Joseph Bottum (author)
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Joseph Bottum is an American author and intellectual, best known for his writings about literature, American religion, and neoconservative politics. Noting references to his poems, short stories, scholarly work, literary criticism, and many other forms of public commentary, reviewer Mary Eberstadt wrote in ''
National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief is Rich L ...
'' in 2014 that “his name would be mandatory on any objective short list of public intellectuals” in the United States. Coverage of his work includes profiles in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', '' South Dakota Magazine'', and ''
The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American Conservatism, conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on Politics of the United States, national politics. Its broadsheet daily edit ...
''. In 2017, Bottum took a position at Dakota State University in
Madison, South Dakota Madison is a city and the county seat of Lake County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 6,191 at the 2020 census. It is home to Dakota State University. Geography Madison is located in the center of Lake County in southeastern So ...
.


Education and family

Born in Vermillion, South Dakota, Bottum was brought up in the state capital of Pierre and later
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
, Utah, where he attended Judge Memorial Catholic High School. Bottum graduated from
Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
with a B.A. and in 1993 received a Ph.D. in medieval philosophy from
Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...
. Bottum was assistant professor of medieval philosophy at
Loyola University Maryland Loyola University Maryland is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established as Loyola College in Maryland by John Early (educator), John Early and eight other members of the Society of Je ...
from 1993 to 1994, before joining the journal '' First Things'' in New York City as associate editor from 1995 to 1997. His relatives include great-great-grandfather Henry C. Bottum (19th-century Wisconsin legislator), great-great-grandfather Darius S. Smith (19th-century South Dakota legislator), great-grandfather Joseph H. Bottum (1890s and 1900s South Dakota legislator), great-uncle and namesake Joseph H. Bottum (the 1960s South Dakota senator), cousin Roddy Bottum (keyboardist for the rock band Faith No More), and cousin F. Russell Hittinger (the Catholic philosopher).


Career

He moved to Washington, D.C., in 1997, hired by
William Kristol William Kristol (; born December 23, 1952) is an American neoconservative writer. A frequent commentator on several networks including CNN, he was the founder and editor-at-large of the political magazine '' The Weekly Standard''. Kristol is e ...
to be literary editor of the neoconservative political magazine, the '' Weekly Standard'', while also serving as Poetry Editor of ''First Things'' from 1998 to 2004. In 2004, the founder of ''First Things'', Richard John Neuhaus, brought him back to New York as the new editor of ''First Things''. Forced out in 2010 after controversy about the future and the funding of the magazine following the death of Neuhaus, Bottum moved to his family's summer house in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Bottum and
Dakota State University Dakota State University (DSU) is a public university in Madison, South Dakota, United States. The school was founded in 1881 as a normal school, or teacher training school. Education is still the university's heritage mission, but a signatur ...
announced on May 31, 2017, that he would be taking a new post as the director of the CLASSICS Institute and begin working in the field of cyber-ethics. The CLASSICS Institute is an acronym which stands for Collaborations for Liberty and Security Strategies for Integrity in a Cyber-enabled Society.


Other works

After returning to South Dakota, he produced his Kindle Single ''Dakota Christmas'', which reached #1 on the Amazon e-book bestseller list, and he published such print books as the examination of song lyrics as poetry in ''The Second Spring'' (2011), the childhood memoir ''The Christmas Plains'' (2012), and the sociological study of American religion in ''An Anxious Age: The Post-Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of America'' (2014), together with the e-book collection of selected essays, ''Pulp & Prejudice''. His Kindle Singles for Amazon include sports Singles on Tim Tebow and R. A. Dickey (''The Summer of 43'', named by Amazon to its Kindle Singles' list of 2012's “10 Best Books of the Year”), and Bottum's annual Christmas fiction.


Works as an essayist

Bottum's essays, poems, reviews, and short stories have appeared in ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Washington Post'', ''USA Today'', ''The Times'' of London, and other newspapers; ''Forbes'', ''Newsweek'', ''Commentary'', and other magazines; the ''International Philosophical Quarterly'', ''U.S. Catholic Historian'', and other scholarly journals. His work has been anthologized in ''Best Spiritual Writing 2010'', ''Best Catholic Writing 2007'', ''Best Christian Writing 2004'', ''The Conservative Poets'', ''Why I Turned Right'', and other collections. Among his most widely discussed essays are “The Soundtracking of America” in ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...
'', “Christians and Postmoderns,” in ''First Things'', and “The Myth of the Catholic Voter” in the ''Weekly Standard''. Bottum's 2013 essay “The Things We Share” in the Catholic journal '' Commonweal'', urging acceptance of state-sanctioned same-sex marriage, was covered by a pair of articles in ''The New York Times'' and by many other publications. Widely cited and attacked, it led to the ostracizing of Bottum in some conservative and religious circles. Other controversial positions Bottum has taken include his opposition to the death penalty, his defense of
Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...
, and his rejection of abortion. According to Edmund Waldstein, Bottom understands his own conservative philosophy as a "working out of the insight into the evil of abortion". Bottum's 2014 book ''An Anxious Age: The Post-Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of America'' argues that members of the nation's elite class are the spiritual heirs of
Mainline Protestant The mainline Protestants (sometimes also known as oldline Protestants) are a group of Protestantism in the United States, Protestant denominations in the United States and Protestantism in Canada, Canada largely of the Liberal Christianity, theolo ...
ism, and that this class has triumphed over Catholics and Evangelicals in the culture wars. Reviewing the book for ''
The American Interest ''The American Interest'' (''AI'') was a bimonthly magazine founded in 2005, focusing primarily on foreign policy, international affairs, global economics, and military matters. History The magazine was founded in 2005 by a number of member ...
'', the columnist David Goldman wrote, “Joseph Bottum may be America's best writer on religion.” In ''
The Week ''The Week'' is a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. The British publication was founded in 1995 and the American edition in 2001. An Australian edition was published from 2008 to 2012. A children's edi ...
'', Michael Brendan Dougherty compared the book to work by
James Burnham James Burnham (November 22, 1905 – July 28, 1987) was an American philosopher and political theorist. He chaired the New York University Department of Philosophy. His first book was ''An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis'' (1931). Bur ...
, Daniel Bell, and
Christopher Lasch Robert Christopher Lasch (June 1, 1932 – February 14, 1994) was an American historian and social critic who was a history professor at the University of Rochester. He sought to use history to demonstrate what he saw as the pervasiveness with ...
, suggesting “with the publication of ''An Anxious Age'', I wonder if these earlier thinkers haven't all been surpassed.” Bottum was a contributing editor to the ''Weekly Standard'' and served as distinguished visiting professor at Houston Baptist University in 2014. In an article attacking him for his stance on same-sex marriage, ''National Review'' nonetheless wrote, “Bottum is the poetic voice of modern Catholic intellectual life. His work . . . shaped the minds of a generation.” He has read his New Formalist poetry on
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, done commentary for NBC's
Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television Sunday morning talk show broadcast on NBC. It is the List of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running program on American television, though its format has changed since th ...
and the
PBS Newshour ''PBS News Hour'', previously stylized as ''PBS NewsHour'', is the news division of PBS and an American daily evening news broadcasting#television, television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS Network affiliate#Member stations, member stat ...
, and appeared on many other television and radio programs.


Publications

* * * ''An Anxious Age: The Post-Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of America'' (Image/Random House, 2014) * ''The Christmas Plains'' (Image/Random House, 2012) * ''The Second Spring: Words Into Music, Music Into Words'' (St. Augustine's Press, 2011) * (co-editor) ''The Pius War: Responses to the Critics of Pius XII'' (Lexington Books, 2004) * ''The Fall & Other Poems'' (St. Augustine's Press, 2001)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bottum, Joseph Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Roman Catholics American magazine editors American male journalists American male non-fiction writers American political writers American religious writers American Roman Catholic writers Catholics from South Dakota Georgetown University alumni Journalists from South Dakota Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences alumni People from Hot Springs, South Dakota People from Vermillion, South Dakota Writers from South Dakota