First Things RSS Feed - Gladden J. Pappin https://www.firstthings.com/author/gladden-j-pappin en-us Copyright 2025 First Things. All Rights Reserved. ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) Mon, 20 Jan 2025 16:55:55 -0500 https://d2201k5v4hmrsv.cloudfront.net/img/favicon-196.png First Things RSS Feed Image https://www.firstthings.com/rss/author/gladden-j-pappin 60 Francis in Hungary https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2023/05/francis-in-hungary https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2023/05/francis-in-hungary Wed, 03 May 2023 06:00:00 -0400 In Budapest last week, one of Europe’s leaders gave a passionate speech critiquing the “ideological colonization” that has overtaken the European project. Christianity, this leader said, could provide a distinctive path for preserving the unity of Europe while also respecting national differences. Lamenting the aging populations of western Europe, the speaker touted the Hungarian pro-family policies that have drawn the ire of some in Brussels. He summoned the legacy of St. Stephen both in rulership and in personal charity—later recalling Hungary’s generosity in welcoming two and a half million refugees.

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]]> Advancing in Place https://www.firstthings.com/article/2021/12/advancing-in-place https://www.firstthings.com/article/2021/12/advancing-in-place Wed, 01 Dec 2021 00:00:00 -0500 We’re stuck. The signal innovations of modern times—mass water purification, electricity, automobiles, modern manufacturing processes—are behind us. This slowing of invention presents a problem. We are trapped by the imperative of ever more innovation even as innovation becomes harder to achieve. Jean ­Baudrillard called America the last remaining primitive society. The claim sounds strange to us, convinced that we are living in an advanced civilization with everything on offer. But Baudrillard’s insight is quite simple. If we entertain ourselves with visions of the innovations that await us in the future, then we are in a primitive state, not resting on the accomplishments of the centuries behind us. This expectation dominates our thinking. But it is belied by the fact that great technological advances have stopped arriving. Our culture now consists of recycled tropes, algorithmically developed ­music, and, in the past year, a disabling aversion to risk.

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]]> Signs of Hope in Budapest https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2021/09/signs-of-hope-in-budapest https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2021/09/signs-of-hope-in-budapest Wed, 15 Sep 2021 06:00:00 -0400 If you’re like me, this year’s International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest hasn't been on your radar. But by happenstance, when I arrived in Budapest last week for a yearlong stay, the congress was just beginning. I was not prepared for what an encouraging week it would be.

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]]> Toward a Family Wage https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2021/02/toward-a-family-wage https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2021/02/toward-a-family-wage Fri, 12 Feb 2021 15:25:00 -0500 Family policy has assumed center stage on the American right. Lawmakers are focused on the impending passage of a COVID relief bill that could include , for the first time, a national family benefit for parents. Sen. Mitt Romney has put forward his own version of a pro-family policy, which promises to fund a child allowance for years to come. How should Christians react to such proposals?

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]]> The Mass Is the First Necessity https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2020/11/the-mass-is-the-first-necessity https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2020/11/the-mass-is-the-first-necessity Fri, 20 Nov 2020 12:40:00 -0500 When Pope St. John Paul II appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s after his election, his words to the crowd were, “Be not afraid.” In the years following, Catholics in the United States and across the West joined their prayers with those of other Catholics suffering under the stifling rule of decrepit regimes. Today, the Catholics of France and the United Kingdom—and not only Catholics—face another lockdown as a long winter looms in Europe. This time, authorities are not imposing restrictions equally on churches and civil establishments. Instead, churches are arbitrarily subject to the harshest restrictions.

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]]> The Case for Yellow Checks https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2020/02/the-case-for-yellow-checks https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2020/02/the-case-for-yellow-checks Mon, 03 Feb 2020 06:00:00 -0500 Bishop Robert Barron, the Los Angeles auxiliary and Catholic media personality, recently suggested to the National Catholic Register  that bishops “introduce something like a mandatum for those who claim to teach the Catholic faith online, whereby a bishop affirms that the person is teaching within the full communion of the Church.” Critics pounced, arguing that this would amount to censorship of lay criticism of bishops. But these responses misrepresent and miss the value of the bishop’s suggestion. A system like the one Bishop Barron proposes could make the online world much more useful to Catholics, lay and clerical alike.

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]]> Liberalism Against the Church https://www.firstthings.com/article/2019/02/liberalism-against-the-church https://www.firstthings.com/article/2019/02/liberalism-against-the-church Fri, 01 Feb 2019 00:00:00 -0500 The Lost History of Liberalism:
From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century
 by helena rosenblatt
 princeton, 368 pages, $35

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]]> Toward Dystopia https://www.firstthings.com/article/2015/01/toward-dystopia https://www.firstthings.com/article/2015/01/toward-dystopia Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 -0500 Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies
by nick bostrom
oxford, 352 pages, $29.95

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]]> Explaining Agamben https://www.firstthings.com/article/2014/01/explaining-agamben https://www.firstthings.com/article/2014/01/explaining-agamben Wed, 01 Jan 2014 00:00:00 -0500

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]]> Anti-Antipolitics https://www.firstthings.com/article/2013/04/anti-antipolitics https://www.firstthings.com/article/2013/04/anti-antipolitics Mon, 01 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400 In God’s Shadow: Politics in the Hebrew Bible
by Michael Walzer
Yale, 256 pages, $28

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