Keeping the Faith

The Essential Russell Kirk: Selected Essays, edited by George A. Panichas (ISI, 525 pp., $30)

LOOMING over the fireplace in the late Russell Kirk’s library in Mecosta, Mich., are three small stone images, statues given to Kirk by the renowned Scots sculptor Hew Lorimer during the 1950s. Lorimer’s images represent history, law, and theology-and they now appropriately adorn the cover of this fat book. History, law, and theology are roughly analogous to the central concerns of Kirk’s thought: order, justice, and freedom. Through the study of history we learn the primacy of order. Through law, we maintain justice. And through theology-through faith in God-we find freedom that transcends circumstance.

About the Author

James E. Person Jr.

Mr. Person is the author of Russell Kirk: A Critical Biography of a Conservative Mind and Earl Hamner: From Walton's Mountain to Tomorrow.

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The Essential Russell Kirk: Selected Essays, edited by George A. Panichas (ISI, 525 pp., $30)

LOOMING over the fireplace in the late Russell Kirk’s library in Mecosta, Mich., are three small stone images, statues given to Kirk by the renowned Scots sculptor Hew Lorimer during the 1950s. Lorimer’s images represent history, law, and theology-and they now appropriately adorn the cover of this fat book. History, law, and theology are roughly analogous to the central concerns of Kirk’s thought: order, justice, and freedom. Through the study of history we learn the primacy of order. Through law, we maintain justice. And through theology-through faith in God-we find freedom that transcends circumstance.