So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me.” Genesis 13:8
We are brothers. May we never fight.
Should you wish to occupy the valley
to the left, I’ll turn unto the right
and dwell upon the Negev’s height.
So Lot surveyed the Jordan’s fertile plain
and saw that it was watered like a garden;
Gomorrah gleamed against the fields of grain
and pastureland. “Though I remain
your brother, an equal heir by rights,
I will not, Abram, cast my lot with you
and forfeit all the more urbane delights
afforded by the Sodomites.”
—Timothy Whitworth Smith
Photo by Philip Medhurst via Creative Commons. Image cropped.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Myth of St. Francis
At the beginning of his 2020 encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis speaks of “an episode in the…
Job and Her
It is said that Job lost everything, but she has lost more. All her possessions—the money, the…
Why the Death Penalty Is a Sore Point for Papal Authority
Pope Leo XIV marked World Day Against the Death Penalty, observed on October 10, with the following…
