Archive
More than thirty years of First Things articles at your fingertips.
Please note that some of our content may not be available on this web archive at this time. If you cannot find a specific article, please contact us.
Articles
A Nation Pulling Apart
That my mother hated Jews was clear, although why she hated them was one of those shameful mysteries I doubt she could have explained had I asked her. What...
Imagining the Path of Christian Exile
Elizabeth Scalia puts herself in the place of an Iraqi Christian writing a letter to her former neighbors –Ed. My Dear Friends, To be ripped from our neighborhood, the...
Mad Men Goes Meta
Readers of a certain age may remember a television commercial about a boy, a bottle of ketchup, and a hamburger: In alternating close-ups, viewers witnessed the condiment’s slow descent and...
The Acid Bath of Ingratitude
Early last week, there was a terrible accident. A young mother, driving on icy Wyoming roads, lost control of her car, and two of her three children became lost to...
Jesus Might Bake the Cake but Would He Perform the Nuptials?
Perhaps it is the natural result of social evolution but as a nation, our understanding of what the word “tolerance” means or how it is to be lived has...
New Homophiles: Stories Without a Who or What
Spend time before a crucifix and the major virtues Christ Jesus embodies there are quickly in evidence: love, patience, humility, obedience, and detachment. We might identify as well the...
A Shepherd I Will Remain
My little cousin and I watch as my uncle washes away the blood, and examines the wound. He is making that odd breathless noise—halfway between a gasp of surprise...
Francis’ School of Love: Are We Absorbing the Lessons?
With only 266 popes named over two thousand years, the papacy is the most exclusive office on the planet, and—the occasional scoundrel notwithstanding—we Catholics have been mostly well served...
Were There Alternatives to the Affordable Care Act?
Amid occasional stories of success (a personal friend who had previously been unable to afford health insurance can now afford a subsidized plan in California) the disastrous launch of...
When No One Wants to Raise the Parents
Meandering through a social media timeline, I stumbled upon one of those “listicles” that comprise so much of our empty internet clicking. This one was about how the adorableness...
The Self-Referential Church of Me
In Jennifer Senior’s highly entertaining interview with Antonin Scalia, she asks the Supreme Court Justice about Pope Francis and he responds, “He’s the Vicar of Christ. He’s the chief....
Is There Room, for Sarah?
In his remarks to the press this past Sunday, following the release of Antonio Spadaro’s broad-ranging and inspiring interview with Pope Francis, New York’s Timothy Cardinal Dolan called the...
Barack and Bashar at the Bottom of the Pool
With summer becoming cool enough to warrant a shawl or sweater, my task this weekend was to clean the pool before closing. Thus occupied, I encountered Barack and Bashar”two...
Don’t Tell the Press: Pope Francis Is Using Them
While traveling to Rio de Janeiro to preside over his first World Youth Day, Pope Francis declined to do a formal interview with the press pool: “I don’t give...
Suitable Recommendations
Scene: A florist’s shop somewhere in America, 2013 The Gentleman walks into shop and greets the owner familiarly. The Florist returns the greetings as she steps behind the counter....
