Various

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 »

The Return to Scripture in Judaism and Christianity. Edited by Peter Ochs. Paulist Press. 378 pp. $18.95 paper. This collection originated in a colloquium of distinguished religious thinkers-Moshe Greenberg, Hans Frei, George Lindbeck, Steven Fraade, and Peter Ochs-held at Yale in 1987-88. Out of . . . . Continue Reading »

The Making of a President? It was with eager anticipation that I read the Opinion “A President in Process” by editor James Nuechterlein (February). But after failing to express any opinion at all and being unable to find any nice and neat category in which to drop President Clinton, the . . . . Continue Reading »

As the Second Millennium draws to a close, the Christian mission in world history faces a moment of daunting opportunity and responsibility. If in the merciful and mysterious ways of God the Second Coming is delayed, we enter upon a Third Millennium that could be, in the words of John Paul II, “a . . . . Continue Reading »

Martyrs and Martyrologies edited by Diana Wood Blackwell, 497 pages, $64.95 The story of Christian martyrs of the twentieth century is yet to be told, and one of the merits of this collection of learned essays, consisting of papers read at the Summer 1992 and Winter 1993 meetings of the . . . . Continue Reading »

The Religion of Journalists Stanley Rothman has written a thoughtful critique (“Religion’s Bad Press,” January) of the report “Bridging the Gap: Religion and the News Media,” coauthored by myself and the Rev. Jimmy L. Allen. Since I had major responsibility for its . . . . Continue Reading »

Catholicism, Chicago Styleby ellen skerrett, edward r. kantowicz, and steven m. avella loyola university press, 194 pages, $35 cloth, $21.95 paper  The City of Broad Shoulders has long considered itself to be the home of a particularly vibrant form of Catholicism. And while the strains of the . . . . Continue Reading »