The Public SquareShortly before he died on November 23, 1976, André Malraux said, “The twenty-first century will be religious or it will not be at all.” I’m not sure what Malraux meant by it, but it is one of those oracular pronouncements that have about them the ring of truth. At the . . . . Continue Reading »
The Public SquareWhen asked what he most misses since becoming a Roman Catholic, Father George Rutler, a former Anglican, routinely responds, “The liturgy in English.” I feel his pain. Most Catholics apparently don’t, having never known the King James Bible or liturgy in the tradition of . . . . Continue Reading »
No doubt many preachers on Easter Sunday referred to the thirty-nine suicides of Rancho Santa Fe in order to set forth, by way of sharpest contrast, the Christian understanding of body, soul, and life eternal. At least I hope they did. In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the press and . . . . Continue Reading »
The Public Square A reader who has been keeping count claims that we’ve had six items in the past year poking fun at the antismoking crusade. What gives? she wants to know. It’s probably not unrelated to my enjoying a cigar, but it’s the sanctimonious tone of the crusade that . . . . Continue Reading »
It is no secret that when Centesimus Annus appeared in 1991 some of us viewed it not only as an important teaching moment but also as a vindication of our understanding of catholic social doctrine. There was a great temptation to declare triumphantly, “I told you so.” That temptation was . . . . Continue Reading »
Yale Law School, like others, makes provisions for prospective employers to interview students on campus. In December 1994, the Christian Legal Society (CLS), a national organization that has hired Yale students before and has many Yale graduates as members, applied to take part in the February . . . . Continue Reading »
An incisive article by Hadley Arkes (with Arkes, the adjective is superfluous) engages the argument of a new book by Harvard’s Harvey C. Mansfield, Machiavelli’s Virtue (University of Chicago Press). Machiavelli’s virtue, of course, has nothing to do with morality and everything to . . . . Continue Reading »
The Public SquareCome December 31, 1999, there’ll be a big millennium party in Times Square. According to Gretchen Dykstra of the business group that runs such things, it will be a twenty-four-hour affair with giant television screens conveying multicultural messages from the planet’s . . . . Continue Reading »
The Public SquareFor my sins, part of my misspent youth was misspent in Texas. I’ve never regretted the time in Cisco, a depressed and dust-driven town that was kind to me and is perfectly evoked in the film The Last Picture Show. Of West Texas it was said that there is nothing wrong with it . . . . Continue Reading »
The Public Square There are hot buttons and then there are nuclear triggers. In the latter category, it is commonly thought, is the question of evangelizing Jews. When, however, the Southern Baptist Convention last summer reaffirmed that there is a Christian mission also to Jews, the reaction from . . . . Continue Reading »
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