First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life back issues from February 2007:
Hegel Finagled.(Letter to the editor)
Feb 01, 2007; ... Regarding "America in the European Mind" by Thomas Albert Howard (November): Mr. Howard's quotation from Hegel's Philosophy of History ("What has taken place in America so far is a mere echo of the Old World, and the expression of an alien vitality") is taken out of context. The context is ...
Our Fathers.(Letter to the editor)
Feb 01, 2007; ... It may seem bad form to single out what might appear to be small potatoes from the rich and delectable stew that is an otherwise very thoughtful, hopeful, and encouraging essay pleading for a return to the writings of the Church Fathers ("The Return of the Fathers," November). I feel ...
Seeing reason.(Letter to the editor)
Feb 01, 2007; ... John Rawls justified his particular constraints on public discourse in part by claiming that natural-law theorists ("rationalist believers") deny "the fact of reasonable pluralism" when giving public reasons. "But do they?" asks Robert George in "Public Morality, Public Reason" (November) ....
Not a man for all seasons.(Letter to the editor)
Feb 01, 2007; ... In reference to November's "While We're At It," Fr. Neuhaus claims that Robert Ingersoll was an atheist who toured the country in the early part of the twentieth century. Ingersoll was many things, such as a Union officer in the Civil War, the attorney general of Illinois, one of the great ...
A standing point.(Letter to the editor)
Feb 01, 2007; ... Richard John Neuhaus has a point when he asserts that, although the People of God stood for the Mass in the patristic era, kneeling is now "the tradition" in the West, and "the insistence of some liturgists and pastors that everybody must stand is the innovation" (The Public Square, ...
A letter to Tony Campolo.(Viewpoint essay)
Feb 01, 2007; ... Dear Reverend Campolo, A lot of my friends are big fans of yours, so I picked up your book Letters to a Young Evangelical with great interest. I knew I'd probably wind up disagreeing with you, but I thought I'd learn something all the same. Back during college, a good number of ...
Wrong from Wright.(N.T Wright speech on terrorism)(Viewpoint essay)
Feb 01, 2007; ... Those of us Protestants whose heritage is relatively congregational may sometimes find ourselves thinking things would be better if only we had bishops to provide the sort of guidance that gives the church theological direction in a world that constantly raises new and difficult questions ....
Struggling alone.(Viewpoint essay)
Feb 01, 2007; ... He came out to me in an email. I've known him for years, long enough that I can't remember when we first met, and we were recently emailing back and forth about our lives, our futures--the kind of stuff separated friends discuss. Along the way he mentioned, in an aside, that he had some ...
The Bones of the Armenians.(Poem)
Feb 01, 2007; ... <Pre> The Bones of the Armenians Not the trump of Gabriel, nor the tumultStirred up by a clamorous resurrectionCan awaken bones from that desert nightmare's Prodigal torment. Not the prayers from myriad begging voices,Solemn penance chanted by dirging ...
Stephen King's American apocalypse.(Critical essay)
Feb 01, 2007; ... In November 2003, Stephen King received a lifetime achievement medal from the National Book Foundation for his "distinguished contribution to American letters." The foundation's notion of "distinguished contribution" is a fairly broad one: The medal has been awarded to Oprah Winfrey as ...
Widowhood.(Poem)
Feb 01, 2007; ... <Pre> Widowhood She wove the veilof ...
Evangelicals and the Mother of God.
Feb 01, 2007; ... It is time for evangelicals to recover a fully biblical appreciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her role in the history of salvation--and to do so precisely as evangelicals. The question, of course, is how to do that. Can the evangelical reengagement with the wider Christian tradition ...
In search of Eden.(Mapping Paradise: A History of Heaven on Earth)(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007; ... Mapping Paradise: A History of Heaven on Earth by Alessandro Scafi University of Chicago Press, 400 pages, $55 Looking through the many and lavish illustrations of Alessandro Scafi's Mapping Paradise: A History of Heaven on Earth, I find myself drawn again and again to a ...
An Inside Job.(Poem)
Feb 01, 2007; ... <Pre> An Inside Job I thought our problems had a foreign name--aswhen Alaric vandalized the lateEternal City to inauguratethe end. For us, the fall is much the same:uncivil hordes press in upon the tame;lean wolves sniff at the walls and salivate;...
The life of the world to come.(Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life)(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007; ... RESURRECTION AND THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL: THE ULTIMATE VICTORY OF THE GOD OF LIFE by JON D. LEVENSON Yale University Press, 304 pages, $40 IN MOST OF THE mythology of ancient Greece, the gods could not revive the dead. The religion of Israel, however, saw death as firmly ...
Sacra Roma.(The Aeneid)(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007; ... THE AENEID by VIRGIL translated by Robert Fagles Viking Adult, 496 pages, $40 WE DO NOT READ VIRGIL much anymore. In part, because we no longer learn Latin and so do not seek out its writers, however famous and central to our culture they were once thought to be. But ...
Natural religion.(Is Nature Enough? Truth and Meaning in the Age of Science)(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007; ... IS NATURE ENOUGH? TRUTH AND MEANING IN THE AGE OF SCIENCE by JOHN F. HAUGHT Cambridge University Press, 232 pages, $19.99 JOHN HAUGHT ASKS, "IS nature enough?"--which naturally elicits the question, "Enough for what?" Indeed, one way to understand the age-old debate between ...
Chasing chastity.(The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On)(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007; ... THE THRILL OF THE CHASTE: FINDING FULFILLMENT WHILE KEEPING YOUR CLOTHES ON by DAWN EDEN W Publishing Group, 224 pages, $13.99 THIS BOOK, Dawn Eden's first, will never be mistaken for chamomile tea and melba toast. The Thrill of the Chaste offers lessons in love and chastity, ...
Modern times.(A World Beyond Politics? A Defense of the Nation-State)(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007; ... A WORLD BEYOND POLITICS? A DEFENSE OF THE NATION-STATE by PIERRE MANENT Princeton University Press, 228 pages, $35 THE NOVELIST AND sometime philosopher Walker Percy used to say that Angelism--by which he meant the denial of our bodily nature--is the defining heresy of ...
American Mythos: Why Our Best Efforts to be a Better Nation Fall Short.(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007; ... AMERICAN MYTHOS: WHY OUR BEST EFFORTS TO BE A BETTER NATION FALL SHORT by ROBERT WUTHNOW Princeton University Press, 298 pages, $29.95 Myth and mythos refer to a kind of cultural story that possesses high authority and the capacity to convey powerful truths. Though the word myth ...
John Williamson Nevin: High Church Calvinist.(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007; ... JOHN WILLIAMSON NEVIN: HIGH CHURCH CALVINIST by D.G. HART P&R, 271 pages, $22.99 Why would anyone publish, much less read, a biography of John Williamson Nevin (1803-1886), a now-obscure American Reformed theologian who spent his life in the German Reformed Church, a tiny corner ...
The Fate of Communion: The Agony of Anglicanism and the Future of a Global Church.(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007; ... THE FATE OF COMMUNION: THE AGONY OF ANGLICANISM AND THE FUTURE OF A GLOBAL CHURCH by EPHRAIM RADNER and PHILIP TURNER Eerdmans, 320 pages, $25 Episcopalians and other Anglicans know that 2007 could mark a turning point for their communion--toward either a long-hoped-for renewal ...
Holy Teaching: Introducing the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas.(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007; ... HOLY TEACHING: INTRODUCING THE SUMMA THEOLOGIAE OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS by FREDERICK CHRISTIAN BAUERSCHMIDT Brazos, 320 pages, $29.99 Frederick Bauerschmidt provides a valuable service to religious-studies teachers and instructors of other disciplines that require some knowledge ...
Best Christian Writing 2006.(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007; ... BEST CHRISTIAN WRITING 2006 edited by JOHN WILSON Jossey-Bass, 240 pages, $17.95 With an introduction by the distinguished evangelical scholar Mark Noll, Best Christian Writing 2006 is the fifth in John Wilson's series of annual collections. Wilson does not intend the book to ...
France and the French: A Modern History.(Brief article)(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007; ... FRANCE AND THE FRENCH: A MODERN HISTORY by ROD KENWARD Overlook, 712 pages, $35 Kenward's rehearsal of life in twentieth-century France is a compendium of ideologies, lists of leading political and social leaders, an endless speculation on the nature of Frenchness, and a nearly ...
A Monk's Alphabet: Moments of Stillness in a Turning World.(Brief article)(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007; ... A MONK'S ALPHABET: MOMENTS OF STILLNESS IN A TURNING WORLD by JEREMY DRISCOLL, O.S.B. Shambhala, 208 pages, $19.95 Driscoll is a monk at Mount Angel Abbey in Oregon and the author of one of the best contemporary explanations of the Mass, What Happens at Mass. In his latest book, ...
Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide.(Brief article)(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007 ... SACRED AND SECULAR: RELIGION AND POLITICS WORLDWIDE by PIPPA NORRIS and RONALD INGLEHART Cambridge, 348 pages, $24.99 Two political scientists provide a wealth of data, drawn mainly from the World Values Surveys, that shows both the perdurance and variety of religion in the ...
The Fate of Africa.(Brief article)(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007 ... THE FATE OF AFRICA by MARTIN MEREDITH Public Affairs, 752 pages, $19.95 paper The subtitle says it all: "From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair: A History of 50 Years of Independence." Meredith is a British journalist who has followed African affairs for decades, and ...
The Legacy of Jihad.(Brief article)(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007 ... THE LEGACY OF JIHAD edited by ANDREW G. BOSTOM Prometheus, 759 pages, $29 A useful, and chilling, collection of documents and reports, beginning with the origins of Islam, on how consistent has been the ideology of Jihadism and the subjugation of non-Muslims. Drawing upon both ...
Mao: The Unknown Story.(Brief article)(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007 ... MAO: THE UNKNOWN STORY by JUNG CHANG and JON HALLIDAY Knopf, 864 pages, $18 paper Now in paperback, Mao is a detailed account of a tyranny responsible for more than seventy million deaths. Mao had many admirers in the West, including Christian thinkers who hailed him as a ...
Three who changed the world.(The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World)(Book review)
Feb 01, 2007; ... I don't say that everybody has been waiting for it, but I was, and now it is out. The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World, by the distinguished journalist John O'Sullivan, packs into an engaging narrative the detail and color of three decades of ...
The world hates Jews.(The Public Square: A Continuing Survey of Religion, Culture, and Public Life)
Feb 01, 2007; ... "The world hates the Jews. The world has always and will continue to do so." So says David Mamet in a new book from Schocken, The Wicked Son: Anti-Semitism, Self-Hatred, and the Jews. Mamet is a writer of distinction and has a Pulitzer Prize among his credits. His plays include Glengarry ...
While we're at it.(The Public Square: A Continuing Survey of Religion, Culture, and Public Life)
Feb 01, 2007; ... * As of January 10, it has been fourteen years since I died. After those terrifying operations for cancer, some of the doctors thought I had died, and, for a time, I thought maybe they were fight. I wrote about that ordeal and the aftermath in the little book As I Lay Dying. It is a source ...