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Briefly Noted 138

From the August/September 1997 Print Edition

Making Christ Known: Historic Mission Documents from the Lausanne Movement, 1974-1989Edited by John R. Stott. Foreword by Billy Graham.Eerdmans, 304 pages, $30 paper.In July 1974, 2,700 evangelical Protestants from 150 nations gathered for the first International Congress on World Evangelization in . . . . Continue Reading »

Briefly Noted 137

From the June/July 1997 Print Edition

Religion, Science, and Naturalism by Willem Drees. Cambridge University Press, 314 pages, $59.95. Among philosophical naturalists, there are what one might call the mean ones and the nice ones. Mean ones, like Tufts professor Daniel Dennett, sternly inform us that natural causes explain everything . . . . Continue Reading »

June/July Letters

From the June/July 1997 Print Edition

Bad History, Bad Logic Carol Iannone’s piece on Inherit the Wind (February) was long overdue. Besides being false to history, the film version takes liberties with logic. This speech delivered by the Darrow/Drummond character in the film is a classic instance of the argument from the slippery . . . . Continue Reading »

Briefly Noted 136

From the May 1997 Print Edition

The Diversity Machine: The Drive to Change the “White Male Workplace” By Frederick R. Lynch. Free Press, 416 pages, $27.50. Affirmative action has sustained some severe blows recently, but its commercial cousin, the diversity movement, has escaped close scrutiny until now. With this . . . . Continue Reading »

May Letters

From the May 1997 Print Edition

The Catholic Vote I respectfully disagree with Bishop James T. McHughs diagnosis of and prescription for the Catholic vote in the 1996 elections (“Catholics and the 1996 Election,” February). His Excellency has a truncated view of the bishops admitted failure, despite great efforts, to . . . . Continue Reading »

Briefly Noted 135

From the April 1997 Print Edition

The Lord By Romano Guardini. Translated by Elinor Castendyk Briefs. Regnery, 629 pages, $14.95 paper. These meditations on the person and life of Jesus Christ were originally published in 1937, and translated in 1954. They are “spiritual commentaries of some four years of Sunday services,” . . . . Continue Reading »

April Letters

From the April 1997 Print Edition

The End of Democracy? (Cont.) The editors of First Things have performed a great service in publishing the two symposia (November 1996 and January 1997) on the judicial usurpation of politics, even though their action has been misconstrued by some. If they are in any way to blame for the . . . . Continue Reading »

Briefly Noted 134

From the March 1997 Print Edition

Doctors of Conscience: The Struggle to Provide Abortion Before and After Roe v. Wade By Carole Joffe. Beacon, 250 pages, $24. It is refreshing to read a book on abortion that refuses any pretension of neutrality, and the sociologist Carole Joffe has composed an unapologetic paean to the . . . . Continue Reading »

March Letters 134

From the March 1997 Print Edition

The Hubris of Abortion Though I found Judge Robert Bork’s arguments on abortion in “Inconvenient Lives” (December 1996) mostly persuasive, I wondered at his lack of reference to God. The omission is especially glaring when he asks what characteristic entitles one to sufficient moral . . . . Continue Reading »