Epistolae is a boutique press deeply committed to human flourishing in an age dominated by fleeting trends and digital noise. We publish works of literary value which foster human flourishing and provide humane reflections on faith, literature, culture, and education.
At the heart of our endeavor is a Christian humanism, a term which prima facie seems like an oxymoron to some readers. This is because widespread conceptions of Christianity tend toward notions of anti-intellectual fundamentalism; and, the common understanding of humanists are that of “enlightened,” anti-religious priests of secularism. In popular lore, these visions of life are mutually exclusive and fundamentally at odds with one another. Yet, this popular assumption couldn’t be further from the truth as history tells us a much different story. The written testimonies of those who witnessed the Incarnation reveal that Christianity is the first and ultimate humanism since it is deeply concerned with literary texts, human flourishing, and society’s common good. Consider John notably wrote that the Logos became flesh, Paul preached that the unknown God the Pagans groped after descended to them, and Irenaeus proclaimed that the glory of God is a living man (i.e., redeemed and flourishing).
Christian humanism holds everything that is good, true, and beautiful belongs to and comes from God. Even the good works and virtuous pursuits of Pagan and pre-Christian cultures were inspired by the Holy Spirit for his own purposes (i.e., philosophy, art, poetry, rhetoric, politics, etc.). As Erasmus, the “prince of humanists,” wrote in the 16th century, “Everything in the Pagan world that was valiantly done, brilliantly said, ingeniously thought, diligently transmitted, had been prepared by Christ for his society.”