Those who objected to IVF (before my time) on the basis that the technology would not be limited to helping infertile, married couples conceive, were laughed off as scare mongers. My how times have changed. We now have a story of fertile couples using IVF to make embryos for deep freeze . . . . Continue Reading »
So I’m supposed to give a talk on the idea of the university or something along those line soon. I’m trying to get the facts in order. Here’s the first batch of several. Keep in mind this is a very rough, quick, and random draft: 1.There really is a massive contradiction between . . . . Continue Reading »
The editors of the Jewish Review of Books have kindly unlocked Jon Levinson’s “The Age of Abrahamic Religions,” discussed in today’s “On the Square” article, R. R. Reno’s Our Father Abraham . You can find the new link in the author biography. . . . . Continue Reading »
An artist died on Thursday, July 1a man whose name you may not know but whose work you surely will recognize. His most famous painting is probably The Prayer at Valley Forge (1975), which hangs today at George Washingtons home at Mount Vernon. And if youve ever leafed through a . . . . Continue Reading »
The machinery of French legislative authority is going into motion to pass a law that will ban the full veil in public , with a vote scheduled for July 13. Put forward by President Sarkozy, the ban was originally opposed by the Socialist Party. But the Socialists, who represent the main opposition . . . . Continue Reading »
A few months ago, First Things joined the social media revolution (already in progress) by launching a Facebook page. We already have nearly 1,000 friends, but wed love to add all of youthose of you with your own Faceboook page, that isas friends. That way, youll get regular . . . . Continue Reading »
It took some hard work and arm twisting, but Wes Siler, the former head of the Burke Society at the University of Virginia, managed to secure approval for a course on conservatism . As I wrote some months ago in The Civic Failure of Higher Education , the ideological homogeneity of . . . . Continue Reading »
Clearly, we have too much time on our hands in the office. We put our heads together and came up with a list of what may be the ten worst hymns of all time. Here are the hymns with video links. Take a look and a listen, and let us know what you think! [Note: The criticism applies only to the hymns . . . . Continue Reading »
The Vicar of Bray is an old English song about a pastor who changes his views to fit the regime, his primary goal in life and fundamental principle being to remain the vicar of Bray. The man is often invoked in discussions of church affairs, for reasons you’ll guess. I’d never heard the . . . . Continue Reading »
In Our Father Abraham , R. R. Reno suggests that the common claim that Jews, Christians, and Muslims are all united in being “Abrahamic religions” isn’t very useful, since Abraham means different things to each of them. The figure of Abraham provides “a point of . . . . Continue Reading »