Let's Start a New Renaissance
- Jun 3
- 2 min read
On May 14, 2026, James Hankins was awarded the prestigious Bradley Prize. What follows is a typescript of his remarks on that occasion. To watch the video of the speech, click here.
I’m listening to myself talking, and I say to myself, “Did I just say that I’m going to revive Western civilization singlehandedly?” Harvard professors are supposed to be arrogant, but maybe I’ll be less arrogant when I go to Florida.
I’m not quite so full of myself that I think I can singlehandedly revive Western civilization, but I do think we live in a moment when for the first time in decades we have a fighting chance to restore the study of Western civilization in our schools and universities. Education is being reimagined all over America, and a rebellion is underway against the present educational establishment that offers us a rare opportunity for reform.
I’m going to explain in a few moments why I think reviving the study of Western Civ is vital for the health of our commonwealth, but I want to start by giving heartfelt thanks, truly, to the Bradley Foundation for giving me this great honor with this magnificent prize. It’s going to allow me to do what Solon, the great wise man of ancient Greece and the legislator, called the “shaking off of burdens.” That’s a classical way of saying that you’re about to pay off your mortgage.
So, thanks to this prize I’ll be able to free myself up for the work I’ve committed myself to doing in the coming years. That work is to help restore for the next generation of Americans their great inheritance from the classical Christian and European civilizations of the West. This is an inheritance that a misguided and politicized pedagogy has taken from the last two generations of Americans – with the results that we see all around us. It’s time for us to resurrect our lost traditions…