Last night I saw a PBS production of Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part I, a play I had never read or seen before. It was truly excellent in its portrayal of the rivalry of Somerset and York, both plotting to steal Henry's crown. And it portrayed poor Henry as a young and naive Christian king, who urged his subjects to get along in peace, but was the hapless target of their scheming. Like so many of Shakespeare's plays, this one was a study in the will to power, a theme that never grows old because it is never absent from human affairs. Witness American politics; witness Aleppo; witness the Ukraine. Christmas is almost upon us, and the Christmas story is also about power. It is about a powerless Jewish family who journeyed to Bethlehem to comply with an edict of the powerful Roman emperor. It is about a poor infant who slept in a manger because there was no room for his family in the inn. It is about the powerful king installed by Rome who was so frightened of the news o
Meditations on Law and Life