John Senior and the Restoration of Realism

In this detailed and provocative study, Francis Bethel examines the life and thought of cultural critic, university professor, and sometime cowboy, John Senior (1923 1999). A privileged young man who studied the occult but became a leading proponent of traditional wisdom and arts (eventually converting to the Catholic Faith), Senior, unlike many of even his conservative peers, argued for something more than mere book learning. He championed the full restoration of realism, in which would be brought together the whole man senses, imagination, emotion, will, intellect, and body. Bethel uncovers the roots of Senior's thought, traces its provocative application, and reveals the possibilities it offers today to an academy wounded by pervasive moral and intellectual relativism, the loss of public credibility, and spiraling costs.