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The Omega Man

From First Thoughts

Saturday night I sat down with two physicists from Union University and watched Charlton Heston in The Omega Man.  The film is part of an unofficial apocalyptic trilogy which includes Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green.First thought: Heston was still rocking his own hair in . . . . Continue Reading »

Jordan Ballor on Ecumenical Babel

From First Thoughts

Books on the church and economics are not all that common, so I was eager to talk to the Acton Institute’s Jordan Ballor, who edits the Journal of Markets and Morality, about his new volume Ecumenical Babel.Writing a book is serious undertaking that requires a lot of motivation. . . . . Continue Reading »

Christians Debating Secularism

From First Thoughts

Jonathan Malesic and I debated the value of secularism for Christians on Radio Free Acton.  You can hear it here.Jonathan thinks the church should go private for our own sake.  Get his book here.  And, I, of course, see things a bit differently since I’m the author of . . . . Continue Reading »

Judging People in the Way of the World

From First Thoughts

I recently came into possession of a book titled Anatomy of a Great Executive by John Wareham.  Wareham was a successful executive headhunter who published several big-selling books on assessing talent and achieving success.Success books have interested me since I got married and my . . . . Continue Reading »

A Great Way to Connect with Grandparents

From First Thoughts

I took my family to visit my 94 year old grandmother in Columbia, Tennessee last night and today.  After we ate (she’s still a great cook) and the kids went to bed, we stayed up looking through all her old photo albums.In the process, I realized how little I knew about the family in which . . . . Continue Reading »

An Experiment in Old Media: Reading Time

From First Thoughts

I can remember when internet content presented itself to me as an unexpected bounty of thoughtful essays, articles, and shorter form stuff. There was a time when I read every single post at National Review’s The Corner (a blog started early in the last decade) and regularly checked in on the . . . . Continue Reading »

I Will Miss You, Irene Rosenberg.

From First Thoughts

Irene Rosenberg recently passed away. She was a longtime member of the University of Houston Law Center and a lion-hearted liberal. Irene and her husband Yale were two of the brightest lights at the law school. They were orthodox Jews and unapologetic leftists.While I disagreed with the two of them . . . . Continue Reading »