Amanda Shaw

Art, Virgil says in Dante’s Divine Comedy , is the grandchild of God: God forms man in his own image, and we imitate this creative act. To put it differently, art reflects creation and creation reflects God. But literary critic Terry Eagleton isn’t so sure. Did God create the artist, or . . . . Continue Reading »

Some of the most poignant devotional poetry in English comes from a seventeenth-century country parson, George Herbert . I came across the following little-known verses last night and was immediately struck by their limping discordance—a stark contrast to Herbert’s usually fluid . . . . Continue Reading »

I knew about the Our Lady of Guadalupe votive candles beside the refried beans at the grocery store. And there’s HappyMart in southern Virginia, with guns and milkshakes at the same counter. But Bernard of Cluny’s De Contemptu Mundi at Target.com ?! . . . . Continue Reading »

Almost 200 Chinese cancer patients have been paralyzed by contaminated drugs, says a New York Times article today. And seeing that it’s hard to buy anything that doesn’t boast a “made in China” gold label, it’s not particularly surprising that the same drug maker . . . . Continue Reading »

“As a child of divorce you’re always missing somebody,” says Elizabeth Marquardt of the Institute for American Values . Missing a mother, missing a father . . . missing God. In a first-of-its-kind study on the spiritual lives of children of divorce, Ms. Marquardt found that young . . . . Continue Reading »

The search has begun. Maybe you’ve seen the ad in the last issue, the announcement online , Jody’s notice , or Nathaniel’s blog post : First Things is now accepting applications for next year’s junior fellows. Not sure you fit the bill? Take the quiz below to find out! 1) My . . . . Continue Reading »

Juno lays bare a “bitterly unfair truth of sexuality,” says Caitlin Flanagan in yesterday’s New York Times : “Female desire can bring with it a form of punishment no man can begin to imagine.” On our website last week , I argued that Juno is far from your average . . . . Continue Reading »

“A woman, especially, if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can.” Fortunately, Jane Austen did not heed her own advice, and six stunning novels are the result. As part of its new Sunday drama series, premiering tomorrow at 9 pm (EST), . . . . Continue Reading »

“I was hoping she was expelled from school or into hard drugs”¯Nothing, it seems, could be worse in parents’ eyes than having a teenage daughter get pregnant. Especially when it’s going to last for nine months. But as a New York Times headline announced last month, after . . . . Continue Reading »

I don’t know, Nathaniel. I especially enjoyed some of the quirkier pieces in the December issue, now available online to non-subscribers. How about Fernando Gouvêa’s “Faith by the Numbers” review, in which we glimpse how Victorian mathematics and faith intertwined? . . . . Continue Reading »