First Things RSS Feed - Elliot Milco https://www.firstthings.com/author/elliot-milco en-us Copyright 2025 First Things. All Rights Reserved. ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) Mon, 20 Jan 2025 16:54:49 -0500 https://d2201k5v4hmrsv.cloudfront.net/img/favicon-196.png First Things RSS Feed Image https://www.firstthings.com/rss/author/elliot-milco 60 Anselm Kiefer's Beautiful Apocalypticism https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2017/10/anselm-kiefers-beautiful-apocalypticism https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2017/10/anselm-kiefers-beautiful-apocalypticism Tue, 24 Oct 2017 06:00:00 -0400 Anselm Kiefer: A Monograph
 by dominique baqué
thames & hudson, 300 pages, $70

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]]> Searching for Ted Kaczynski https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2017/09/searching-for-ted-kaczynski https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2017/09/searching-for-ted-kaczynski Tue, 26 Sep 2017 06:00:00 -0400 I’ve often dreamed of retiring to a cabin in the Rockies with several million dollars and a deep freeze full of Tombstone pizzas. I would spend my days enjoying scenic hikes, reading, writing, and studying the landscape.   Aside from contemplative leisure and freedom, this lifestyle offers a certain social (or anti-social) appeal. Imagine being free of society, free to bury oneself, to cut oneself off from technology and all the attendant chatter and hysteria.   Imagine the peace and quiet.

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]]> Briefly Noted https://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/12/briefly-noted https://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/12/briefly-noted Thu, 01 Dec 2016 00:00:00 -0500 Exodus
 by thomas joseph white, o.p.
brazos, 336 pages, $32.99

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]]> Francis’s Argentine Letter and the Proper Response https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2016/09/franciss-argentine-letter-and-the-proper-response https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2016/09/franciss-argentine-letter-and-the-proper-response Wed, 14 Sep 2016 13:55:00 -0400 Last week, Pope Francis sent an official letter to the Argentine bishops, offering his emphatic approval of their proposed norms for the implementation of the eighth chapter of his highly controversial Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia . The chapter in question deals with, among other things, the sacramental and spiritual status of Catholics living in illicit second marriages.

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]]> Hindenburg’s Bathing Suit and the Burkini Ban https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2016/09/hindenburgs-bathing-suit-and-the-burkini-ban https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2016/09/hindenburgs-bathing-suit-and-the-burkini-ban Thu, 01 Sep 2016 12:00:00 -0400 In general, I find clothing to be more trouble than it’s worth. It requires a lot of maintenance. People judge you for it. It can hardly be said to improve one’s quality of life in proportion to the effort that’s put into it. Formal dress is the worst: Frequently uncomfortable, requiring careful upkeep, formal clothes amplify all the social concerns associated with ordinary dress. All things considered, if I could go around draped in a flannel sack, I might.

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]]> Briefly Noted https://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/05/briefly-noted https://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/05/briefly-noted Fri, 06 May 2016 00:00:00 -0400 Saint Paul Lives Here (In Minnesota)
 by zach czaia
 wipf and stock, 66 pages, $7.50

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]]> Uncertain Dissonance https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2016/04/uncertain-dissonance https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2016/04/uncertain-dissonance Tue, 12 Apr 2016 11:00:00 -0400 On Thursday, First Things will be hosting a musical performance and art talk, “ Microtonality and the Fragmented Face .” Fragmentation, the breakdown of the unities and coherences that make the world intelligible, is one of the great themes of contemporary life. Our understanding of the world is fragmented: Secular culture lacks a unitive reference point (God) to which to refer the natures and causes of things. Our political life is fragmented—into factions and sub-factions that huddle in virtual enclaves. Our identities are fragmented: We have lost track of the coherence between body and soul, thought and character, habits and personality.

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]]> The Future of American Catholicism https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2016/04/the-future-of-american-catholicism https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2016/04/the-future-of-american-catholicism Tue, 05 Apr 2016 15:30:00 -0400 Every practicing Catholic in America is stuck between two worlds. On one hand, he inhabits a broadly secular culture, one indifferent to claims about the transcendent, in which the currency of human exchange is always some mix of money, pleasure, and power. His participation in that culture is nearly constant—it surrounds him in mass media, on the internet, in patterns of speech, in social expectations, and in the aims and operations of his government. The modern Catholic in America is swimming in secularity.

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]]> Forgetting Social Justice https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2016/02/forgetting-social-justice https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2016/02/forgetting-social-justice Fri, 12 Feb 2016 13:00:00 -0500 Last week at First Things we were very happy to host Michael Novak and Paul Adams as they discussed their new book on social justice . One of the themes Novak and Adams touched on in their presentations was how poorly Americans today seem to understand the concept of social justice. On both left and right, the term has a lot of political weight, and attracts a lot of controversy. What is it about the idea of social justice that makes it so hard for us to get right?

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]]> Social Justice According to Michael Novak https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2016/01/social-justice-according-to-michael-novak https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2016/01/social-justice-according-to-michael-novak Tue, 26 Jan 2016 10:55:00 -0500 First Things and Encounter Books are excited to be hosting an upcoming event with Michael Novak and Paul Adams, at which they will be discussing ideas from their new book Social Justice Isn't What You Think It Is. This is not the first time Mr. Novak has addressed the topic of social justice at First Things. In the December 2000 issue of the magazine he used Friedrich Hayek's criticisms of the term as a springboard from which to come to a clearer understanding of its meaning .

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