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. 

Let’s get cynical

  |  

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.

No, Donny, these men are nihilists

  |  

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

  |  

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

  |  

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?

  |  

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?

  |  

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

  |  

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

  |  

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 […]

Harry Potter sixteen years later

  |  

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

  |  

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

  |  

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

  |  

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 […]