R. R. Reno

New York isn’t quite as extreme as Paris, but the city gets noticeably emptier at the end of July and into August. It’s almost quiet and peaceful. OK, not almost, but certainly less crowded and frenetic. And therefore friendlier to the idea of settling down to read a book, which is no doubt why last night a friend asked me for some recommendations… . Continue Reading »

Professor Robert George at Princeton has been one of the most articulate spokesmen for the view of marriage as a union of one man and one woman. He has demonstrated the absurdity of liberal claims that there is no rational basis for objecting to same-sex marriage. Today on Public Discourse he has . . . . Continue Reading »

In The Chronicle of Higher Education , Russell Jacoby has some reflections on the state of conservative intellectual life , which he regards as moribund. No news here. It’s long been a conceit of the Left that conservatives are dumb, and if not dumb, then deranged, or paranoid, or racist, or . . . . Continue Reading »

What is it about our elite culture that is so fixated on contraception? Over at Public Discourse , Greg Pfundstein and Meghan Grizzle report on the latest decision by the Gates Foundation to put more than $4 billion behind efforts to expand the use of contraceptives worldwide. As they point out, . . . . Continue Reading »

In his column in the New York Times , Ross Douthat chronicles the decline of liberal Protestantism . The Episcopal Church and other mainline denominations were once pillars of the WASP establishment, providing religious leadership and inspiration in nation-defining events such as the civil rights . . . . Continue Reading »

Adam Kirsch has a charming essay marking the 100 birthday of literary critic M. H. Abrams over at the Tablet , one well worth reading. I may have read Abrams’ most famous work of criticism, The Mirror and the Lamp (1953), as an undergraduate or graduate student. But it was his other big book, . . . . Continue Reading »

The New York Times styled it a “denunciation.” The National Catholic Reporter saw it as part of the Vatican’s supposed “war on women.” The ever-reliable Paul Lakeland of Fairfield intoned that it was “a black day in the history of the Church.” What triggered this outrage? In early June the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican bureaucracy responsible for weighing in on questions of faith and morals, put out a “Notification” that censured Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics, a 2006 book about sexual ethics by Sr. Margaret Farley… . Continue Reading »

Dear Readers, First Things is a non-profit. For more than twenty years readers have provided donations that have sustained the journal. Now the electronic age presents new challenges. I’ve written to our subscribers, who have responded with generosity. Now I’m writing to you directly on . . . . Continue Reading »

Dear Readers, First Things is a non-profit. For more than twenty years readers have provided donations that have sustained the journal. Now the electronic age presents new challenges. I’ve written to our subscribers, who have responded with generosity. Now I’m writing to you directly on . . . . Continue Reading »

Dear Readers, First Things is a non-profit. For more than twenty years readers have provided donations that have sustained the journal. Now the electronic age presents new challenges. I’ve written to our subscribers, who have responded with generosity. Now I’m writing to you directly on . . . . Continue Reading »