A Day in Court
by The EditorsThe First Things Podcast, Episode 13. Also featuring Confucius at Princeton. Continue Reading »
The First Things Podcast, Episode 13. Also featuring Confucius at Princeton. Continue Reading »
While we may aspire to have equal regard for everyone without discrimination, in reality we are limited creatures with limited abilities. Our capacity for compassion is thus limited as well. Continue Reading »
On the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision legalizing abortion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg announced her misgivings about the ruling. As a distinguished champion of what the left euphemistically calls “reproductive rights,” Justice Ginsburg was never going to critique the decision on moral grounds; the problem for Ginsburg, rather, was tactical. In her eyes, by running ahead of the people, the now-infamous 1973 decision gave “opponents of access to abortion a target to aim at relentlessly.”
You will recall the lapidary opening of Dickens’s famous novel of London and Paris in the period of the French Revolution. Headed ‘Book I—Recalled to Life: Chapter I: The Period” it begins: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . . .” For reasons that will quickly become . . . . Continue Reading »
It is not only kings and princes who bear political office. As those created in God’s image, we too bear political authority. Continue Reading »
Justice Through Apologies: Remorse, Reform, and Punishment by nick smith cambridge, 413 pages, $33 For decades, American Christians have worried about the dwindling room for religion and religiously inspired morals in public life. The church–state debates in which they engage often focus on . . . . Continue Reading »
A recent article in Christianity Today about Confucianism and Christianity in China called to mind the time several years ago when I taught an introductory class on Christian theology to recent Chinese converts to Christianity. Continue Reading »
I have been trying to understand the justice in God’s speeches in Genesis 3:14-19. For this is the context in which to make sense of the great puzzle I find in his words to the woman: “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (3:16). It is, strikingly, the first time . . . . Continue Reading »
One of the deepest puzzles I find in the book of Genesis is its treatment of sexual desire and procreation. Whereas the man’s joy in his wife is an expression of the goodness of creation that takes place before sin and death enter the story, the woman’s desire for her husband is mentioned . . . . Continue Reading »
As a lawyer and judge, my understanding of the Bible has naturally become colored by my experiences in, and knowledge of, the law and the legal system. Thus, in meditating on the gospel accounts of Christ’s interaction with Pontius Pilate, my focus in recent years has been on Pilate’s role as . . . . Continue Reading »