Various

American Empire Congratulations to Nigel Biggar for his “A Christian Defense of American Empire” (October). As three generations of descendants of the loyalist Andrew Oliver, who was commissioned to administer the unpopular Stamp Act in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, we were pleased to read . . . . Continue Reading »

It is a widespread and ecumenical complaint that most of the academic work of biblical interpretation today is useless for preaching, praying, or the life of the Church. Leroy Huizenga, author of the excellent study of St. Matthew’s Gospel The New Isaac (2009) has, since he converted to . . . . Continue Reading »

In his recent op-ed (“The Hypocrisy of Masks,” August/­September) exploring the theme of hypocrisy in C. S. Lewis’s works, Gilbert Meilaender presents a careless reading of Lewis’s last novel, Till We Have Faces. This inattention to the details of Orual’s story compromises his argument, . . . . Continue Reading »

Russell A. Berman’s essay (“State of Emergency,” June/July) about our nation’s instability in various areas of public life is an insightful and valuable analysis of the fraying of the social bonds that hold together our multi-racial, multi-ethnic nation. There is one sentence, however, that . . . . Continue Reading »

At a theology conference some months ago, I mentioned to a friend that, although I think Karl Barth’s doctrine of the Word of God is one of modern theology’s great triumphs, academic “Barthianism” seemed to me a dead end. My friend walked me over to an eminent Barth scholar, who promptly . . . . Continue Reading »

Wokeism in Court I should begin by congratulating Frank Resartus on his excellent essay “Defeating the Equity ­Regime” (May). Resartus believes “conventional right-wing jurisprudence” on “just a handful of constitutional questions” could “defeat the [­equity] regime altogether.” . . . . Continue Reading »

Cassandra Nelson’s “A Theo­logy of Fiction” (April) is a welcome intervention and advance in an ­ongoing conversation that, as ­Nelson herself notes, I’ve been invested in for some time. Nelson’s attentiveness to the work of Sr. Mariella Gable—and her related readings of a series . . . . Continue Reading »

Forgotten Islam  Gabriel Said Reynold’s review of Mustafa Akyol’s book, Reopening Muslim Minds, makes fascinating reading (“Liberal Islam,” March). Instead of focusing on what is wrong with Islam, Akyol calls Muslims back to forgotten graces and truths in the Islamic tradition. Akyol . . . . Continue Reading »

Andrew Willard Jones follows his masterful study of the “sacramental kingdom” of Louis IX with this sweeping historiography of the Church, from its foundations in Eden up to the present moment. The plot assumes that Christianity is in fact true and that the protagonist is the Church. He opens . . . . Continue Reading »

East and West In his memoirs of growing up in the U.S.S.R., Wolfgang Leonhard recalled how he and his mother, a German Marxist-Leninist, emigrated from Germany to the communist paradise. When they looked for a map of Moscow, their new home, they found only useless, outdated ones and official plans . . . . Continue Reading »