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Policemen of the World

In the October issue of First Things (which hits newsstands today), I draw attention to the powerfully persuasive new book by Paul Collier, The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It (Oxford). One billion of the world’s population are rich; four . . . . Continue Reading »

The Pagan West

When it arrived in the world, Christianity announced the end of sacrifice. But in its growth over the long centuries since then, it may have muted its own founding message, a victim of its own success. Does Galatians have much to say to people who have never worried about ritual contagion or the . . . . Continue Reading »

On Relativism

At first glance, the expression "the dictatorship of relativism" sounds like a paradox, maybe even an oxymoron. After all, aren’t dictatorships a form of absolutism? And don’t relativists find it difficult, if not impossible, to make judgments about differing moral systems? So . . . . Continue Reading »

Do You Want to Know a Secret?

Astounded as I was by the phenomenal bestselling success of Rhonda Byrnes’ The Secret ¯gobsmacked by the sheer weight of its pages, the width of its margins, and the commodious depths of its solipsistic inanities¯I wondered: How can I cash in on the gullibility of the average . . . . Continue Reading »

The Last Stand of Rowan Williams

Summer is almost over, which for most of us means putting away the beach umbrella and suntan lotion and getting back to work, however much we dread facing the mountain of paper piled up in our inboxes.But if you’re one of the many who wishes that the daily grind could be postponed for just a . . . . Continue Reading »

God’s Different Warriors

Angry protestors line the sidewalk of a San Francisco street. Behind barricades and a line of policemen, they vent their rage at a group of young Christians in town for a rally. Cries of “Christian fascist” fly across the road, and on the other side, a teenager leads her group in a prayer: . . . . Continue Reading »

Saint Duncan of Wall Street

“What we need is a Saint Duncan of Wall Street.” I heard the phrase echo through the Princeton University chapel, one of many indications that the Catholic chaplain , Fr. Tom Mullelly, understood something vital about his students and the world. Countless Princeton graduates take up jobs . . . . Continue Reading »

Why Do the Heathen Rage?

An extended dialogue between biologist Richard Dawkins and Christian apologist Alister McGrath¯originally shot for Dawkins’ BBC documentary The Root of All Evil but never used¯ has surfaced on YouTube . (HT to the comboxes of Mere Comments , BTW. And, if the YouTube encounter . . . . Continue Reading »

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