Losana Boyd

In the early 1990s I was living a high-stress lifestyle: running a successful international business and raising three children. I had no particular religious practice to speak of, having given up Catholicism during my college years. At the same time, medical treatments for a debilitating injury . . . . Continue Reading »

Who before Giotto thought to remove the king’s crown— this first from the earth’s kingdoms come to worship. Giotto paints Him shrouded, the swaddled solemn babe, dressed for His burial— getting right to the point. And they were the best kings could offer, these tokens for the One who came . . . . Continue Reading »

The World in the Shadow of God: An Introduction to Christian Natural Theology by Ephraim Radner Cascade, 169 pages, $20 This world “continuously displays the life of God.” So writes Ephraim Radner in The World in the Shadow of God , his new collection of poems drawn from meditations on . . . . Continue Reading »

And now for some staff selections in a more secular vein: All I Want for Christmas is You - Mariah Carey Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love I’ll be Home for Christmas - Frank Sinatra Who Took . . . . Continue Reading »

The music of Christmas is rich in tradition and powerful in its appeal. We did a little in-house poll, and these emerged as the staff favorites: O Magnum Mysterium Weihnachtsleid Good Christian Men Rejoice Listen online here . O Come All Ye Faithful For Unto Us a Child is Born See Amid the . . . . Continue Reading »

Advent is the great season of preparation for the greatest of all gifts: Christ Himself. But as our culture makes all too obvious, this is also a season of high commercialism. As Fr. George Rutler from Our Saviour Parish in New York City reminds us: The season of Advent is lyrically beautiful if . . . . Continue Reading »

Brokenness haunts the pages of Kathleen Graber’s new collection of poems, The Eternal City, chosen by Paul Muldoon to re-introduce the distinguished Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets. An award-winning poet who teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University, Graber has drawn her poetic inspiration from … Continue Reading »

They are lovely, your orange slices and peignoirs, and especially that green cockatoo, but why, poet, limit the mind of God to a heaven of immutable fruit? Perhaps belief must be wooed, much as anything we hunger for. Granted, pursuit is a young man’s game, but in their eagerness, boys grab . . . . Continue Reading »

First Things is pleased to announce our next event : renowned poet Christian Wiman will be giving a reading here at our editorial offices in Manhattan on October 29, at 6 p.m. Wiman is editor of Poetry magazine. His most recent collection, Every Riven Thing , is just out from Farrar Straus Giroux . . . . Continue Reading »

When I was training my golden retriever, one command I impressed upon him above all others:  the essential “come!” command. That no matter what the circumstances, no matter how enticing a particular plant, person, or fellow canine might appear to be, when I gave the command to . . . . Continue Reading »