Various

Salt and LightI was deeply moved by Sally Thomas’ article about her experience as a homeschooling mother (“Schooling at Home,” April). Her description of the order of her children’s days was inspiring; she seems to have constructed a truly Christ-centered learning . . . . Continue Reading »

Jihad or Bust Mustafa Akyol believes that “the main obstacle to Christian religious freedom in Turkey is not Islam but Turkish nationalism and laïcité ” (“Render Unto Atatürk,” March). And regarding the “verses of the sword” in the Qur’an, . . . . Continue Reading »

Grace in Practice: A Theology of Everyday Life by Paul F. M. Zahl Eerdmans, 267 pages, $18 The Anglican theologian Paul Zahl, who is currently dean of the only conservative evangelical Episcopalian seminary in the United States, is hard to pin down. I use the terms conservative and evangelical . . . . Continue Reading »

What Wright Got Right Edward T. Oakes’ review of Simply Christian by N.T. Wright (January) was, in my opinion, unfair. He ignored the substance of Wright’s work in favor of criticizing its perceived tone. Oakes praised C.S. Lewis but does not seem to recognize how Wright builds on and . . . . Continue Reading »

The Road by Cormac McCarthy Knopf, 241 pages, $24 A father and son trudge through the burned-over country, alone in the gray winter landscape except for roving bands of cannibals (“the bad guys,” as the father explains). Hiding in the woods by night, creeping forth by day, they ferret in . . . . Continue Reading »

The Truth About Altruism In his review of The Language of God (December 2006), Stephen Barr seems to agree with Francis S. Collins that the altruistic impulse is a scandal because it “goes directly contrary to the selfishness of the ‘selfish gene.’” Not necessarily. This . . . . Continue Reading »

My Life With the Saints by James Martin, S.J. Loyola Press, 411 pages, $22.95 An account of spiritual peregrinations that is as delightful as it is instructive. In My Life with the Saints , Fr. Martin describes with a light touch his encounters with a wide range of saints from the Catholic past and . . . . Continue Reading »

The Founders & Individualism As a fellow law professor and Catholic, I agree with many of the things Mary Ann Glendon says about modern law, modern individualism, and the contemporary Catholic Church’s teachings in relation to both (“Looking for ‘Persons’ in the . . . . Continue Reading »

Kierkegaard and Socrates: A Study in Philosophy and Faith , by Jacob Howland, Cambridge University Press, 246 pages, $80 With the exception of Nietzsche and those he later influenced, nearly all the philosophers in the received canon of the greats paid at least lip service to the integrity of . . . . Continue Reading »

In the exchanges between Alyssa Pitstick and Edward Oakes, S.J., on the thought of Hans Urs von Balthasar (December 2006 and January 2007), Fr. Oakes unfortunately misrepresents the teaching of Pius XII and Vatican II on the primacy of Scripture. Readers of First Things should not be misled. Pius . . . . Continue Reading »