Why Pharisees Matter
Derek Leman, Messianic Jewish Musings

Ulysses in Three Minutes
Anne Tyrrell, Paul Kennedy and Robert Gogan, Irish Times

The Difference Between a Pilgrim and a Tourist
Marc Barnes, Bad Catholic

The Crisis of the European Mind: 1680-1715
David Auerbach, Los Angeles Review of Books

I Recall the 1986 Immigration Act Rather Differently
Edwin Meese III, Wall Street Journal

Free the China 16!
Faith McDonnell, Juicy Ecumenism

A Lament for Skepticism
Enoch Kuo, Princeton Revisions

The Anticlerical Pope?
Russell Shaw, Catholic World Report

Common Fault Lines in Evangelical Approaches to Homosexuality
Kevin DeYoung, Gospel Coalition

Defeating the Barbarians
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Spectator

The End of Reputation
Jonathan R. Macey, American Interest

What Have I Done?
Stanley Hauerwas, ABC Religion & Ethics

A Theory of Objects and Francophilia
Robert Fay

A Catholic Curiosity: The Life of Sir Jeffrey Hudson
Rev. George W. Rutler, Crisis

Evangelicals for Immigration–But Not the Gang of 8 Bill
Bill Blankschaen & Kelly Monroe Kullberg, Patheos

Idealism and Blindness
Leon Wieseltier, New Republic

The Great Migration of the Church in This Land
Msgr. Charles Pope, Archdiocese of Washington

Happy Birthday, Charles Kingsley
Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, OUP Blog

Our Francis, Too
Timothy George, Christianity Today

Easter in a Soviet Camp
Archimandrite Nektarios Antonopoulos, Mystagogy

The Solitary Leaker
David Brooks, New York Times

When the Lamps Went On
Kenneth Minogue, Wall Street Journal

The Welsh Town of Bookstores
Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today

Modesty is Honesty
Marc Barnes, Bad Catholic

A Haredim Reality Show
Liel Leibovitz, Tablet

Toward a “Cultic Liberal Christianity”
Theo Hobson, Guardian

O Priest of Jesus Christ
Robert Royal, Catholic Thing

On Being Plagiarized
Charles Hartman, LRB Blog

A Hermit’s Courage
Br. Athanasius Murphy O.P., Dominicana

Pragmatists vs. Agrarians?
Allen Mendenhall, University Bookman

Substitutionary Atonement and Disgraced Politicians
Jake Meador, Mere Orthodoxy

Outing Scientism
Peter Lawler, Weekly Standard

In Defense of Andrew Greeley
Fr. Robert Barron, RealClearReligion

1913: The World Before the Fall
Jacob Heilbrunn, Daily Beast

Naturalism in the News
Edward Feser

Searching for the New Mind of the South
Michael Schulson, Religion & Politics

Ave atque vale
Donald Kagan, New Criterion

A Map of American Speech
NC State University

Political Common Goods Are of a Fixed Size
James Chastek, Just Thomism

Why an NFL Player Skipped a White House Visit
Joel Gehrke, Washington Examiner

On the Demise of Hoboken and Places Like It
Nick Moran, The Millions

When the Mainline Told Us What to Read
Matt Hedstrom, Christian Century

Emperors, the Church, and the Jews of the Diaspora
Fergus Millar, Medievalists

When Love Turns into Tolerance
Fr. Robert Barron, Catholic News Agency

Ira Glass on Christians in the Media
Open Culture

Conscience and Its Enemies
John J. Miller & Robert P. George, National Review

The “Minor” Aesthetic Categories
Adam Jasper, Bookforum

The Problem with Praise Teams
T. David Gordon, Second Nature

American Literature and American Democracy
Colin M. Brown, Signpostings

Were the Middle Ages Dark?
Anthony Esolen, Prager University

Who Is the Worst Philosopher?
Brandon, Siris

Whispers of Doom
Les Sillars & Jonathan V. Last, Touchstone

An Interview with Peter Brown
T. M. Law, Marginalia

A History of Nationalism
John Breuilly, Oxford University Press Blog

Islam and Human Rights: Beyond the Zero-Sum Game
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, ABC Religion & Ethics

Weaving a Sacramental Tapestry
Daniel Edward Young, Called to Communion

A Reflection on the Passion of Anger
Msgr. Charles Pope, Archdiocese of Washington

Terry Eagleton: “We’ve Forgetten How to Read”
Nick Mount, Globe & Mail

The Real Roots of Homegrown Terrorism
Frank Furedi, Spiked

Feminism’s Biggest Paradox
Tabatha Leggett, New Statesman

Islam and Christianity in Britain: An Exchange [podcast]
Damian Thompson & Michael Nazir-Ali, Telegraph

Summer Reading for College Graduates
Brett McCracken, Mere Orthodoxy

The Schtick of Time
Robert Fulford, National Post

A Most Sincere Affectation
Jonathan Askonas, Fare Forward

Obama’s Legacy Could Be Moral, Not Political
Reihan Salam, Reuters

Anna Karenina on Contraception
Just Thomism

Repenting the Failure of Parish Catechesis
Barbara R. Nicolosi, Year of Faith

The Essayification of Everything
Christy Wampole, Opinionator

Evolution and the Eye Test
S. Adam Seagrave, Public Discourse

A New Moral Treatment for the Mentally Ill
James Panero, City Journal

The Book N. T. Wright Didn’t Write
Jeremy Weber, Gleanings

Omnipotence and the ‘Delimiter of Possibilities’ View
Kenny Pearce, Prosblogion

Copperheads, Community, and Those We Have Lost
Bill Kauffman & Gerald J. Russello, University Bookman

On the Hannah Arendt Movie
J. Hoberman, Tablet

Francis’ “Affinity for Liberation Theology”?
Mollie Hemingway, GetReligion

Faith, in Poetry
Mark Oppenheimer, Yale Alumni Magazine

How Proust Can Save Memorial Day (Really)
Robert Royal, Catholic Thing

Amidst Jihadist Hatred, Something New
Abraham Kuruvilla, Coptic Orphans

Stay Out of Syria
David Bromwich, New York Review of Books

Gatsby Madness and the Millennials
Emily Stimpson, Catholic News Agency

Our Suicide Epidemic
Tony Dokoupil, Daily Beast

Katharine Jefferts Schori vs. St. Paul
George Conger, Anglican Ink

Critical Thinking: Adam Kirsch
David Wolf & Adam Kirsch, Prospect

A Theological Defense of Apologetics
John Milbank, ABC Religion & Ethics

The Pope’s Financial Gospel and the Vatican Bank
John Thavis

“The Coffinmaker”
New Advent 

On the Suicide in Notre Dame Cathedral
Ed Peters, In the Light of the Law

A Yes to Worship
Emily Belz, World

Those Deleted Tweets
Tony Reinke, Desiring God

The Final Judgment and the Burial of the Bomber
Justin Hawkins, Fare Forward

“How the West Really Lost God”
Brad Miner, Catholic Thing

God’s Sovereignty and Personal Compassion in Public Tragedy
Tony Reinke, Desiring God

Ben Carson and the Marriage Police
Michael Kinsley, New Republic

Ed Koch’s Catholic Sendoff
Jonathan R. Cohen, Tablet

Sin and the Distorted Image
Jim Tonkowich, Juicy Ecumenism

St. Francis and the Biotechnological Future
William B. Hurlbut, New Atlantis

A Modern Illuminated Manuscript
Art Daily

When Place is Not Enough
Ross Douthat, Evaluations

Chuck Colson: Recalling a Vision of Unity
Robert P. George, Christian Post

The Political Thought of Gouverneur Morris
Forrest McDonald, Imaginative Conservative

The Difference Between Evangelization and Proselytization
Michael Avramovich, Mere Comments

Freedom of the Church Without Romance
Paul Horwitz, Prawfsblawg

Julian Barnes and the Work of Grief
Joyce Carol Oates, Times Literary Supplement

What Is the Point of Political Philosophy?
Alex Worsnip, Prospect

The Gross Gatsby
Stefan Kanfer, City Journal

Carl Henry: Not Just for Calvinists
Matthew Pinson, Gospel Coalition

The New French Catholic Youth
Marie Lemonnier, Le Nouvel Observateur / Worldcrunch

On Avoiding ‘Prosperous Wickedness’
James V. Schall S.J., University Bookman

Why Private Schools Are Dying
Chester E. Finn Jr., Atlantic

It’s the Technocratic Arrogance, Stupid
Jeffrey Rosen, New Republic

Add this to Matthew Schmitz’s recent inventory of Pope Francis’ ability to convey spiritual concepts in pithy, almost meme-like phrases:

Pope Francis warned against “gentrification of the heart” as a consequence of comfortable living, and called on the faithful to “touch the flesh of Christ” by caring for the needy.

The pope’s words came in a homily during Mass in St. Peter’s Square May 12, when he canonized the first Colombian saint, as well as a Mexican nun and some 800 Italians martyred by Ottoman Turks in the 15th century.

Mexico’s St. Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala (1878-1963), the pope said, gave up a “comfortable life to follow the call of Jesus, taught people to love poverty, in order the more to love the poor and the sick.”

“How much damage does the comfortable life, well-being, do,” the pope added, looking up from his prepared text. “The gentrification of the heart paralyzes us.”

The implication that “gentrification” can be a mindset that carries with it a kind of temptation to bourgeois satisfaction and the seeking of creature comforts instead of a living, ever-new faith also makes this perhaps a bit more apt than another recent analogical stab at connecting Christ and contemporary urban culture.

Trends and Directions in Reformed Theology [.pdf]
Dirkie Smit, Expository Times

The Problem with Wedding Poetry
Ruth Graham, Poetry Foundation

From Anarchists to Islamists
Charles C. Johnson, City Journal

King Louis’ Irish Confessor
Rev. George W. Rutler, Crisis

The Vatican at the Venice Biennale
Bryony Jones, CNN

Getting Right with Niebuhr
James Nuechterlein, The New Criterion

School Your Hearts
Dwight Longenecker, Intercollegiate Review

A Survey of Clergy Views on Evolution
Editors, BioLogos

The Lethality of Loneliness
Judith Shulevitz, New Republic

On Silver Linings Playbook
Makoto Fujimura