Gladden J. Pappin

Against a media backdrop determined to frame Hungary as Europe’s black sheep, it certainly seems that the Holy Father would prefer, as he often says, to “smell of the sheep.” Continue Reading »

We’re stuck. The signal innovations of modern times—mass water purification, electricity, automobiles, modern manufacturing processes—are behind us. This slowing of invention presents a problem. We are trapped by the imperative of ever more innovation even as innovation becomes harder . . . . Continue Reading »

The International Eucharistic Congress was a statement about the rebirth of Hungary and the persistence of faith. Continue Reading »

St. John Paul II offers guidance for Christians seeking to understand the family policy debate. Continue Reading »

Catholics across France have been meeting outside churches and civil buildings to demand the lifting of prohibitions on the public celebration of Mass. Continue Reading »

Bishops should consider implementing a system of simple, voluntary, low-stakes ecclesiastical verification for Catholics who publish online. Continue Reading »

The Lost History of Liberalism:  From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century by helena rosenblatt princeton, 368 pages, $35 Liberalism, says Helena Rosenblatt, has grown ineffective as it has forgotten the role that public morality, virtue, and conceptions of the common good played in its . . . . Continue Reading »

Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by nick bostrom oxford, 352 pages, $29.95 Since cofounding the World Transhumanist Association in 1998, the Swedish-born Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom has attempted to give a serious academic mien to the movement known as transhumanism. Transhumanists . . . . Continue Reading »

Several years ago, Giorgio Agamben began one of his lectures by asking why he had made law and theo­logy the areas of his recent investigation. “A first answer,” he said, “which is obviously a joke, but every joke has a serious core, would be, because these are the only two fields in which . . . . Continue Reading »

In God’s Shadow: Politics in the Hebrew Bible by Michael Walzer Yale, 256 pages, $28 In the Bible, argues Michael Walzer, God casts a shadow over human politics, making it hard to see that human beings are at work. The Pentateuch’s different law codes, for example, bear silent witness to . . . . Continue Reading »