Moriah Speciale

I feel the weight of the First Things legacy as we move into an unexpected future, uncertain of what will happen in our country and around the globe. Continue Reading »

In 1901, Rev. Maltbie Babcock wrote in a well-known hymn that God “shines in all that’s fair.” Like Calvin, Edwards, and Babcock before her, Marilynne Robinson presents in her writings a world suffused with theological significance. Robinson is known primarily as a novelist, but anyone who has . . . . Continue Reading »

Maryann Corbett’s latest collection of poetry presents readers with a pedestrian’s perspective on the world, revealing just how assiduously a poet is always paying attention. Continue Reading »

First Things invites readers to consider what matters most. Continue Reading »

Marilynne Robinson's Gilead should be read as a summa pietatis rather than a summa theologiae.  Continue Reading »

A Field Guide to the English Clergy:  A Compendium of Diverse Eccentrics, Pirates, Prelates and Adventurers; All Anglican, Some Even Practising by fergus butler-gallie oneworld, 192 pages, $20 Ah, the holy fool. Though we often associate such characters with the great tomes of Russian . . . . Continue Reading »

The Five Quintets by micheal o’siadhail baylor, 381 pages, $34.95 Sartre famously wrote that “hell is other people,” but for the poet Micheal O’Siadhail, hell is a highly specific group of other people. Among the damned are Franz Kafka, Karl Marx, and—you guessed it—a certain . . . . Continue Reading »

 Our readers are committed to truth. The First Things staff remains committed to the same. Continue Reading »