Protestants with a strong religious identity continue to increase as Catholics with a strong religious identity continue to decline, according to a March study by the Pew Research Center. The proportion of Catholics reporting strong religious affiliation declined by almost twenty percentage points over the last few decades … Continue Reading»
American Piet is considered one of the iconic photographs of 9/11. Youve seen it: the photo depicts five men, amid the dust and rubble that enveloped the World Trade Center that day, carrying the dead body of Fr. Mychal Judge out of the ruins… . Continue Reading»
Beautifully written and unforgettably told, The Little Way of Ruthie Leming is a memoir about Rod Drehers younger sister and the extraordinary impact she had upon her family and community. Subtitled A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret of a Good Life, Drehers tour de force delivers on every level… . Continue Reading»
As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Pope Francis spoke frequently of the missionary character of the Church”mission, that is, not as a particular work of a certain group of people within the Church, but as the very nature of the Church as the presence of Christ in the world…. Continue Reading»
George Jones has died, and I am afraid a lot of people will think he was a hypocrite. George Jones was no hypocrite. He was the troubadour of the Christ-haunted self. The raw emotion, and even whispers of torture, in his voice can teach American Christianity much about the nature of sin and the longing for repentance… . Continue Reading»
Ephraim Radner is one of those rare theologians whose work can be described as relentless. His most recent book, A Brutal Unity, may be his most relentless yet. Radner dismantles every self-congratulatory, self-protective ecclesiology that blinds Christians to what is self-evident to everyone else: The Church is shattered… . Continue Reading»
The final great line in this short series may seem an odd choice because, well, its not so great, at least on its own, in terms of either craft or intellectual heft. Some readers may recognize it as the final line in Frank OHaras Poem (Lana Turner has collapsed!). … Continue Reading»
The renowned New York Times reporter John McCandlish Phillips died earlier this month after over sixty years of city watching. He spent twenty-four years keeping an eye on the city for the New York Times, mainly from a perch in the metro bureau… . Continue Reading»
Well, I think we can pack up this Christian thing and take the rest of the day off. Thats if what Charles Freeman writes in A New History of Early Christianity can be believed. Freemans book (2009) received only a brief review from First Things… . Continue Reading»
Baseball and movies dont often play well together. William Bendix as a Marine who dies happy in Guadalcanal Diary because hes just heard that the Dodgers have won is an icon of 1940s Americana; the same William Bendix as the Bambino in The Babe Ruth Story is a sad business, to be consigned to the (bad) memory bank. … Continue Reading»