Editors

At the First Things retreat last weekend, Robert Louis Wilken delivered a somber and moving address about friendship. Wilken emphasized the need for a founding bond that is more than just personal, one that touches agreement on some fundamental questions of being and life. His words . . . . Continue Reading »

Mark your calendars for upcoming talks in Des Moines and New Haven.

I just finished reading Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance by Ian Buruma. Ian Buruma is Dutch, and after the 2005 murder of Theo van Gogh by a young Islamist, the journalist spent many months back in his home country investigating the roots of the crime.

This week, for my sins, I read The Power of Positive Thinking and The Art of the Deal. I won't list my sins here, but you can tell by the penance that they are great. Norman Vincent Peale does not lay any great stress on sin in The Power of Positive Thinking. For him, it is more important to improve one's attitude, to think positively, than to say domine, non sum dignus.

I'm going to break protocol and tell you about what I've been watching. But what I've been watching happens to be hyper-hypertextual: Rodney Ascher's Room 237 is a geeked-out documentary about a prestige horror film, reminding us how prestige can precipitate (or arise from? or consist of?) a fever of discourse. Continue Reading »

What is the role of the priest in today's Catholic schools? How do the Fathers of the Church speak to us today? This and more in our events roundup.

Take the train to Brussels, walk across the Warendepark, and into the Berlaymont building. This is the home of the European Commission. Depending on which entomologist you consult, it is either the cocoon from which a new Europe will emerge or the center of a vast spider-web of regulation that is choking the continent.

Continue Reading »

How God Messed Up My Happy Atheist Life
Nicole Cliffe, Christianity Today

Philosophy and Art Criticism
Kate Havard, Claremont Review of Books

Vatican Liturgy Chief Urges Priests to Celebrate Mass Facing East
Staff, Catholic Herald

An Elite Faith
Bill McMorris, Washington Free Breacon

The Enduring Legacy of The Twilight Zone
Brian Murray, New Atlantis

Why I Didn’t Attend My Notre Dame Graduation
Alexandra DeSanctis, Ethika Politika

The Case for Banning Pornography
Matthew Schmitz, Washington Post

Movies on Marriage: The Lobster vs. Love and Friendship
Tim Markatos, Acculturated

The Convict-Bourgeois
Eve Tushnet, University Bookman

Do you want to see your writing on the First Things website? If you are currently enrolled in college, a graduate program, or seminary, be sure to enter our second annual Student Essay Contest by June 15.

The Geeks Can't Defeat Death
David Mills, Aleteia

Catholic Archdiocese to Offer 12 Weeks Paid Parental Leave
David Gibson, Religion News Service

Desire, Deicide, and Atonement: René Girard and St. Thomas Aquinas
Edmund Waldstein, O. Cist., Sancrucensis

Europe's Cheesy Musical Proxy War
Ivan Plis, National Interest

Secret History of Bioluminescence
Ferris Jabr, Hakai

Your Brain Does Not Process Information and it is not a Computer
Robert Epstein, Aeon

This is How Fascism Comes to America
Robert Kagan, Washington Post

Lewis on Tolkien: “Only Needs A Smack or So”
Jonathan McDonald, Dappled Things

The Meaning of Food
Ian Sansom, Times Literary Supplement