I wish to offer a few thoughts. We live in a day of “education wars.” C.S. Lewis uses this following stanza […]

Humor in the classroom

Jon D. Schaff   |  May 16, 2023

A friend and colleague likes to say that the classroom is the last refuge of the bad comedian. Students, in general, don’t like learning. Learning is pain. Anything that goes on in the classroom that falls under the category of […]

Abortion, slavery, and Lincoln

Jon D. Schaff   |  May 4, 2023

When Donald Trump recently came out against any kind of federal ban on abortion he was on the receiving end of ire from various pro-life groups. Most notably the Susan B. Anthony List said a position like Trump’s is a […]

A gift guide for graduates

Nadya Williams, Timothy Larsen, Dixie Dillon Lane, Jon D. Schaff and Daniel K. Williams   |  May 2, 2023

Graduation season is coming up! If you are stumped for gift ideas for your favorite high-school and college grads, we have put together a starter gift guide for you. Sure, you could always just put some cash in a card. […]

Ideas in progress: Jon D. Schaff on liberal arts education, favorite recent reads, and the intellectual life

Jon D. Schaff   |  April 20, 2023

What is the focus of your current writing? What are the big questions that you are investigating and the main stories that you hope to tell in your projects right now? I am working on two different projects. I just […]

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