Various

The ABCs of AIDS The First Things article “AIDS and the Churches” underscores a sad reality in the HIV/AIDS community: that communication and dialogue are ferociously difficult no matter what the intent. Our response here thus aims to frame the issues Edward C. Green and Alison Herling . . . . Continue Reading »

Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream by ross douthat & reihan salam doubleday, 244 pages, $23.95 After publishing “The Party of Sam’s Club”—their much acclaimed 2005 Weekly Standard cover story—the Atlantic Monthly editors Ross . . . . Continue Reading »

Nobility of Spirit: A Forgotten Ideal by Rob Riemen Yale, 160 pages, $22 This is an admirable but rather feckless attempt to erect a bulwark against the tide of egalitarianism that has been running so strongly for the last century. But nobility of spirit, like other kinds of nobility, is not really . . . . Continue Reading »

Wrights and Wrongs I know the comments in the April 2008 issue weren’t a review of my recent book Surprised by Hope , but if the more freewheeling nature of Father Richard John Neuhaus’ column in First Things is used as an excuse for serious misrepresentation, then it is time to . . . . Continue Reading »

Saving Some More Unlike the rest of us mortals, the always indispensable Avery Cardinal Dulles grows more indispensable with each advancing year, and his article “Who Can Be Saved?” (February) will rank as perhaps his most important essay on this topic. I have no quarrel with his . . . . Continue Reading »

Virtuous Leadership: An Agenda for Personal Excellence by Alexandre Havard Scepter, 172 pages, $16.95 Augustine called it libido dominandi ”the lust to control and dominate. For many, fulfilling this desire is what leadership is all about: fame, fortune, and power; being recognized, . . . . Continue Reading »

Myth and Thought Among the Greeks by Jean-Pierre Vernant Zone, 505 pages, $25 The superciliousness of Vernant’s approach to Greek myth is evident in the author’s introduction, in which we are affronted with the unquestioned presumption that homo religiosus is a primitive creature who . . . . Continue Reading »

The Moral Law Reading Robert George’s “Law and Moral Purpose” (January 2008), I found myself nodding in agreement. His brief critique of libertarianism helped me cement my own thoughts about what is fundamentally missing from that otherwise admirable position, and his analysis of . . . . Continue Reading »

A Russian Diary: A Journalist’s Final Account of Life, ­Corruption, and Death in Putin’s Russia by Anna Politkovskaya Random House, 400 pages, $25 We may be witnessing the dying gasps of Russian democracy. Vladimir Putin has won two overwhelming electoral victories: absolute . . . . Continue Reading »

Ecumenical Dialogues Avery Cardinal Dulles’ lucid, if disturbing, analysis of the reasons for the ecumenical project (“Saving Ecumenism from Itself,” December 2007) reminded me of a line from the fifth volume of Jaroslav Pelikan’s history of Christian theology, Church . . . . Continue Reading »