Uncategorized
Introducing The Fourth Watch: A Newsletter about Catholicism
When First Things began thirty-five years ago, our founder, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, was not yet Catholic.…
The Classroom Heals the Wounds of Generations
“Hope,” wrote the German-American polymath Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, “is the deity of youth.” Wholly dependent on adults, children…
The End of the Fifth Republic
To paraphrase Antoine de Rivarol, the royalist pamphleteer who said that France was an absolute monarchy tempered…
Still Life, Still Sacred
Renaissance painters would use life-sized wooden dolls called manichini to study how drapery folds on the human…
While We’re At It
Propaganda: misleading and biased portrayal of facts, often used to inculcate and reinforce an ideology or political…
Briefly Noted
In our world of social media influencers, we are just a click away from seeing twentieth-century social…
Ukraine and a Peace Worthy of the Name
Pope Leo XIV’s spiritual lodestar is St. Augustine. In his first months in office, the Holy Father…
The Subversive Brilliance of Barbie
Barbie is back. Following the success of Greta Gerwig’s iconic blockbuster, which grossed over $1.44 billion worldwide,…
Just How Big Is Britain’s Religious Revival?
A few months ago, the Bible Society released a new report on Christianity in England and Wales.…
The Mystery of Family
This week, my wife, Wendy, our daughter Katy, and I have had delightful company. On July 25,…
Jesus Is the Key to All Scripture
To the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, the risen Jesus explains “things concerning himself in all the Scriptures,”…
Out of the Wilderness
When the agnostic Swiss playwright and novelist Max Frisch died, he asked that his funeral be conducted…
Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate
Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate” was printed on the punch cards that fed data into IBM…
Letters—Aug/Sept 2025
Joshua T. Katz’s (“Pure Episcopalianism,” May 2025) reason for a theologically conservative person joining a theologically liberal…
Apocalypse Now
I recently spoke to one of Germany’s largest booksellers. His success, including with dissident literature, is based…
