First Thoughts

First Links — 9.30.15

Evangelism in the Early Church
Robert Wilken, Christian History

Back to Science Class for the Science Guy
Robert P. George & Patrick Lee, National Review

Finding Ourselves in Flannery's Freaks
Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Imaginative Conservative

Seven Books that should be Banned
Matthew Schmitz, Acculturated

Miraculous Occurrences During Pope Francis's Visit to New York
Luke Burns, New Yorker

No More Tirades

First Things stands for something. Many things, actually. One of them is a commitment to reality-based conservatism, both in matters of faith and of public life. I mention this, because I've decided to end our hosting of Maureen Mullarkey’s blog.Maureen has a sharp pen and pungent style. Her . . . . Continue Reading »

First Links — 9.28.15

‘He’s a Disruptor': Interview with ‘First Things’ Editor R.R. Reno on Pope Francis' U.S. Visit
Sean Salai, S.J., America

The KJV and the Thereofs Thereof
Ben S., Times and Seasons

Banned Books Week is a Crock
Ruth Graham, Slate

Celebrating American Catholics
Catherine Addington, American Conservative

Meet the Man Who Invents Languages for a Living
Arun Rath, NPR

First Links — 9.28.15

Pope Francis Called For More Work From Priests, But 20% Of Parishes Don’t Even Have One
Leah Libresco, FiveThirtyEight

Liturgy, Grace, Marriage, and the New Danger of Schism
Cardinal Gerhard Müller, Rorate Caeli

What John Boehner Told Me the Night Before He Said He Was Quitting
Robert Costa, Washington Post

Shakespeare's London: Where All the World Really Was a Stage
Sam Leith, Spectator

The Men Saving Syria’s Treasures from Isis
Jeremy Bowen, New Statesman

Pope Francis at Independence Hall

Despite Francis’s universally warm reception, there was a cold war waged on the steps of Independence Hall between two Philadelphia dignitaries offering introductory speeches before the Pope’s address.

​Francis at the United Nations

Francis and the dialectics of exclusion Continue Reading »

First Links — 9.25.15

Embracing Our Limits: The Lessons of Laudato Si'
Rowan Williams, Commonweal

How Marcuse Made Today’s Students Less Tolerant Than Their Parents
April Kelly-Woessner, Heterodox Academy

Religious Freedom Message: Pope Makes Surprise Stop at Little Sisters of the Poor
Staff, National Catholic Register

Loving Radically—A Little Like the Celtic Saints
Heather Walker Peterson, Humane Pursuits

Two Monks Invent Religious Iconography
Mallory Ortberg, Toast

The Political Evanescence of the Papal Visit

It is an unavoidable preoccupation of our political class to speak and write obsessively about the political impact of, well, everything. Pope Francis’s visit to the United States is a Very Big Thing to talk about in this respect. Whom will he afflict, and whom will he comfort? Will the Left chafe . . . . Continue Reading »

First Links — 9.24.15

Taking the Measure of Pope Francis
Leah Libresco, et alia, FiveThirtyEight

Speaking Truth
David Mills, Ethika Politika

A Walk on the Holy Side: Nun Helps Transgendered Find Christ
Argentine Catholic Information Agency, Aleteia

The Latest Victim's of Political Correctness? Gilbert and Sullivan
Matthew Schmitz, Acculturated

‘Hamilton' and the End of Irony
Alexandra Petri, Washington Post

A Response to Janet Smith's “Benign Reading” of Paragraph 137

On September 10, we published “An Appeal,” endorsed by a long list of fellow scholars. The Appeal sharply criticized paragraph 137 of the Instrumentum laboris for the upcoming Synod on the family. In her “A Benign Reading of a Confusing Paragraph,” Janet Smith offered a thoughtful . . . . Continue Reading »