The Vatican, China, and Evangelical Prudence
by George WeigelRecent remarks by the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, have fueled speculation about a possible exchange of diplomatic representation between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China. Unfortunately, the cardinal’s remarks did not address any of the serious questions that have been raised about the evangelical and prudential wisdom of such an agreement at this moment in history. Continue Reading »
Ad Orientem and Absolutism
by Charles ShonkWhen the celebrant turned around to speak to the congregation—to say things like “Pray, brothers and sisters”—the words took on special force; one's awareness of being directly addressed and invited to participate was heightened. Precisely because the priest had turned with the people to address the Lord, his turning back toward them and speaking to them was imbued with greater significance. In other words, vive la différence. Continue Reading »
On Reading Old Books
by Rachelle PetersonReading classics is humbling. Myopia becomes impossible. Millennia of human history unfold with the pages of books—and with an authenticity that no textbook or documentary can mimic. Continue Reading »
Lund and the Quest for Christian Unity
by Timothy GeorgeIn going to Lund to participate with Lutherans in a joint commemoration of the Reformation, Pope Francis is following in the footsteps of his two papal predecessors, both of whom were deeply committed to the ecumenical pathway set forth in the documents of Vatican II. Continue Reading »
Disraeli's Romanticism, Trump's Nationalism
by R. R. RenoWere Disraeli reincarnated as a Republican politician, our establishment would very likely find him as distressing as they currently find Trump. Continue Reading »
Secular Blindness
by Rupert ShorttOne of the core points overlooked by unbelievers is that human understanding is not exhausted by mapping the world of nature. We don’t just investigate the world at a scientific level: We also seek to give meaning to our lives, and to connect our own small narratives with the larger narratives of the world around us. Continue Reading »
The Conservative Lawyers versus the Never Trumpers
by Hadley ArkesI yield to no one in my recoil from Donald Trump. But for anyone who shares the perspectives of the Republican Party, far more is involved here than aversion to an implausible candidate. A conservative should have an interest in repealing and replacing Obamacare, a program that tends inexorably to the political control of medicine. Continue Reading »
“Death Control” and the Bioethics Peril
by Wesley J. SmithThousands of medical ethicists and bioethicists, as they are called, professionally guide the unthinkable on its passage through the debatable on its way to becoming the justifiable until it is finally established as the unexceptionable. Continue Reading »
Aleppo and a Layman
by Pete SpiliakosCohen declares, “No outcome in Syria could be worse than the current one.” He seems to have a high degree of confidence that if the United States had bombed the Assad regime, it would have produced a more peaceful Syria. Maybe it would have. Or maybe bombing—or perhaps better to say, merely bombing—the Assad forces would have produced only a different kind of hell. Continue Reading »
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