Various

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 »

Hegel Finagled Regarding “America in the European Mind” by Thomas Albert Howard (November): Mr. Howard’s quotation from Hegel’s Philosophy of History (“What has taken place in America so far is a mere echo of the Old World, and the expression of an alien . . . . Continue Reading »

Widowhood She wove the veil of her widowhood with thread from his shroud. Samuel Menashe An Inside Job I thought our problems had a foreign name as when Alaric vandalized the late Eternal City to inaugurate the end. For us, the fall is much the same: uncivil hordes press in upon the tame; lean . . . . Continue Reading »

American Mythos: Why Our Best Efforts to Be a Better Nation Fall Short by Robert Wuthnow Princeton University Press, 298 pages, $29.95 Myth and mythos refer to a kind of cultural story that possesses high authority and the capacity to convey powerful truths. Though the word myth seldom appears in . . . . Continue Reading »