Friday, I was honored to be the emcee at the Center for Bioethics and Culture Annual Paul Ramsey Award Dinner. The award was given to Mary Ann Glendon. The keynoter was my wonderful friend, Joseph Bottum. He really put the problems we face in our culture in general, and bioethics/biotech in specific, into proper context and import. “What I want to do tonight is present the argument from poetry,” he said. And so he did. If you want to hear it—and you should!—hit this link.
Oh yes, then there’s this: Bottum’s daughter is right: “‘Thwart’ really is a very good word!”
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
