R. R. Reno

Zemmour’s Challenging Voice

On June 10, First Things was delighted to host Éric Zemmour for an evening at our office. The…
Mark Bauerlein

Old Wisdom, New Distractions: New and Notable Books

As the mores of daily life in the twenty-first century change every month or two with the advent…
George Weigel

The Work Ethic Incarnate

In his June 2 Wall Street Journal column, Jason L. Riley noted a disturbing trend in our American…
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Anti-Wokeness: An Obituary

Matthew Schmitz
During Barack Obama’s presidency, several political movements arose that were to define America long after he had left the scene. The first was organized around a new view of…

Holding Things Together

Ephraim Radner

So many streets around me are ugly. I do a lot of walking and jogging. I notice…

Ban the Books

Liel Leibovitz

Walk into a bookstore anywhere in the country. Chances are that, somewhere toward the front, you’ll see…

The Scandal of Jewish Belief

J.H.H. Weiler

The Gospel of Matthew ends with this promise of Jesus to his disciples: “Behold, I am with…

The Sudden Death of the African Church 

D. P. Curtin

Total civilizational collapse is unusual. In the West, ­continuity exists between the Roman past and our contemporary…

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On the Square MORE ON THE SQUARE

Icarus Descending

Aaron Kheriaty
“She’ll never see the boy falling out of the sky,” sings Mumford & Sons in “Icarus.” As the sun was receding from view, Icarus at least realized that his wings had melted and he was plummeting…

Spiraling Down in Speyer

George Weigel

Speyer is a charming city on the west bank of the Rhine River. Its splendid medieval core…

Keep Silence and Hear

Adam Eilath

In Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV writes that a school should be a place where the young…

Jason Arday and the Therapeutic Academy

Darel E. Paul

Who is Jason Arday? Until last week, the man at the center of the biggest recent scandal…

Vampires and Values on Broadway

Leah Libresco Sargeant

The Lost Boys, a Broadway musical adapted from the 1980s vampire flick, opens with a flickering specter.…

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Essays MORE ESSAYS

Left to Our Own Devices

Brad Littlejohn

Hiding in most of our pockets is a shiny black mirror with a logo on the back…

The Founders and the Common Good

Vincent Phillip Muñoz

The dominant public philosophy among American elites is modern liberalism, often referred to merely as “liberalism.” Two…

The Pope and the Antichrist

Peter Thiel Sam Wolfe

I recently lectured in Rome on the topic of the Antichrist. The Antichrist interests me for several reasons,…

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Reviews MORE REVIEWS

To Live Fittingly

Elizabeth C. Corey

Why do the humanities face such a hostile climate? In part it’s because academics have excluded ordinary,…

Mad as Hell

Robert Bellafiore

In a simpler time, the internet was full of cats. Flooding message boards and YouTube with images…

Breaking the Mind

Edward Feser

Philosopher James K. A. Smith suffered through a period of profound depression. He found solace and insight…

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Poetry More Poetry

Centaur

Paul Willis

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

Benjamin Myers

Two-thousand years and more untouched I burnedIn soil’s slow fire. On the beachAbove, ringed by thin, withered…

Asters

James Matthew Wilson

The asters bloom amid late-summer heat,Low-lying stars that will not linger longAnd bend their sprays beneath the…

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