Archive

Nicolas Poussin, the greatest French artist of the seventeenth century, once said that Caravaggio had come into the world to destroy painting. ­Poussin’s concept of beauty led him to...

In the quiet sanctuary of West Point’s Old Cadet Chapel, a striking mural crowns the apse above the altar. Painted by Robert Weir and titled Peace and War, it...

First Things editors and writers share the most memorable books they read this year. R. R. RenoEditor Our political culture is changing. Book publishers are eager to put out...

Twenty years ago, I published a small book, The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God. It enjoyed a fair sale, got translated into French, Spanish,...

It happened quickly, so quickly that you’d think it was impossible to retain the image. The Ohio Turnpike in October 2024, 5:30 a.m. and pitch-black, the road straight and...

The West’s demographic dearth is capturing the attention of growing numbers of public officials. Speaking on October 14 after a meeting with Italian president Sergio Mattarella, Pope Leo XIV...

More than sixteen years ago, on the morning of his installation Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, an ebullient (when was he not?) Archbishop Timothy Dolan greeted...

This list would have been different a couple of months ago, or yesterday—maybe even in the wee hours tonight—but here are some of the books I particularly enjoyed (excluding...

Many regard “postliberalism” as a political program. In 1993, when the tide of globalized liberalism was at its highwater mark, the contrarian John Gray published Post-Liberalism: Studies in Political...

This fall, Arthouse2B, in partnership with Ballet Hartford, hosted a performance named “Ballet and the Theology Within” in New York City. The Big Apple is known for its ballet:...

Every year on January 17, revelers gather in an orchard near the Butcher’s Arms in the Somerset village of Carhampton, in the Brendon Hills. There, “wassailers” walk between the trees, splashing them with cider...

On December 23, 1981, President Ronald Reagan called for Americans to place a lighted candle in the window on Christmas Eve. He did so at the request of Romuald...

A new Canadian bill that seeks to strengthen existing hate speech law in the country has worrying implications for expressive and religious freedoms. Tabled in September, the Combatting Hate...

John Fisher, the renowned Bishop of Rochester, is known to history chiefly for having been put to death by King ­Henry VIII...

No one with any knowledge of Roman universities would be the least surprised to hear that Sant’Anselmo, a pontifical university with a reputation for liturgical studies, harbors a professor...