First Thoughts

Moments of Chosen Light

This faith that enables us to look past darkness to light, even if now only dimly, is the faith in which John Montague was formed. Continue Reading »

First Things Junior Fellows Program 2017

Calling all graduating college seniors and recent graduates. Want to apply for the First Things junior fellows program? Applications are due Friday, March 17, 2017. Continue Reading »

President Trump, Therapist in Chief?

The choice of Paula White to pray at Donald Trump's inauguration has little significance theologically but speaks eloquently of the state of the nation. Continue Reading »

A Note of Thanks

Dear Reader,

Thank you for being a part of our fall 2016 fundraising campaign! Continue Reading »

“No Core Identity”?

Canadians cherish the contributions made by their immigrants, whom they have generally welcomed. But immigrants have come here not because Canada has no core political identity, but precisely because of Canada's core political identity. Continue Reading »

Political Animals

Our current political problems are rooted in the long and messy history of what makes politics, well, politics. Continue Reading »

Christmas Day, 2016

New York, the home of those who wander far
From home, fleeing charming ghosts, or else in
Search of something resembling a star. Continue Reading »

Shūsaku Endō's Silence and Faithfulness

Readers of First Thoughts will know by now that Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Silence by Shūsaku Endō was released in select theaters on December 23. The novel warrants the attention it is getting. Set in the 1640s at the end of Japan's “Christian Century” (1549-1639), Silence is a haunting journey through one priest’s struggles to remain faithful in the most challenging of circumstances. Continue Reading »

Ciceronian Times Call for Ciceronian Voices

The church may be moving back to the status it had in the first-century CE but the world around us might be more akin to Rome of the first-century BCE. Continue Reading »

Christ's Three-Fold Coming in Music

When taken neat, the Oratorio’s musical beauty and theological simplicity drive home the power of Christ’s coming in all its forms. Continue Reading »