SHS Funnies
by Wesley J. SmithSecondhand Smokette is now Tweeting and blogging at the SF Chronicle. I told her that made us Tweetie . . . . Continue Reading »
Secondhand Smokette is now Tweeting and blogging at the SF Chronicle. I told her that made us Tweetie . . . . Continue Reading »
Today’s “On the Square” offers a preview of the next issue, now in the mail to subscribers , from the editor’s “Public Square.” In The Signpost at the Crossroads , Joseph Bottum examines “the signpost at the intersection of religion and American public . . . . Continue Reading »
At signandsight , a fine English language website out of Germany that covers the European scene, one can find all sorts of interesting material, including a recent interview with Olivier Roy, a French expert on Islam. Roy makes an observation that reinforces thoughts Ive had for more than a . . . . Continue Reading »
[Note: Every Friday on First Thoughts we host a discussion about some aspect of pop culture. Today’s theme is childhood fads. Have a suggestion for a topic? Send them to me at jcarter@firstthings.com.] They were the best of fads, they were the worst of fads—all at the same time. The faddish . . . . Continue Reading »
The Library of Congress has announced that W.S. Merwin will be America’s next poet laureate. About his poetry, there is something to saybut less, perhaps, than you might think, given the prizes he’s won. Still, you remember poems like his one about the expatriate who realizes . . . . Continue Reading »
Is it time for change? Few of us need to be persuaded that our culture is due for significant social and spiritual renewal. It seems to me, though, that we have not taken seriously enough the magnitude of the challenge. We have especially not reckoned properly with the need for change among . . . . Continue Reading »
Two years ago I read Civilizing Authority: Society, State, and Church, edited by Patrick McKinley Brennan. It contains a number of noteworthy essays, the most intriguing of which is by J. Budziszewski, who writes on “How a Constitution May Undermine Constitutionalism.”Four years ago in . . . . Continue Reading »
I have not engaged this issue—whether abortion increases the risk of breast cancer—but have noticed the feverish drive to discredit any such link—the emotionality of which makes me think that the objections have more to do with politics than science. Be that as it may, a new . . . . Continue Reading »
I’m catching up on my reading, and was struck by a witty and helpful discussion of biblical interpretation by Shalom Carmy in the Spring issue of Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought . In his editorial for this issue, Carmy (a First Things contributor) uses the clever ambiguities . . . . Continue Reading »
How did Krakens become the hot-new sea monster? You hear about Krakens all the time now (see: Clash of the Titans , Pirates of the Caribbean , Alfred Tennyson poems), yet you never hear much about Leviathan. This is an outrage. With a Kraken you can play with him as with a bird, or put him on a . . . . Continue Reading »