There are times in history when Christianity feels its place in society coming under threat. As it finds itself pushed to the margins, two temptations emerge. The first is an angry sense of entitlement, an impulse to denounce the entire world and withdraw into cultural isolation. In the early . . . . Continue Reading »
In his speech “The Strenuous Life,” Theodore Roosevelt identified “the American character” with “the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife.” “The man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil,” Roosevelt asserted, “wins the ultimate . . . . Continue Reading »
If you don’t pay too much attention to pop culture, you may be forgiven for thinking that the story of the past fifty years in American entertainment goes something like this: Once upon a time, our arts were a verdant and unspoiled Eden. On TV, father knew best. On the radio, Gene Autry rested . . . . Continue Reading »
Once a month, a robin’s-egg-blue box arrives at our house. “Mama! Mama! My books are here!” shouts my six-year-old daughter as she runs from the front door to the kitchen. We open the box to find personalized stickers, bookmarks, posters, and sometimes coloring pages or little paper games. The . . . . Continue Reading »
We are facing a Dark Age. In this new era, theology will need to be sparer, stripped of speculative distractions, courageously at home with death and the “other world,” and, most important, deeply engrossed in Scripture. Otherwise, the public face of the Christian faith will be washed away by . . . . Continue Reading »
In the wake of the Derek Chauvin verdict, Bucknell University, the liberal arts school where I work, lost no time in issuing a statement. We were told that America remained a terrifying place for its black citizens, and that George Floyd’s death demonstrated “the fear and anger that Black . . . . Continue Reading »
Abraham Lincoln loved to tell stories. But many of them, as one political acquaintance tactfully admitted, “would not do exactly for the drawing room.” Lincoln had been raised in what he once called “the back side of this world,” and he had learned many a tale of how backsides worked. One of . . . . Continue Reading »
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are virtual public squares, allowing individuals to communicate their views to wide audiences. At first, these platforms avoided regulating user-created content. But pressure from politicians, activist corporations, and users . . . . Continue Reading »
Planned Parenthood recently distributed flyers at Stewart Middle School in Tacoma, Washington. The flyers targeted eleven-year-olds, informing them that they could have sex with anyone under the age of thirteen, and that their parents were not entitled to determine whether they took birth . . . . Continue Reading »
Listeningto acorns fallfrom the oaksin the last lightof a late summerday to land out ofsight on the darkforest floor,I wonder howmany will findtheir way intothe soil to rootin secret, waitingfor spring to sendtimid tendrils intothe dangerous air.Not many, I suppose,life being what it is,though in a . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
