The Editors

George Weigel on Christmas as a cure for cynicism and irony : There is neither cynicism nor irony in Mary’s reception of the angel Gabriel and her acceptance of the divine invitation to become the  Theotokos , the “God-bearer” or “Mother of God.” There was a . . . . Continue Reading »

Elizabeth Scalia on doing better with the hard questions : In fact, Benedict XVI—who goes by the handle @Pontifex on Twitter—had answered a “hard” question, because the life of faith turns all questions into “hard” ones. The answers become hard, too, mostly because on . . . . Continue Reading »

William Doino Jr. on Therese and the death penalty : Therese was convinced her prayers had helped save the forsaken Pranzini from damnation. He became for her “mon premier enfant”—“my first child”—and the experience strengthened her conviction to become a Carmelite . . . . Continue Reading »

Wesley J. Smith praises dead white men : Recall that white men issued the Declaration of Independence’s “self-evident” assertion of universal equality. Three hundred thousand white Union soldiers gave their lives to free the slaves. Having been convinced of the sheer moral . . . . Continue Reading »

Leroy Huizenga on how microphones muffle good preaching : Technology changes things. Perhaps that seems obvious; one need think only of the advances made in areas such as medicine and agriculture in the last century. But when it comes to modern media like radio, television, and the internet, we can . . . . Continue Reading »

George Weigel on books for Christmas : The most intellectually exciting book I read this past year was Richard Bauckham’s Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony  (Eerdmans). Unfolding his research like a detective story and deploying the most contemporary . . . . Continue Reading »

Elizabeth Scalia on loving and labeling: When we label anyone, we immediately do them an injustice—even if the label seems accurate. We shortchange their story. We open them up to caricature and to the misunderstanding that comes with it. Labels reduce all of our complexities and beautiful . . . . Continue Reading »

R.R. Reno on martinis and taxes : How do we deal with unsustainable spending and borrowing? The formula is simple: less spending—or more accurately less rapid increases in spending—and more revenue. But can we generate more revenue without suppressing economic growth, which is after all . . . . Continue Reading »

Peter J. Leithart on the Christian origins of Islam : Near the bottom of the pit of hell, Dante encounters a man walking with his torso split from chin to groin, his guts and other organs spilling out. “See how I tear myself!” the man shrieks. “See how Mahomet is deformed and . . . . Continue Reading »

Nicholas Frankovich considers whether St. Nicholas really existed : Nicholas, bishop of Myra and a saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, was born in the third century and died in the fourth. There, I said it. That he ever lived at all was questioned by some historians in the . . . . Continue Reading »