First Things RSS Feed - Thomas D. Williams https://www.firstthings.com/author/thomas-d-williams en-us Copyright 2025 First Things. All Rights Reserved. ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) Mon, 20 Jan 2025 16:51:48 -0500 https://d2201k5v4hmrsv.cloudfront.net/img/favicon-196.png First Things RSS Feed Image https://www.firstthings.com/rss/author/thomas-d-williams 60 The Politicization of the European Church https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2019/05/the-politicization-of-the-european-church https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2019/05/the-politicization-of-the-european-church Fri, 31 May 2019 06:00:00 -0400 Several ecclesiastical figures expressed horror at the results of last week's European Parliament elections. Their reactions reveal the European Church's dangerous alliance with specific political positions.

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]]> The Springtime of John Paul II https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2009/04/the-springtime-of-john-paul-ii https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2009/04/the-springtime-of-john-paul-ii Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0400 In his celebrated Christian allegory The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe , C.S. Lewis represents evil’s hold on the world with the image of an enduring winter—Narnia under the power of the White Witch, who makes it “always winter and never Christmas.” According to prophecies, the coming of Aslan the Lion—Lewis’ Christ-figure—is to be marked by the end of winter and the appearance of springtime. At one point the human visitors to Narnia are quoted a proverbial refrain obviously well known to the good local folk:

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]]> Seasoned Fare https://www.firstthings.com/article/1998/02/003-seasoned-fare https://www.firstthings.com/article/1998/02/003-seasoned-fare Sun, 01 Feb 1998 00:00:00 -0500 Salt of the Earth: The Church at the End of the Century
By Joseph Ratzinger. An Interview with Peter Seewald
Ignatius Press. 301 pp. $12.95

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]]> Values, Virtues, and John Paul II https://www.firstthings.com/article/1997/04/values-virtues-and-john-paul-ii https://www.firstthings.com/article/1997/04/values-virtues-and-john-paul-ii Tue, 01 Apr 1997 00:00:00 -0500 Few words can rival “values” for popular appeal in the 1990s. Heightened awareness of the link between cultural problems and moral irresponsibility has spawned a nearly universal condemnation of the “war on values” being waged in American society. Politicians of every stripe and persuasion call for a return to traditional and family values as the surest solution to the nation’s woes, from crime and drug abuse to poverty and illiteracy. There is, undoubtedly, a good deal of hype in this push for values. In the current cultural environment values sell, and those with a nose for success are quick to jump on the values bandwagon in the hope of reaping personal benefit. Yet along with this self-interested fringe of values vendors there exists a solid center of genuinely concerned Americans who have seen the bottom fall out of the public moral conscience in little more than a generation. This “solid center” constitutes the real reason for the popularity of values, which suggests that the issue will remain in the public eye for some time.

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