Joe Carter

All this week, First Things has been hosting an online symposium on on Benedict XVI’s Caritas in Veritate . In case you’ve missed them, here are all six of the entries: » Benedict XVI, Economist by Ivan Kenneally » Is Benedict in Favor of World Government? by Douglas A. Sylva . . . . Continue Reading »

Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List , providing perspective for us old timers on how students just entering college see the world. For the Class of 2013: 4. They have never used a card catalog to find a book. 6. Salsa has always outsold ketchup. 8. . . . . Continue Reading »

Science fiction novelist John Scalzi lists some of the worst designs in the Star Wars universe : Lightsabers Yes, I know, I want one too. But I tell you what: I want one with a hand guard. Otherwise every lightsaber battle would consist of sabers clashing and then their owners sliding as quickly as . . . . Continue Reading »

Greg Graffin, the legendary punk rocker turned evolutionary biologist, concluded in his doctoral dissertation, “Monism, Atheism, and the Naturalist World-View: Perspectives from Evolutionary Biology,” that there’s “no conflict between evolutionary theory and religion on the one . . . . Continue Reading »

Imagine if every church in America—or even one in every ten churches—would make this same offer : Last weekend an Atlanta pastor made a promise that stunned his congregation and most of the people who heard it. In a speech that discussed abortion, the President, and the sanctity of life, . . . . Continue Reading »

Kevin DeYoung has started a blog series examining what the Bible says about social justice and the poor . In his first post he discusses the connection between moral proximity and moral obligation: The principle is pretty straightforward, but it is often overlooked: the closer the moral proximity . . . . Continue Reading »

Irving Kristol’s quip that “A neoconservative is a liberal who has been mugged by reality” gains empirical support : For people who feel psychologically all at sea, the conservative values of authority, order and tradition provide a comforting anchor. That’s according to . . . . Continue Reading »

In response to my critique of her post on Marian devotion, Heather Mac Donald says that her “tone was clearly self-indulgent and insensitive” but that “however poorly phrased, the post was an honest cri du coeur.” I appreciate both her civility and her honesty. I regret that . . . . Continue Reading »

This week First Things is hosting the first of our new online symposiums. For our inaugural effort we’ve a variety of thinkers to examine and reflect on Benedict XVI’s Caritas in Veritate . Yesterday, Michael Novak illuminated the tensions inherent in the encyclical : I have been trying . . . . Continue Reading »

In 1873, a retired British Army captain became the agent for the 3rd Earl of Erne’s estates in County Mayo. It didn’t take long for the old soldier to find that he had taken the wrong job at the wrong time. Local tenant farmers, enraged at the high rents being charged by their English . . . . Continue Reading »