Our Most Popular Articles of 2018

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at First Things! On this final day of 2018, why not take some time to revisit our most popular pieces published in the past year? The following lists include our top print edition pieces and top Web Exclusives, and are ordered in terms of page views:

Our 25 Most Popular Print Articles:

1. Shame Storm, Helen Andrews

2. The Bookish Life, Joseph Epstein

3. The Ignoble Lie, Patrick J. Deneen

4. The Anti-Christian Alt-Right, Matthew Rose

5. Letter to an Aspiring Intellectual, Paul J. Griffiths 

6. ELCA Hits Bottom, Robert Benne

7. Evangelical Gnosticism, Abigail Rine Favale

8. Latimer and Ridley Are Forgotten, Peter Hitchens

9. Catholicism After 2018, R. R. Reno 

10. A Church in Doubt, Richard Rex

11. Homeless in Seattle, Gil Costello 

12. Vice and Fire, Peter Hitchens

13. Jordan Peterson, Unlikely Guru, Matthew Schmitz

14. Letter to an Aspiring Theologian, by Kevin J. Vanhoozer

15. The Prophetic Power of Humanae Vitae, Mary Eberstadt

16. Culture War as Class War, Darel E. Paul 

17. Chatterley on Trial, Peter Hitchens

18. Clarify Me Please, God of the Galaxies, Dana Gioia 

19. The Theology of Foreign Policy, Michael Doran 

20. Believe, That You May Understand, Charles J. Chaput 

21. Aristotle Returns, Tim Crane 

22. The Metaphysics of Democracy, Thomas Joseph White

23. A False Paradigm, Michael Hanby

24. Taylor Swift, Nazi Barbie?, Dominic Green 

25. You Better Like It, R. R. Reno

Our 25 Most Popular Web Exclusives:

1. Why Men Like Me Should Not Be Priests, Daniel Mattson

2. Ireland: An Obituary, John Waters

3. Pope Francis and Capital Punishment, Edward Feser

4. Fr. Martin’s False Comfort, Joseph Sciambra

5. An Open Letter from Young Catholics, Various

6. Dr. Peterson and the Reporters, Mark Bauerlein

7. Cleansing the Church of Clerical Sacrilege, Dominic Legge, O.P.

8. From the Heart of a Young Father, Charles J. Chaput

9. The Sins of Chick-fil-A, Charlotte Allen

10. Andy Stanley’s Modern Marcionism, Wesley Hill 

11. The End of the Imperial Episcopate, Jay Scott Newman

12. How U2 Betrayed Rock’n’Roll, John Waters

13. Why Francis Must Speak, Gerald E. Murray

14. Thoughts on the Instrumentum Laboris, Charles J. Chaput

15. Why We Stay, and the Viganò Testimony, George Weigel

16. Solzhenitsyn’s Prophecy, Robert P. George

17. The Papal Foundation and McCarrick’s Conflict of Interest, Matthew B. O’Brien

18. What Francis Knew, Philip Lawler 

19. The Problem of Sexually Active Priests, Thomas V. Berg 

20. Her Name is Monroe Christine, Brandon McGinley 

21. What Happens in Germany, Charles J. Chaput

23. Men Without Conviction, Churches Without People, George Weigel

24. Alfie Evans and Our Moral Crossroads, Charles C. Camosy

25. Francis and the Journalists, John Waters

Want more incisive commentary and stellar prose from the likes of Helen Andrews, Peter Hitchens, and John Waters in 2019? We can only do what we do with your support, so please consider making a contribution to our campaign today. Thank you for reading First Things in 2018, and stay tuned for more superb writing on religion and public life in the new year.

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