Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!

Civil religion and national holidays

More than two decades ago I walked into the building of a megachurch near Chicago on the Sunday nearest the Independence Day holiday. I sat down prepared to worship the God who revealed himself uniquely in Jesus Christ, but I was disappointed by what I saw when I opened the bulletin. Every . . . . Continue Reading »

Thirty Three Things (v. 4)

1. Roger Callois on the difference between play, work, and art: A characteristic of play, in fact, is that it creates no wealth or goods, thus differing from work or art. At the end of the game, all can and must start over again at the same point. Nothing has been harvested or manufactured, no . . . . Continue Reading »

Nothing Less Than Animus

Earlier this afternoon, our senior editor R. R. Reno examined, with the analytical skill of a biblical scholar (a good biblical scholar), the bias of the New York Times ’ latest coverage of Benedict and his role in the sex abuse scandal. The title How Do You Spell Tendentious? gives you the . . . . Continue Reading »

Homemakers, But Not Radically

For obvious reasons, cultural as much as or more than ideological, some of the people in the First Things circles are some form of Crunchy Con . Rod Dreher invented the term a few years ago to describe those who are socially and culturally conservative but as part of that conservatism value . . . . Continue Reading »

The Church He Loves to Hate

One can always count on our favorite Church basher, Ian Paisley, to think of new and creative ways to knock the Church. Most recently, he denounced Britain for inviting the pope because, regarding the sex-abuse scandals, the Church ” is anti-Christ in teaching and doctrine .” One . . . . Continue Reading »

How Do You Spell Tendentious?

A long article in today’s New York Times reports on some of the Vatican’s early responses to the sex-abuse crisis. The facts in the story, such as they are, appear good to know. But what the article tries to draw from it all . . . In fact, of Pope Benedict’s career as Cardinal . . . . Continue Reading »

Tags

Loading...

Filter First Thoughts Posts