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What Marriage Is—And What It Isn’t

Everyone agrees that marriage, whatever else it is or does, is a relationship in which persons are united. But what are persons? And how is it possible for two or more of them to unite? The view typically (if often unconsciously) held by advocates of liberal positions on issues of sexuality and . . . . Continue Reading »

Faith by the Numbers

Equations from God: Pure Mathematics and ­Victorian Faith by daniel j. cohen  johns hopkins university press, 256 pages, $50 It is tempting to treat mathematics as though it existed in a socio-historical vacuum, unaffected by what happens to people and societies. Though, like any other . . . . Continue Reading »

More in Heaven and Earth

 Robert Frost: The Poet as Philosopher   by peter j. stanlis isi, 350 pages, $28 Poor Robert Frost. Nearly half a century after his death, he is still suffering at the hands of both friends and enemies. Frost brought much of this problem on himself when he selected a troubled young . . . . Continue Reading »

Written in Stone

The Law of God: The Philosophical History of an Idea by rémi brague university of chicago, 336 pages, $35 Rémi Brague’s latest book is a learned and meticulously documented exposition of the notion of divine law, from the Greeks through the founding documents of Judaism, Christianity, and . . . . Continue Reading »

Language, Truth, and Murder

The Right Attitude to Rain by alexander mccall smith pantheon, 288 pages, $21.95 Hard to believe that, only a handful of years ago, the name Alexander McCall Smith would have drawn a blank among American readers. An African-born academic in Scotland who specializes in medical law and frequently . . . . Continue Reading »

The Beginning of the Journey

Edith Stein: A Philosophical Prologue 1913–1922by alasdair macintyrerowman & littlefield, 224 pages, $25.95 In the summer of 1921, while visiting friends, Edith Stein chanced upon the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila. Reading through the night, she completed an important stage in her own . . . . Continue Reading »

Kierkegaard for Grownups

That extraordinary writer of stories about the “Christ-haunted” American South, Flannery O’Connor, was frequently asked why her people and plots were so often outlandish, even grotesque. She answered, “To the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you have to draw large and . . . . Continue Reading »

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