Various

intelligent design creationism and its critics: philosophical, theological, and scientific perspectivesedited by robert t. pennock mit press, 805 pages, $45 Advocates of Darwinian naturalism would like us to believe that the universe simply flashed into existence one fine day all on its own; . . . . Continue Reading »

The Limits of Globalization M. A. Casey ( “How to Think About Globalization,” October 2002) accurately portrays the secular elite’s inability to appreciate the depth of influence that religious cultures maintain over the actions of individuals, including those who were responsible for the . . . . Continue Reading »

After Aquinas: Versions of Thomism. By Fergus Kerr. Blackwell. 254 pp. $24.95 paper. “The problem with Thomism,” Flannery O’Connor once wrote, “is that it comes in such horrible wrappers.” Today’s students—if they read Thomas Aquinas at all—are likely to know only that he . . . . Continue Reading »

We, the undersigned, are grateful to Darrell Cole for “Listening to Pacifists” (August/September). He writes with charity, seeking to state clearly the differences as well as the similarities between just war morality and pacifism. However, we fear that his account of pacifism still leaves much . . . . Continue Reading »

Night falling early: silver in the duff, frosty small change, and in our maple, crows, calculating and tentative. But I don’t grudge darkness; I did back in my rough and greedy youth spent wanting—deep in those never-long-enough days I clung to—sky whose blue coffers I prayed would . . . . Continue Reading »

Angels of Death: Exploring the Euthanasia Underground. By Roger S. Magnusson. Yale University Press. 306 pp. $35. Roger S. Magnusson opines that mercy killing should be legalized and regulated because, in no small part, “illicit euthanasia” is already practiced. But so too are incest and . . . . Continue Reading »

J. Budziszewski’s article “The Second Tablet Project” (June/July) is the clearest, most cogent brief examination I have seen of the problem of doing ethics without God. I agree with him that any attempt to justify a system of ethics while denying its metaphysical basis is doomed to ultimate . . . . Continue Reading »

Real Ethics: Rethinking the Foundations of Morality By John Rist. Cambridge University Press. 295 pp. $23 paper. John Rist’s punchy title suggests that it is possible for an ethical theory to be less than fully engaged with reality. It also hints at the author’s vigorous defense of moral . . . . Continue Reading »

In his article “God’s Justice and Ours” (FT, May), Justice Antonin Scalia states correctly, I believe, that Pope John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae did not intend “authoritatively to sweep aside (if one could) two thousand years of Christian teaching.” Nevertheless he holds that the Pope’s . . . . Continue Reading »

I commend Jerry L. Walls for his examination of the issue of purgatory from his own Wesleyan tradition (“ Purgatory for Everyone,” April). His effort reveals an interesting similarity between the Wesleyan tradition and the tradition of Roman Catholicism on the issue of purgatory. The Lutheran . . . . Continue Reading »