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Thomas and Pure Nature
Summarizing a line of argument from Aquinas, Robert Spaemann (Essays in Anthropology) notes that Thomas acknowledges that…
Christ the Lion
Jesus is the Lion of Judah. This is no random metaphor, according to the medieval bestiary, the…
Fr. Spadaro’s Math
It does not take a professional mathematician to spot the error in this recent tweet by Fr.…
David’s Plunder
David is no Achan. Achan was the Judahite who seized plunder from Jericho, booty that belonged to…
Are Trinitarian Persons Persons?
Boethius defined persona as an “individual substance of a rational nature (natuae rationalis individua substantia). This definition…
Remembering Kevin Starr, Catholic Historian
The passing of Kevin Starr, the notable historian of California, is already being observed with predictable political…
Brothers and Other Perils
I am a lazy reader. Left to myself, I would subsist on a diet of My Favorite…
God’s Sacramental Self-Gift
What does God give in creation and redemption? He gives us our own existence, and that the…
Anthropomorphism and Nature
In his Essays in Anthropology, Robert Spaemann observes that “the beginning of modern science was marked by…
American Covenant
Philip Gorski’s American Covenant examines the American tradition of civil religion or civic republicanism from the Puritans…
Silence and Sherlock
On this spoiler-filled episode of the First Things Podcast: Associate editor Julia Yost talks with assistant editor…
Saint Nick
In his pre-game New Yorker profile of Alabama football coach Nick Saban, Benjamin Wallace-Wells suggests that Saban…
Awesome
At the Atlantic, Matthew Hutson summarizes recent research on the psychology of awe. The executive summary: Awe…
Hope in the Hinterlands
James Fallows summarizes his findings from a period of travel around the US. It’s good news: Erie,…
Decolonized World
In their just-released Decolonization: A Short History, Jan Jansen and Jurgen Osterhammel observe that decolonization not only…
