First Thoughts

First Links — 11.20.15

What Polls Can't Tell Us about Faith in America
Jody Avirgan, Emma Green, Leah Libresco, FiveThirtyEight

English is not Normal
John McWhorter, Aeon

What Can We Do as Muslims in Wake of #ParisAttacks?
Saud Inam, Patheos

Art for All of Us? Greek Tragedy and War Veterans
Sarah Ruden, Books and Culture

The Illusion of Respectability 
Allen Guelzo, Christianity Today

Where the Safe Things Are
Rek LeCounte, Token Dissonance

All Valid Law is Analogical
Graham McAleer, Library of Law and Liberty

Dinner Invitations Yes, but also Sharing Houses
Wesley Hill, Spiritual Friendship

What We've Been Reading

As I rode the train to DC for Yuval Levin’s lecture last week, I read Haunted Castles, a volume of gothic stories by Ray Russell. The volume includes his famous sibilant tales, Sardonicus, Sagittarius, and Sanguinarius, as well as Comet Wine, the story of the world’s greatest unknown composer. All are memorable and finely wrought (one of Russell’s characters says “my preferences, as you know, have always been for the baroque”; so too with the author).

Remembering Brett Foster

Sad news from last week: Wheaton College mourns the death of Professor Brett Foster, who has been a good, true friend to his students and colleagues on campus,” said Wheaton College President Dr. Philip G. Ryken. “Dr. Foster’s exceptional poems will be a lasting treasure for all who read them, . . . . Continue Reading »

The Revenge of the Coddled: An Interview with Jonathan Haidt

I recently had a chance to speak with Dr. Jonathan Haidt, a psychologist and professor of business ethics at New York University-Stern School of Business, whose book, The Righteous Mind, discusses the emotional justification of modern-day ethical beliefs and political divides. Recently, he wrote a . . . . Continue Reading »

Corporeal Justice at Princeton

Friends, You may have seen the news of Princeton's courageous decision to rename the “masters” of its residential colleges as “heads” in response to the unrest at Missouri, Yale, etc. As an alumnus/a/x of the university, I wholly support this decision. Given that Princeton has mostly . . . . Continue Reading »

Saving Willy Loman

The focus on the increase in death rates for white Americans between ages 45-54 in the media obscures equally troubling results in Anne Case and Angus Deaton’s recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife . . . . Continue Reading »

2016 Presidential Candidates as Described by the Smash-Hit Musical Hamilton

Hillary Clinton

It must be nice, it must be nice
To have Washington on your side

Bernie Sanders

Scratch that
This is not a moment it’s the movement
. . . . Continue Reading »

First Links — 11.13.15

Speaking Truth to Pain
Noah Millman, American Conservative

The Priest and the Pieces of Christ's Body he Protects
Elizabeth Scalia, Aleteia

Rene Girard Remembered
Artur Rosman, Patheos

Chicago nun wins ‘Chopped,' hopes it will help spotlight ‘issue of hunger'
Manya Brachear Pashman, Chicago Tribune

“Why Hold a Child Hostage to My Doubts?”
Ruth Graham, Slate

In Lieu of Female Deacons, a Proposal
Jenna M. Cooper, J.C.L., Crisis

If Nietzsche Wrote Batman, It Would Look Like ‘Gotham’
Brian Boyd, Acculturated

Use the Buycott

As the Indiana RFRA episode last spring demonstrated all-too-well, corporate America is no longer non-partisan. When it comes to social issues, it has responded to pressure from social progressives and abandoned social and religious conservative positions.As Patrick Deneen argued in First . . . . Continue Reading »

Is There Prayer on Mars?

Mars, the Red Planet, has stoked the imagination of stargazers for a long, long time. Could life exist on our planetary neighbor? Most recently, NASA announced that it appears that liquid water, at least occasionally, flows there. A manned landing is certainly within the realm of possibility. . . . . Continue Reading »