Various

The Ground We Share: Everyday Practice, Christian and Buddhist by Robert Aitken and David Steindl-Rast Triumph Books. 232 pp. $27.95 Aitken is a Zen Buddhist Roshi and one of the most active and articulate American teachers of, and apologists for, Zen. Steindl-Rast is a Benedictine monk who has a . . . . Continue Reading »

Choosing Choice John E. Coons (“Is Choice Still Choice?” August/September) writes that polls show support for choice in education. The more sophisticated polls, however, show that while the public strongly supports choice within public education, it equally opposes public support for . . . . Continue Reading »

Thick and Thin: Moral Argument at Home and Abroad By Michael Walzer University of Notre Dame Press. 105 pp. $16.95 The author of Spheres of Justice and The Company of Critics considers the problem of distributive justice after the collapse of the Communist states in 1989. “This new world is . . . . Continue Reading »

What Jesus Said  Richard B. Hays’ critical analysis of The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus (“The Corrected Jesus,” May) was estimable in every way. I would add only a few brief comments. Hays notes that the criterion of dissimilarity was used by the . . . . Continue Reading »

On Power: The Natural History of its Growth By Bertrand de Jouvenel Liberty Press. 444 pp. $25 cloth, $8.50 paper. Liberty Fund’s tradition of publishing handsome and inexpensive volumes on liberty is enriched by this twentieth-century classic of political theory. Jouvenel chronicles with . . . . Continue Reading »

As members of the National Association of College and University Chaplains (NACUC), we want to offer a response to the article "The Homosexual Movement: A Response by the Ramsey Colloquium" (March). Since this essay sets out to "form a moral judgment regarding this new thing in our . . . . Continue Reading »

Late last year the Vatican released the report of the Pontifical Biblical Commission on "The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church." The editors of First Things commissioned the following responses to this important document. Paul M. Blowers Jon D. Levenson Robert L. Wilken Paul M. . . . . Continue Reading »

As If (Psalm 73) Here’s a picture of the bad ones I once envied: Everything came easily: they did not need To work to make their living, want A catchy line, an angle to find lovers or companions At the dining table: tan and fit from laps and basking Poolside, they order drinks and gaze at the . . . . Continue Reading »

Handbook of Evangelical Theologians Edited by Walter A. Elwell Baker Books. 465 pp. $29.95 Almost twenty years ago, Newsweek magazine declared 1976 the”Year of the Evangelical.” Jimmy Carter’s born-again Baptist faith and Charles Colson’s best-selling book Born Again had . . . . Continue Reading »

Pro and Con on Homosexuality Given a subscription to First Things, I read it eagerly for its cogent and coherent views on all things public. I read with dismay, however, the recent declaration of the Ramsey Colloquium in “The Homosexual Movement” (March), the ostensible purpose of which . . . . Continue Reading »