Various

The Index of Leading Spiritual Indicators By George Barna. Word, 140 pages, $10.99. This is a fascinating if somewhat predictable account of recent trends in American religion by the evangelical pollster George Barna. Among other things, Barna found that Americans are searching for a personalized . . . . Continue Reading »

“The End of Democracy?” Your symposium “The End of Democracy? The Judicial Usurpation of Politics” (November 1996) did a great service by sounding the alarm about the risks and costs associated with the farce that is modern American constitutional law. Judges have claimed the power to make . . . . Continue Reading »

An Illegitimate Regime? While I do not retract a word of my criticism of the judiciary’s usurpation of democratic powers ( “Our Judicial Oligarchy,” November 1996 ), I wish that my remarks had not been preceded by the Editors’ suggestion that we may “have reached or are reaching the point . . . . Continue Reading »

Participants: William J. Bennett, Midge Decter, James C. Dobson, Mary Ann Glendon, John Leo William J. Bennett When I read statements asking us to explore the question of “whether we have reached or are reaching the point where conscientious citizens can no longer give moral assent to the . . . . Continue Reading »

Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth: Sacred Doctrine and the Natural Knowledge of God By Eugene Rogers, Jr. University of Notre Dame Press, 248 pages, $34.95. This is a splendid example of the close reading of classical texts taught––or formerly taught––in the theological graduate schools of . . . . Continue Reading »

Pythagoras’ Trousers: God, Physics, and the Gender Wars By Margaret Wertheim Random House, 279 pages, $23 Contrary to what the subtitle night suggest, this book is no feminist screed, but an even-toned, readable, and philosophically astute claim that mathematics (and hence mathematical . . . . Continue Reading »

Creative Contradictions Richard John Neuhaus’ analysis of Ralph Reed’s Active Faith (“Ralph Reed’s Real Agenda,” October) is trenchant, as always. One question, though: is it only “contemporary liberals” who define democracy “in terms of upward mobility rather than . . . . Continue Reading »

God of Abraham By L. E. Goodman Oxford University Press, 384 pages, $49.95 A sustained argument for natural theology by a first-rate philosopher who also knows the Jewish tradition. Goodman argues that human reason, unaided by special revelation, can teach us much about God”including a basic . . . . Continue Reading »

Debating the Shoah In his review essay on Hitler’s Willing Executioners (“Daniel Goldhagen’s Holocaust,” August/September), Richard John Neuhaus harshly challenges Professor Goldhagen’s criticism of the role played by the Christian churches under the Nazi regime, . . . . Continue Reading »

Introduction Articles on “judicial arrogance” and the “judicial usurpation of power” are not new. The following symposium addresses those questions, often in fresh ways, but also moves beyond them. The symposium is, in part, an extension of the argument set forth in our May 1996 editorial, . . . . Continue Reading »