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Articles
Exiles
Several months ago, I disembarked a bus here in New York City, moved into a Brooklyn studio apartment, and began a summer of service here at First Things. These...
Lessons in Revolution from the Republic of Professors
Revolutions can be notoriously violent. However, in a brief few months in 1989, a landslide of peaceful revolutions replaced authoritarian dictators with democratic governments, defying the brutal legacy of...
Grace and Truth on Campus
As a conservative Christian at a small liberal arts school, I’m a part of a small minority group in an emphatically liberal student body. Thanks to my views—as well...
Postures of Prayer
How ought we to pray? Kneeling, standing, sitting, prostrate? Should we pray out loud, in song, or silently? The most specific instructions we receive in Scripture pertain to the...
A Cape of Good Hope
In his recent piece, SOS, my colleague Dominic Bouck, O.P., argued that the Church is much like a ship plying the ocean currents en route to her heavenly destination. I...
A Communist Crucifix
On Pope Francis’s recent visit to La Paz, Bolivia, he received an unusual—and many would say, offensive—gift. Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia, presented Pope Francis with...
Celebrating the Fourth of July with Samuel Adams
This weekend, Americans across the nation will celebrate the 239th anniversary of our separation from the British Empire. Many of us will enjoy our long weekend in stereotypically American...
In Praise of Missionary Dating
You haven’t kissed her yet?” A classmate furrows his brow, as if trying to understand some antiquarian cultural rite. “And you’ve been dating how long?” As a conservative Christian...
Forgetting God
Laudato Si, last week’s encyclical from Pope Francis, seeks to address a plethora of problems in the modern world—predominately focusing on environmental issues, distributive justice, and perceived problems with...
Seeking Justice in the Wake of Tragedy
A horrible tragedy occurred earlier this week, when a young white male walked into Emanuel A.M.E. church in historic Charleston, South Carolina, and killed nine congregation members. Unfortunately, many...
Two Responses to the Redefinition of Marriage
Two traditionally Catholic countries recently legalized same-sex marriage. In Ireland, the constitution was amended by popular referendum; in Mexico, the legal change has quietly developed in the nation’s court...
