Lecture: A Tale of Five Cities
Hosted by The Cambridge School in San Diego.
Some argue that the American order established in the eighteenth century was a “revolution,” a new and radical political undertaking – a major departure from the received political tradition of European and Western Civilization. Others maintain that the American founding was more historically informed, more traditional, than one might expect.
Were the aspirations of the founders of the American order informed by the heritage and origins of their own civilization? If so, how so and to what extent?
The late Russell Kirk, an architect of modern American conservatism, believed that the American order was indeed rooted in history, custom, and tradition—it was a product of the heritage of four ancient cities whose ideals uniquely coalesced in a fifth city in the late eighteenth century. Respectively these cities are: Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London, and Philadelphia.
In this lecture the Rev. Alan R. Crippen, II, president and founder of the John Jay Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, builds on Russell Kirk’s thesis. He maintains that the genius of the American constitution as conceived in Philadelphia is its ability to order liberty, that is, to constrain liberty from degenerating into liberalism, libertarianism, and libertinism. The American “liberty tree,” a tree of ordered liberty, has deep moral and intellectual roots spanning the geography of the ancient world from Mount Zion, to Attica, to the Italian peninsula, and to the British isles.
Friday, February 24
6:30 Reception
7:00 Lecture
St. Timothy’s Church
10125 Azuaga Street, San Diego, CA 92129
(just east of the Cambridge campus)
Free admission! Please RSVP at 858-484-3488
Childcare available on a first-come, first served basis. $12/child includes dinner, movie, games, singing, and supervision. If you are not a Cambridge School parent, please call 858-484-3488 to sign up.
