November 1916 is the second big volume of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s historical epic The Red Wheel, recounting in relentless detail the events leading up to the Bolshevik takeover in 1917 (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1,014 pages,, $35 ). It is a strange and engrossing work, written in a manner . . . . Continue Reading »
The Public Square The long history of colleges and universities betraying their founding purposes is well told in Father James Burtchaell’s doleful and instructive The Dying of the Light: The Disengagement of Colleges and Universities from Their Christian Churches (Eerdmans). It is a complex . . . . Continue Reading »
The Public Square We are regularly cautioned against stereotypes, and rightly so. A stereotype is a type or image that is unchangeable, as though carved in stone (from the Greek stereos, meaning solid). On the other hand, stereotypes exist because certain images or impressions are so often . . . . Continue Reading »
The Public Square Almost everything short of the Kingdom of God can be improved, but some things are so very good that it seems churlish to wish they were better. Such a thing is the statement adopted by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB), “Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to . . . . Continue Reading »
The Public Square Our reviewer had some very positive things to say about Cynthia Gorney’s Articles of Faith: A Frontline History of the Abortion Wars (Dave Andrusko, “The Pro-Life Movement Then and Now,” November 1998). Phyllis Orrick interviews Gorney in the New York Press, and the . . . . Continue Reading »
The Public SquareNearly 130 years ago the First Vatican Council, in a document called Dei Filius, affirmed the complete compatibility of faith and reason, and a few years later, in 1879, Leo XIII issued the encyclical Aeterni Patris, “On the Restoration of Christian Philosophy,” which affirmed . . . . Continue Reading »
The first thing I should say is that I am not a Lewis scholar. The second thing is that, from what I understand of the man, he would likely be amused that there are people called Lewis scholars. There are simply those who can stop reading Lewis, and those who can’t. After a while, some of the . . . . Continue Reading »
The Public Square Born in February 1997, Dolly is two years old now, or maybe eight years old, because the cell used in cloning her was six years old at the time. Since Dr. Ian Wilmut announced Dolly to the world, some scientists have expressed skepticism about whether she really is a clone, though . . . . Continue Reading »
The Public Square In June the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) formally approved a “Joint Declaration” (JD) on the doctrine of justification that had been worked out over many years of theological dialogue with the Catholic Church. Shortly after that, Rome made its official response in a . . . . Continue Reading »
The Public Square Since I do not assume that all our readers are also readers of the Weekly Standard, herewith an expanded version of a review that appeared in that esteemed publication. (No, Jody Bottum, who used to be our associate editor and is now the books and culture editor of the Standard, . . . . Continue Reading »
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