I think it was David Brooks who coined, years ago, the term "beyondist." A beyondist is someone who urges us to get beyond left/right distinctions, beyond partisan politics, beyond the stymied options of the day. Jim Wallis is a good example, as the title of his book God’s Politics: . . . . Continue Reading »
Herewith an item from "The Public Square" in a forthcoming issue of First Things : It has been almost fifty years since C.P. Snow fixed the world’s attention on the way in which there are "two cultures," with scientists living in one and humanists in the other. Snow’s . . . . Continue Reading »
I recently argued in this space that Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and director of the Cardinal Van Thuân International Observatory , was wrong when he argued that "relativism"¯by which Crepaldi means an a priori rejection . . . . Continue Reading »
Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and director of the Cardinal Van Thuân International Observatory , has an essay on reason and religion in the public square in the ZENIT Daily Dispatch for March 10, 2007. Crepaldi is worried about what he . . . . Continue Reading »
The April 2007 issue of First Things is now on newsstands¯which also means that it’s available online for subscribers.This is another strong, wide-ranging issue of the magazine¯if we do say so ourselves. Which we do. I mean, it’s part of our job to insist that all new issues . . . . Continue Reading »
Taoiseach . I’ve been listening to the way the Irish pronounce it, and you’re safe in going with "T-shirt." It is, of course, the title of the prime minister of the Republic of Ireland, who for the last decade has been Bertie Ahern. He’s in the country, as Irish prime . . . . Continue Reading »
Senator John Edwards has offered us a reflection that gives us a glimpse of his hidden theological depths: "I think that Jesus would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs. I think he would be appalled, . . . . Continue Reading »
So my wife and I were moving and wanted to dispose of some bookcases that were past their use-by date. We had a bite on Craigslist, and the interested party came to our apartment to see if these essentially pine boxes with a remnant of veneer would do the trick. They were, in fact, exactly what she . . . . Continue Reading »
Writing on the Web good not is. Too fast, it move. Too quick, it change. And telegraphed its punches are.Of course, that’s the nature of the beast. Be angry at the sun for setting if these things anger you. Every morning, I read the newspaper editorials linked on Real Clear Politics , the . . . . Continue Reading »
In May 1982, the Russian Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn took time off from his work on The Red Wheel , his magisterial literary-historical account of the origins of the Bolshevik Revolution, to respond to his detractors in the Russian émigré community. He had some able and . . . . Continue Reading »