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Articles
Leonard Cohen, Religious Alchemist
Leonard Cohen was a Canadian, but he was the poet laureate of another nation: a nation of souls by turns sensitive, lost, alienated, ecstatic, bitter—souls seeking truth through the...
Grace in the Word: Samuel Menashe, 1925-2011
The poet Samuel Menashe (whose work been printed many times in the pages of First Things ) died in his sleep on August 22nd, at the age of 85....
Johnny Cash: One More Time
As goes Scripture, so goes country music: The great lines are reused forever. Just listen to the final song that Johnny Cash composed, titled “I Corinthians 15:55,” and the...
Tangled Up In Tinsel: A Preview of Bob Dylan’s “Christmas In The Heart”
The question uppermost on everyone’s mind has now been answered: What the heck would a Bob Dylan Christmas album even sound like? Although the actual album won’t be released...
Let There Be Music
Recently Dan Cairns in the U.K. Times found listening to one of the songs from Paddy McAloon’s new album (recorded seventeen years ago but only released last week) to...
Well, speaking of that guy…
I’ve been good for very little lately, distracted by an upper-respiratory-tract virus that conjures new symptoms with which to persecute me every day. This afternoon I found myself turning...
Sarah Palin, David Letterman, and Class
David Letterman’s sexually offensive jokes about Sarah Palin’s daughters (and herself) were distinctly bereft of class. Sarah Palin’s immediate acceptance of his apology was, on the other hand, quite...
Doomed Again
The old Cole Porter song goes: Have you heard? It’s in the stars Next July we collide with Mars Well, did you evah? What a swell party this is!...
Abuse in Irish Schools: Reaction from the Pope (and Yours Truly)
In Ireland, the recently-released Ryan Report was the product of nine years of investigation into child abuse which took place over many decades at industrial and reform schools, predominantly...
Private William Long laid to rest
In Conway, Arkansas, Pvt. William Long was laid to rest today. (Previously: An Attack in Little Rock. ) From the Associated Press via KUAR : About 200 people packed...
Re: The Muslim World?
Hmmm. I take Jennifer Bryson’s point, via Nathaniel Peters , that in his speech President Obama used more precise and defensible terms than “the Muslim world.” Yet, by addressing...
Obama in Cairo: A Little More Unwarranted Attention
All of the attention paid to President Barack Obama’s speech to Cairo—including to an extent the negative criticism—has played into the rather strange concept behind it all; that is,...
An Attack in Little Rock
At any time, the act of joining the U.S. military is a statement, both real and implied, of one’s willingness to die for one’s country. However, in times of...
Do you have a permit for that Bible?
The story is generating quite a bit of heat, and—who knows?—maybe some rays of light along with it. It’s the story of a pastor by the name of David...
The Pope and the Pop Star
On Saturday, September 27, 1997, during the Twenty-third Eucharistic Congress and as part of pope John Paul II’s pastoral visit to Bologna, there took place an outdoor event attended...
