China's Future in the Balance

by Peter J. Leithart

Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu is being persecuted because the church refuses to register with the state or join the officially sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement.  Continue Reading »

20 Dec 2018

A Plenteous Seed of Witnesses

by Mathew Block

Confessional Lutheranism has experienced a renaissance in the past few years. Continue Reading »

8 Nov 2018

Letters

by Various

Peter Hitchens is invariably witty and provocative. His recent essay (“Latimer and Ridley Are Forgotten,” June/July) is no exception. Although diverting, it errs in at least one crucial respect: its assertion that the “judicial murders of Thomas More and John Fisher were political in origin, . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Oct 2018

You Are Peter

by Dan Hitchens

The papacy does not depend on the qualities of the men who take office. Continue Reading »

20 Sep 2018

The House of God Will Not Be Closed

by Benedict Kiely

Two priests united by the ultimate witness of martyrdom give us hope and encouragement during these trying times.  Continue Reading »

23 Aug 2018

Latimer and Ridley Are Forgotten

by Peter Hitchens

Hidden in the northern suburbs of Oxford are the last traces of a path first trodden by multitudes of country folk hurrying to see the burning of the Protestant martyrs Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley on October 16, 1555, and trudging home afterward. For some years I lived very close to this track, . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jun 2018

Oscar Romero, Martyr and Saint

by Gerhard Ludwig Müller

The Scandal of Redemption: When God Liberates the Poor, Saves Sinners, and Heals Nationsby oscar romeroplough, 140 pages, $8 As the disciples were on their way to the Mount of Olives after the Last Supper, Jesus told them, “All of you will be scandalized because of me this night, for it . . . . Continue Reading »

1 May 2018

Martyrdom in The Last Jedi

by Alexi Sargeant

Star Wars: The Last Jedi offers a picture of heroism that helps us better understand how to witness to hope and truth in our own galaxy. Continue Reading »

22 Dec 2017

Spiritual Freedom

by John P. Burgess

On the outskirts of Moscow, there is an Orthodox Christian memorial. The site, known as Butovo, once belonged to a private estate. The Soviets expropriated the land after the revolution and turned it into a firing range. It was there during Stalin’s purges that more than 20,000 “enemies of the . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Feb 2017

Shūsaku Endō's Silence and Faithfulness

by Dale M. Coulter

Readers of First Thoughts will know by now that Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Silence by Shūsaku Endō was released in select theaters on December 23. The novel warrants the attention it is getting. Set in the 1640s at the end of Japan's “Christian Century” (1549-1639), Silence is a haunting journey through one priest’s struggles to remain faithful in the most challenging of circumstances. Continue Reading »

3 Jan 2017