Nathaniel Peters

As many have heard, the former papal Master of Ceremonies (the man who organizes and runs the masses at which the pope presides) Archbishop Piero Marini has just published a book, in English, called A Challenging Reform: Realizing the Vision of the Liturgical Renewal, 1963-1975 . The book recounts . . . . Continue Reading »

As some of you may have noticed, we are accepting applications for junior fellows at First Things . Young writers and scholars who are thinking of applying might wonder what’s it like to be a junior fellow. Do you do it for the power, the popularity, or the bling? An answer to the question . . . . Continue Reading »

Apparently our political candidates are not being careful with their personal pronouns. This should not be too surprising, as they have other things to occupy the forefront of their minds, but the Wall Street Journal has a nice article on grammar in politics and the changing trends in American . . . . Continue Reading »

Some weeks ago I came across an article in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) on the increasing ties between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian government, particularly under Vladimir Putin. Caesaropapism has a history in Russia, and while it has appeared in the Western . . . . Continue Reading »

When was the last time you read a book on rock ‘n’ roll that had a bibliography with St. Augustine ( City of God and the Confessions ), J. Budziszewski, Peter Kreeft, Thomas Merton, Fulton Sheen (3 books), Richard John Neuhaus, and George Weigel? The book in question arrived in our . . . . Continue Reading »

Until this Sunday, January 13, three panels from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise will be on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art . For those Americans who have never been to the Baptistery in Florence, and who don’t plan on visiting Italy any time soon, the exhibition provides . . . . Continue Reading »

Here’s a nice article by John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter on how Benedict XVI spends his time not by simply denouncing the evils of the world, but by offering Christianity as a positive alternative, what Allen calls “affirmative orthodoxy”: By “affirmative . . . . Continue Reading »

Rusty, that was a great piece on Harvard’s new curriculum. You did a fine job of identifying the ills afflicting modern collegiate pedagogy. To your analysis I would add a brief comment. The modern university can teach students to be critics, and indeed modern college students are very good . . . . Continue Reading »

I finally got around to reading an excellent article that appeared some time ago in the New York Times Magazine . In “Death in the Family,” Daniel Berger writes of the former governor of Washington State, Booth Gardner, who now has Parkinson’s and wants the right to end his life. . . . . Continue Reading »

Imagine this one for a second. The government sends inspectors to abortion clinics to crack down on illegal abortions and the pro-life movement steps up its protests and activism. In response, the abortion clinics do the unforeseen: they go on strike. This may sound like a pipe dream, but the New . . . . Continue Reading »