Archive

Prior to the November 2024 election, transgender issues loomed large for many parents, who feared the erosion of parental rights regarding their children’s “gender identity.” The phrase “They are...

My new book, The Desecration of Man, emerged from something I had noticed while researching questions...

Regular First Things readers will know that one of my preoccupations is the dehumanization that grips our cultural moment, from the casual abuse that right and left hurl at...

It is fascinating to be an outsider on the inside of an institution going through times of trouble. It is akin to having a backstage pass to a Police...

This past week, I read three things that offered a glimpse of how empty the modern notion of what it means to be human really is. The first was...

Question: Why do babies in the womb have fewer rights than vermin? Answer: Because men can buy Viagra over the counter. Yes, this sounds at best like a piece...

One of the most striking aspects of our therapeutic age is the increasing inability of many to sustain a sane and coherent moral hierarchy. Perhaps this stems from the...

I anticipate that the most controversial part of my forthcoming book, The Desecration of Man, will be my discussion of how modern fertility treatments such as IVF and surrogacy...

It was Gerstäcker’s mother. She held out her trembling hand to K. and had him sit down beside her, she spoke with great difficulty. It was difficult to understand...

Over my many years in the U.S., I have resisted the temptation to buy into the catastrophism that characterizes American conservative commentary on my homeland, from claims about NHS...

The task of the historian is typically that of spoiler. When someone at a dinner party declares that some recent action or event is “unprecedented,” it is the historian’s...

I was teaching an undergraduate colloquium on critical theory at the University of Notre Dame when the news broke of Tucker Carlson’s interview with Nick Fuentes. The timing was...

Many years ago, I coined the term “Big Eva.” While today the term is used as a quick and lazy smear for any well-known figures of a previous generation...

Recent events in Canterbury and Rome underscore this year’s significant anniversaries. I am not thinking here of the obvious one: the 1700th year since the first ecumenical council set...

The most pressing question we face today is that of the Psalmist: “What is man?” So urgent is the question of man that the question of God has re-emerged...