Menachem Begin: A Life by Avi Shilon translated by Danielle Zilberberg and Yoram Sharett Yale, 584 pages, $40 The early decades of Israeli politics were dominated by Labor Zionists, mainly secular Ashkenazis (Jews from central and eastern Europe) whose goa

various denominations, most prominently in its heir, the United Church of Christ. In addition, the Mercersburg Society, which was founded in 1983, continues to study Mercersburg theology and publishes the New Mercersburg Review twice a year. Gabriel Fackre

The One Thomas More by Travis Curtright CUA, 231 pages, $64.95 Pius XII went from being a “righteous Gentile” to an anti-Semite. The “man for all seasons,” we’ve recently learned, is really a “hater.” He had an admirable start, as an urbane, witty reforme

various spokesmen for which repeatedly and publicly express their intent to kill Americans. Henrie accuses me of using just war theory to expand the opportunities for war, apparently dismissing my concluding remark about how much I loathe war. As a veteran

Nicholas of Cusa: A Companion to His Life and His Times by Morimichi Watanabe edited by Gerald Christianson and Thomas M. Izbicki Ashgate, 426 pages, $134.95 Early twentieth-century Kantian Ernst Cassirer once dubbed Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464) “t

Roe’s Legacy While Jon Shields’ provocative piece (“Roe’s Pro-Life Legacy,” January) credits the Supreme Court decision with mobilizing the pro-life side to begin “changing the hearts and minds” of those on the pro-choice side, I believe he understates the

Keynes Hayek: The Clash that Defined Modern Economics by Nicholas Wapshott Norton, 400 pages, $17.95 In a work that will be enjoyed by specialists and generalists alike, English journalist Nicholas Wapshott brings to life a century of economic debates, t

various pagan gods, but not of the God of the Christian faith who declared himself to be Love and his creation to be “very good.” If I believed in the god of the evolutionists, I could tremble before his power and might well seek to placate him for self-intere

various reasons at particular historical moments, even as such beliefs or practices now appear quite sound in retrospect. A prime example is the restoration of the chalice to the laity, which had only been officially removed in 1415 at the Council of Constance

Will Many Be Saved? What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization by Ralph Martin Eerdmans, 332 pages, $24 Following Vatican II, there arose within the Church a mentality, even a conviction, that the preaching of the gos

Every Christian’s Homelands By Richard John Neuhaus We are servants of a disputed sovereignty. The psalmist declares, "God mounts his throne to shouts of joy." Christ has ascended his throne, but his rule is challenged by rival thrones. For us who believe,

various free-trade agreements like NAFTA and the WTO, there are certainly many fewer such restrictions today than there were in the recent past. This is the phenomena of globalization, and Reno is right that it contributes to the creative destruction of capita

various Vatican administrative offices—the Government of Vatican City State, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See—are automatically cardinals: a reform that would also speak to Pope F

various forms of poverty. There was the Franciscan work, which belongs to all Christians, to serve “the sick, orphans, the homeless and all the marginalized”; that work is a gospel imperative that also helps “to make society more humane and more just.” And

various aspects of the family. His two most recent books are Secure Daughters, Confident Sons and The Ring Makes All the Difference. Become a fan of First Things on Facebook, subscribe to First Things via RSS, and follow First Things on Twitter.

various groupings—Italian/non-Italian; European/non-European; Northern/Southern, Western/Eastern hemispheres—to assess the relative scale of support for each, and to order and re-order their priorities. In fact, however, many elector cardinals had been thin

various that many, if not most, of them escape recall. I am regularly asked by graduate students in search of something or someone to write about what I meant by one thing or another that I wrote ten or twenty or even thirty years ago. I wrote that, did I? Wha

various church dialogues over the past thirty years, I have come to see the crucial role played by the Bishop of Rome in helping all Christians everywhere to work together for Christian unity. Far more than anything in the mainline Protestant world, the Second

various Salafists and conservative factions of the Muslim Brotherhood, some of which see democracy itself as an affront to Islam because it supplants God’s will with man’s. But to Ramadan these are all “empty controversies that put secularists and Islamists ag

Various answers are proposed: therapy, money, sports, medication and even good ol’ fashioned denial. But one by one, those solutions recede and the movie’s storyline spotlights another way. That way begins with the piercing eyes of Tiffany—and later, with her