R.R. Reno is editor of First Things.

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Service to the Communists

Monday’s Wall Street Journal ran an interesting review of a newly published biography of John S. Service by Jonathan Mirsky. Drummed out of the State Department during the McCarthy period, Service was long viewed as a victim of irrational anti-communism, and he was rewarded by the liberal . . . . Continue Reading »

22 Dec 2009

Nelson Caves on Abortion Funding

I had hoped that my senator, Ben Nelson from Nebraska, would stand up for the sanctity of life.  His vote turned out to be decisive for moving the health care legislation forward in the Senate, and it looked as though he would hold out for something like the Stupak amendment to the Senate . . . . Continue Reading »

19 Dec 2009

Re: When Heroes Wore Khakis

Whoa, wait a minute Joe . I think there’s a lot more going on in the Dockers ad that marketers trying to bring back trouser creases. I read this ad as a body blow to Baby-Boomer culture—casual Fridays, sloppily dressed professionals, sixty-year olds with sagging guts in blue jeans. And . . . . Continue Reading »

18 Dec 2009

Stephen Toulmin, 1922-2009

Stephen Toulmin died earlier this month . He was a leader of the generation that come of age after World War II and made its way out of the wilderness of logical positivism. An enemy of arid rationalism and the foolish belief in the omni-competence of science, his work did a great deal to revive in . . . . Continue Reading »

16 Dec 2009

Is the Catholic Theological Society of America “Left-Leaning”?

Check this out. The leadership of the Catholic Theological Society of America protests against being labeled “left-leaning.” Let’s get this straight. The CTSA is committed to real theology. You know the buzz words: “the task of critically examining the faith,” which of . . . . Continue Reading »

8 Dec 2009

A Parody of Modern Subjectivism

In the latest issue of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Quarterly , Father Thomas Weinandy, O.F.M. dissects a feeble effusion of what passes for theological progressivism these days from the pen of Terrance Tilley. Tilley is a professor of theology at Fordham and an old warhorse of the American . . . . Continue Reading »

7 Dec 2009

Cornell West: A Parody of an Academic Celebrity

Ouch. If you’re interested in somebody taking Cornel West to the intellectual, literary, and ethical woodshed, go over to Inside Higher Ed to read Scott McLemee’s review of Cornel West’s recently published as-told-to memoir. (Yes, the professor hired a ghost writer!) McLemee is right. Cornel . . . . Continue Reading »

2 Dec 2009

Final August Aphorism

The languid month has run its course, and I’ve pretty much run out of worthwhile aphorisms.  Maybe I ran out awhile ago.  In any event, I have a final bon mot that Russ Saltzman sent me a couple of weeks ago. Never become so cynical as to believe that things can’t get worse. . . . . Continue Reading »

31 Aug 2009

August Aphorisms #13

The new elitism includes everybody on the condition that they include everybody. Of course, that turns about to be almost nobody, which is why the those who preach inclusion can remain so smugly elitist. . . . . Continue Reading »

28 Aug 2009

August Aphorisms #12

The shortest route to the advantages of wealth is to want what you have. . . . . Continue Reading »

27 Aug 2009