Wendell Berry’s Eternal Story
Ten years ago, an editor at Penguin approached me to ask if I would like to edit a collection of essays by Wendell Berry for a British audience. Berry’s…
Aug/Sept 2026
Print Edition
Aug/Sept 2026 Print Edition
America’s Most Influential Journal of Religion and Public Life
Anti-Wokeness: An Obituary
Holding Things Together
So many streets around me are ugly. I do a lot of walking and jogging. I notice…
Ban the Books
Walk into a bookstore anywhere in the country. Chances are that, somewhere toward the front, you’ll see…
The Scandal of Jewish Belief
The Gospel of Matthew ends with this promise of Jesus to his disciples: “Behold, I am with…
The Sudden Death of the African Church
Total civilizational collapse is unusual. In the West, continuity exists between the Roman past and our contemporary…
Icarus Descending
Wendell Berry’s Eternal Story
Ten years ago, an editor at Penguin approached me to ask if I would like to edit…
The End of Populism?
Have you noticed the recent flood of commentaries and articles in the mainstream media dwelling on why…
Winners of the Third Annual First Things Poetry Prize
We are pleased to announce the winners of the third annual First Things Poetry Prize. Forester McClatchey…
The Meaning of 1776
On the night he was elected president, in November 2008, Barack Obama addressed a throng in Chicago…
Ignorance and Conviction at Columbia
Darializa Avila Chevalier—upper Manhattan’s new congressional candidate, backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and endorsed…
Left to Our Own Devices
Hiding in most of our pockets is a shiny black mirror with a logo on the back…
The Founders and the Common Good
The dominant public philosophy among American elites is modern liberalism, often referred to merely as “liberalism.” Two…
To Live Fittingly
Why do the humanities face such a hostile climate? In part it’s because academics have excluded ordinary,…
Mad as Hell
In a simpler time, the internet was full of cats. Flooding message boards and YouTube with images…
Breaking the Mind
Philosopher James K. A. Smith suffered through a period of profound depression. He found solace and insight…
Centaur
The Etruscan centaur holds up his right hand,not palm outward as if to stop chariot trafficor solemnly…
A Celtic Skull in the Museum at La Tène
Two-thousand years and more untouched I burnedIn soil’s slow fire. On the beachAbove, ringed by thin, withered…
Asters
The asters bloom amid late-summer heat,Low-lying stars that will not linger longAnd bend their sprays beneath the…
The End of the University
Universities exist to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and culture that will prepare them for life,…
The Decline and Fall of the Christian College
Every one shall consider the main End of his life and studies, to know God and Jesus…
Why I’m Done with Notre Dame
I retired from the University of Notre Dame at the end of 2025. More accurately, I left.…
The Christian University: Eleven Theses
I am honored to join in the prayer and reflection marking the inauguration of a new president…
Keeping Your Faith in College
When we go off to college, we’re not yet adults but no longer children, and we’re often…
