Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!

Choosing Tebow

From Web Exclusives

Tim Tebow, the year’s best college football player, is starring in a mildly pro-life advertisement”“Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life,” it concludes”scheduled to air during the Super Bowl this Sunday. And the ruckus over that fact has been one of the strangest things to watch in years… . Continue Reading

What McInerny Saw in Thomas
02.06.2010
Joseph R. Upton

The Catholic intellectual world (and beyond) is no doubt still mourning last week’s passing of Ralph McInerny. McInerny’s death, aside from providing an opportunity to reflect on his own legacy, also invites us to reflect on the body of learning known as Thomism… . Continue Reading »

Choosing Tebow

From First Thoughts

Tim Tebow, the year’s best college football player, is starring in a mildly pro-life advertisement—“Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life,” it concludes—scheduled to air during the Super Bowl this Sunday. And the ruckus over that fact has been one of the strangest things to . . . . Continue Reading »

Separation of Pro–Life and State

From Web Exclusives

While visiting the National Gallery of Art this past Saturday, I ran into a pair of errant security guards who have taken to interpreting the Constitution in their spare time. I decided to visit the Gallery after attending the March for Life the day before… . Continue Reading »

The Public Argument of Conscientious Objection
01.27.2010
Grattan Brown

Why do advocates of abortion and contraception find the conscientious objection of pharmacists and other medical professionals so intolerable? … Continue Reading »

Reviewing Sin

From First Thoughts

I recommend Bruce Marshall’s review essay of Gary Anderson’s Sin: A History especially for these last two days of Christmas. Marshall shows the interesting history of how sin came to be understood as debt—rather than simply a burden or a wound—and then offers an excellent . . . . Continue Reading »

New Healthcare Options for NY Women

From Web Exclusives

Last week”on the feast of the Immaculate Conception”St. Vincent’s Hospital here in New York opened a Catholic women’s healthcare center… . Continue Reading »

Dakota Christmas
12.23.2009
Joseph Bottum

Late afternoon on Christmas Eve, the year I was eleven, my father took me with him across the river. I can’t remember what the urgency was, but he was a busy lawyer, and he needed some papers signed by a rancher who lived across on the other side of the Missouri from Pierre… … . Continue Reading »

Happy Holidays Holy Father

From First Thoughts

As you send out your Christmas cards this year, don’t forget the pope! The Vatican Council for Social Communication’s website has now made it possible to send an electronic Christmas card to the holy father. You can attach pictures to the card and include a personal message: “Dear . . . . Continue Reading »

Cliff Notes for the Illiterate

From First Thoughts

Gone are the days when high school kids who couldn’t wade through the 350 pages of Pride and Prejudice at least had to skim through 50 pages of cliff notes.  60second Recap offers to tear out the plot, symbols, motifs, and themes from classic works of literature (I imagine the books lying . . . . Continue Reading »