Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!

The Politics of Unhappiness

A traffic jam, a shoe that ­pinches: It takes very little to ­ruin a nice day. Nothing can please you then, and your judgment is affected. At first glance, ­unpleasantness and the resulting peevishness have no political or economic significance. These experiences are commonplace, part of the . . . . Continue Reading »

The Fall of Dr. Raoult

Nothing stimulates the emergence of a guru like a crisis, especially one to which the correct response is far from clear. People want simple, reassuring answers. They eagerly suspend their critical faculties; their wishes are father to their beliefs. A good guru can transform the proudest skeptic . . . . Continue Reading »

Catastrophism and Control

A wise man knows that he must put things into perspective, but a still wiser man knows what perspective to put them into. A doctor who tells the widow of a patient who has just died that, after all, her husband’s was only one of 2,800,000 deaths a year in the United States alone (56,000,000 . . . . Continue Reading »

Bodily Curiosities

I am not altogether incurious, but one entity about which I have over the years felt little curiosity is my own body. Until recently, I could not have told you the function of my, or anyone else’s, pancreas, spleen, or gallbladder. I’d just as soon not have known that I have kidneys, and was . . . . Continue Reading »

Briefly Noted

The End is Music:  A Companion to Robert W. Jenson’s Theology by chris e. w. green cascade, 107 pages, $17 We are still in the first stage of the reception of Robert ­Jenson’s theology, but Chris E. W. Green has emerged as one of the most thoughtful and active Jensonians. The End is . . . . Continue Reading »

Filter Tag Articles