Various

Dante . By R. W. B. Lewis. Viking. 205 pp. $19.95 . Dante: A Life in Works . By Robert Hollander. Yale University Press. 222 pp. $25. The work of Dante Alighieri is a compendium of medieval history, culture, politics, and religion. The problem in understanding him is not so much a lack of . . . . Continue Reading »

Alas, First Things seems intent on remaining merely a scholarly magazine hovering above the fray on the topic of abortion. A more apt name would be Safe Things. You have tried twice now in less than a year to steer clear of being a magazine that moves the pro-life agenda forward. As I began reading . . . . Continue Reading »

Small persimmons, squashed and tangy sweet Among dried leaves, in chill vanilla air, Arrest us on our way along the street Leading to Maymont grounds. Most trees are bare. Grandpa, who took us by the hand To paradise, we beseech you, bring, In those transparent bottles from so long ago Filled with . . . . Continue Reading »

The Influence of Faith: Religious Groups and U.S. Foreign Policy. Edited by Elliott Abrams. Rowman & Littlefield. 237 pp. $75.00 cloth, $24.95 paper. A product of the estimable Ethics and Public Policy Center, this timely collection of essays surveys the increasingly complex interaction of . . . . Continue Reading »

I was surprised to find in James Nuechterlein’s “ Pride and Patriotism ” (May) a chain of arguments that struck me as rather un-Christian. I am not surprised to hear that “a great many Americans” find the German language quite revolting, being well conditioned to think . . . . Continue Reading »

To age is but to respect gravity, movement that is denial given up in the fashion of prayer: on one’s knees and thankful perhaps to finally pause. Even the cockroach, large and hard-backed, slows as if to attract the descending heel, letting perpetual generation care for itself in the shadowy . . . . Continue Reading »

The Mobilization of Shame: A World View of Human Rights . By Robert F. Drinan, S.J. Yale University Press. 194 pp. $24 .95 . Georgetown law professor Drinan fills a gap in the literature with this concise, readable survey of the evolution of human rights protection from the late 1940s to the . . . . Continue Reading »

Robert P. George’s “ What is Law? A Century of Arguments ” (April) will be a wonderful addition to my philosophy of law course this fall, but it accepts too easily H. L. A. Hart’s positivist desire for a “conceptual separation” between morality and law. Contrary to the . . . . Continue Reading »

Extra place set at your mind’s table like Ezekiel’s: empty glass, clean spoon. Hands that never pointed out the moon, laid the baby in the Christmas stable, dried dishes. Voice that doesn’t call downstairs that he or she will be there soon. In steam behind a bathroom door, no one . . . . Continue Reading »

Examining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. Edited by Anthony J. Cernera and Oliver J. Morgan. Sacred Heart University Press. 234 pp. $24 .95 . The interdisciplinary academic program known as “Catholic Studies” has become something of a trend on both secular and Catholic campuses. For . . . . Continue Reading »