First Thoughts

Culture, Anti-Culture, and Nostalgia

Responding to two common criticisms of my view of the rise of the anti-culture. Continue Reading »

After Great Lent

Last Sunday Orthodox Christians around the world finally celebrated Pascha and proclaimed Christ risen from the dead. As in Western Christendom, Orthodox Easter is preceded by Holy Week—the liturgical pinnacle of the Orthodox Church. In this week of preparation and commemoration, our services, . . . . Continue Reading »

Defying Anti-Intellectualism: An Essay/Video Contest for Your Students

Last year, Adam Bellow and I edited a volume of essays entitled The State of the American Mind: 16 Leading Critics on the New Anti-Intellectualism. The contributions varied in subject matter and approach, but one motif ran more or less through them all. It is this: the knowledge and dispositions . . . . Continue Reading »

First Links — 5.6.16

Ascension Day Couldn't Be More Timely
Peter M. Burfeind, Federalist

The Spark of Life Meets IVF (and Uncle Andrew)
Simcha Fisher, Aleteia

That Thing You Think Is an Allegory Isn't an Allegory!
Laura Miller, Slate

Poland: Europe's Forgotten Democratic Ancestor
Adriel Kasonta, National Interest

Why Aren't Other Dioceses Looking to Lincoln?
Brian Williams, Liturgy Guy

Demoncracies End When They Are Too Democratic
Andrew Sullivan, New York Magazine

Reclaiming “Redneck” Urbanism: What Urban Planners Can Learn From Trailer Parks
Nolan Gray, Market Urbanism

In Defense of BYU's Honor Code
Damon Linker, The Week

All that’s Gehrish
Bruce Cole, New Criterion

Hail Thee, Festival Day!

When I was young, my family's favorite hymn was sung on three days of the Church year. We knew it came on Easter and Pentecost, but we scratched our heads when we tried to remember the other festival day hailed in this resounding hymn. Ascension Thursday would catch us each year as a (pleasant) . . . . Continue Reading »

Laboratory Limits that are not Limits

Laboratory researchers have been able to extend the time they can keep a human embryo alive in the lab from nine days to 13 days. Now many are asking, “Why not go beyond the 14-day-post-fertilization limit that has governed this research to date?” Why, indeed? If the embryonic human being—in . . . . Continue Reading »

“To Trump, or Not to Trump”

To Trump, or not to Trump, that is the question.
Whether ’tis nobler in the land to suffer
The tweets and twaddles of outrageous baseness
Or to take arms against an orange menace
And, by opposing…do what? . . . . Continue Reading »

New Paper on Human Dignity and Religious Freedom

For those who are interested, a draft version of my new article, “Of Human Dignities,” is now available on the Social Science Research Network site. The article will appear in a forthcoming symposium in the Notre Dame Law Review on the 50th anniversary of Dignitatis Humanae, the Vatican II . . . . Continue Reading »

The Rise of the Anti-Culture

The Culture War is over. Culture is dead, the coup de grace inflicted by an Unholy Trinity. Now begins the Age of the Anti-Culture. Continue Reading »

No Peace with Wicked Law

Those who think an amended C-14, with some regulatory tightening and some provision for religious or conscientious objection, is what even opponents of the bill should now aim at, as the lesser of evils, should think again. Here are some things they should think about:First, C-14 is not a bill to . . . . Continue Reading »