First Thoughts

Armenian Christmas Pudding

A holiday recipe Continue Reading »

My Year in Music

My favorite songs that weren’t released in 2014, but that I first heard—or got into—this year. Continue Reading »

Campaign Report

Dear Reader,One week ago, First Things began a ten-day campaign to help us reach our end of year goal of raising $400,000 from our magazine and online readers. I’m happy to report that we have raised $285,190.04 thus far! That means we have just $114,809.96 left to raise to meet our $400,000 . . . . Continue Reading »

Reading Saint Augustine in 2015

Exactly one year ago I suggested that we read through Augustine’s City of God in 2014. I’m happy to report that we accomplished our goal. I had hoped maybe a half dozen people would become interested in the project, but over a thousand people joined the Facebook group. Continue Reading »

A Daily Reading Plan for Shakespeare’s Works

A couple of years ago, having twice gone through the Bible on daily reading plans, I wanted to tackle Shakespeare’s complete works with similar discipline. Unfortunately, after searching high and low, I could find no daily reading plan for Shakespeare. So I created one, and read all the works in 2013—even the plays Shakespeare c0-authored—in less than half an hour a day. Continue Reading »

Calvary’s Lost Catholicism

Patrick Cassidy, the composer for the 2014 film Calvary, jokes about the film’s grimness: “It’s not exactly a date movie.” He’s right: The film follows a lonely Irish priest as he shepherds a cold and bitter village. Its harsh realism is profoundly humbling. Heavy as the film is, it is lifted by Cassidy’s classical score. Continue Reading »

First Links—12.29.14

How the Essay Was Won and Where It Got Us
Tobias Carroll, Hazlitt

Three Conceptions: Laschian, Romantic, and Immaculate
Michael J. Sauter, Front Porch Republic

Book Review: Modern Man: The Life of Le Corbusier
Eric Wills, The Washington Post

Foreign Policy Magazine on Iraqi Christians

From Foreign Policy, a moving essay on how Iraqi Christians are observing this Christmas season. Last month, the author, Christian Caryl, visited Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, where Chaldean-rite Catholics, refugees from ISIS’s summer campaign, live in tents in a church courtyard: Continue Reading »

Slaughtered Sons

We like the story of angels proclaiming peace on earth and good will toward men. But we too often forget a darker side of the Christmas story: the slaughter of Bethlehem’s infant boys. Continue Reading »

We’re in the Way

On Monday, First Things took its end of year campaign online for a ten-day push to complete our goal of raising $400,000 from our readers by the end of the year. Will you help us reach this goal by making a gift today?