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What You May Not Know about First Things

From First Thoughts

You may have read Randy Boyagoda’s fine biography of Richard John Neuhaus, our fearless founder. You may know that First Things was begun in 1990 to explore questions of religion and society in the English-speaking world, and that the print journal comes out ten times a year. You might even have . . . . Continue Reading »

Angelic Stubbornness

From the June/July 2016 Print Edition

God or Nothing: A Conversation on Faithby robert cardinal sarahinterviewed by nicolas diatignatius, 285 pages, $17.95 On the night of April 18, 1978, a visitor brought an ­unexpected message to a young priest named Robert Sarah: Pope Paul VI had appointed him archbishop of Conakry and expected a . . . . Continue Reading »

Briefly Noted

From the May 2016 Print Edition

Saint Paul Lives Here (In Minnesota)by zach czaiawipf and stock, 66 pages, $7.50 A fter years of controversy over the mishandling of sexual predators among the priests of his archdiocese, Archbishop of Minneapolis-St. Paul John Nienstedt resigned last June. Now facing criminal prosecution, the . . . . Continue Reading »

Soul of France

From First Thoughts

In the first pages of We Have Been Friends Together, Raïssa ­Maritain recounts one of her earliest memories. She is five, and her parents have rented a room in their house to a woman who holds classes for young children. She remembers watching this strange woman from afar with hushed reverence: “I heard the multiplication table being repeated . . . and I was overwhelmed with the feeling that here was instruction and knowledge and a truth to be known; and my heart almost burst with the desire to know.” . . . . Continue Reading »

What Do You Love?

From First Thoughts

My weight is my love. Wherever I am carried, my love is carrying me.­–Augustine, Confessions What do you want? This is the fundamental question of Christian discipleship. Christ asks two future disciples quite pointedly in the Gospel of John, and asks it indirectly in a number of places: “Will . . . . Continue Reading »

The Icon Painter

From First Thoughts

What is the role of the icon painter? We can only begin to answer this question by turning to the fact of the Incarnation—“And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Christ is the “icon of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). It is because the second person of the Trinity . . . . Continue Reading »

For Those Curious Young Minds

From First Thoughts

Some of my fellow staff members here at First Things have written reflections on what sets First Things apart for them, and why our magazine is worthy of support—see Matthew Schmitz’s, Alexi Sargeant’s, and Carl Trueman’s here. They’ve covered a lot of ground. I will add this: There is a . . . . Continue Reading »