Various

Re: December's First Things piece on Heidegger (“The People versus Martin Heidegger”): quite simply, both Heidegger and Nazi ideology were nihilistic. That Heidegger's cant on Angst, Sorge, man as Sein zum Tod, and incomprehensible hyphenation of words already obscure and oracular have . . . . Continue Reading »

Public Education: An Autopsy by myron lieberman  harvard university press, 379 pages, $27.95  The School-Choice Controversy: What Is Constitutional? edited by james w. skillen  baker book house/center for public justice, 128 pages, $6.99 paper  Two new entries in the . . . . Continue Reading »

As one who usually finds Gilbert Meilaender's contributions to First Things interesting, insightful, and provocative, I am quite surprised by his negative review of James Q. Wilson's The Moral Sense (November 1993). To my lights, Wilson's book is one of the best works of . . . . Continue Reading »

The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church by peter j. leithart. presbyterian and reformed publishing house (phillipsburg, pa.). 269 pp. $11.95 paper.  If you appreciate Peter Leithart’s sprightly opinion pieces in these pages, you will want to get this . . . . Continue Reading »

An Exchange on Crime and Punishment: William J. Bennett and Charles Colson I was surprised by Charles Colson’s criticism of my views (“Crime and the Cure of the Soul,” October 1993), and I must respond to him. Because Mr. Colson is prominent in this debate, it is important to point out where . . . . Continue Reading »

Sister Aimee: The Life of Aimee Semple McPherson by Daniel Mark Epstein Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 496 pages, $27.95 Among the many colorful personalities who gripped the nation’s attention in the 1920s, no one fascinated the eager public more than the evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, an . . . . Continue Reading »

More on Berger’s God Peter Berger’s “God in a World of Gods” (August/September) illustrates how quickly a Christian may pour out the baby with the bathwater if he is willing, for the sake of “political correctness” and “multiculturalism,” to make concessions on the chief points of . . . . Continue Reading »

Benjamin Franklin, Jonathan Edwards, and the Representation of American Culture edited by barbara b. oberg and harry s. stout oxford university press, 230 pages, $35 Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan Edwards have frequently been studied as competing character types in American culture: with Franklin . . . . Continue Reading »

Dealing with Gay Advocacy The excellent and superbly presented article by Jerry Z. Muller, “Coming Out Ahead: The Homosexual Moment in the Academy” (August/ September), contains an interesting paradox. The paradox involves the following questions: Who benefits most from such an impressive . . . . Continue Reading »

No Longer Exiles: The Religious New Right in American Politics edited by michael cromartie ethics and public policy center, 153 pages, $18.95 To list the participants in the discussions from which this book emergedis to recommend the book most highly: George Marsden, Grant Wacker, Robert Booth . . . . Continue Reading »