The Politics of Lovingkindness
The books of Samuel begin and end with portraits of kings. When Israel asks for a “king like the kings of the nations,” Samuel presents the case against monarchy…
December 2026
Print Edition
December 2026 Print Edition
America’s Most Influential Journal of Religion and Public Life
The Left Is Right About the Bible
Zionism for France
It is never a wise idea to write about historical events as they unfurl, but with much…
Time to Ban AI Companions
Imagine a friend who is awake whenever you are, never grumpy, and always interested in what interests…
The Vatican and the Good of Judaism
Since the Second Vatican Council, Catholics have known that they can’t accuse Jews of “killing God.” But…
Immanuel Loyalty
I am not a particularly virtuous person, and I have squandered many gifts and hopes. But one thing…
Icarus Descending
Trump Doesn’t Forgive His Enemies. Do We?
When Ross Douthat, a Catholic, sat down with Donald Trump in the Oval Office and asked whether…
The Politics of Lovingkindness
The books of Samuel begin and end with portraits of kings. When Israel asks for a “king…
The New Benefit of Clergy
On November 9, Russell Brand was sentenced to over ten years in prison for one count of…
“Contextuality” (with Apologies to Irving Berlin)
After watching White Christmas with the family for the umpteenth time last December, I was moved, perhaps…
After Disenchantment
What does the phrase “disenchantment of the world” mean? Disenchantment is easy to identify and even easier…
Seeking God, Finding the Devil
On the wedding night of his second marriage, August Strindberg (1849–1912), the Swedish writer, painter, polymath, and…
Nature’s God is Not Enough
In the Republic, Plato writes that unless liberated by philosophy, by the awakening of the divine part…
An Actual Conservative
Late in Barack Obama’s presidency, a bitter conflict broke out on the right. Conservative institutions that had…
Realism and Reunion
Ecumenism has, to put it mildly, stalled. Since the beginning of this century, efforts aimed at bringing…
Say It with Your Chest
Recent years have seen an explosion in a particular subgenre of sociopolitical commentary. Bonnie Kristian calls it…
There Is a Season
This brutal winter, ice, and snow, / deer, once again, assault the holly, …
James
Be slow to judge, love mercy, persevere, / and let the proud man take for first place…
The Chariot Burials
Wheeling through the clotted earth, / Bronze, bone, and leather clumped in clay…
A Jew in Anti-Christian America
This essay originated as the 1995 Erasmus Lecture, sponsored by the Institute on Religion and Public Life.…
Biblical Interpretation in Crisis
This lecture was delivered as the fourth annual Erasmus Lecture. In Wladimir Solowjew’s History of the Antichrist,…
Jews, Christians, and Civil Society
This article is based on the fifteenth annual Erasmus Lecture of the Institute on Religion and Public…
God as a Gentleman
This essay was delivered as the 31st Erasmus Lecture. Everybody knows the Decalogue and, in particular, the…
