R. R. Reno

Jews ought to back away from any alliance with Christians when it comes to the contraceptive mandate, argues Yishai Schwartz in Tablet. His main reason: Catholics and Evangelicals and legal advocates like the Becket Fund are undermining religious liberty, not promoting it. “Although . . . . Continue Reading »

ENDAWhen I was a grade-school student in Baltimore, young men with black skin were chased out of white neighborhoods with baseball bats. I went to an elementary school integrated barely a decade earlier. The folding chairs I set up in my middle school gym were still marked “George Washington . . . . Continue Reading »

As 2013 draws to a close I’d like to look back at the past year for First Things magazine. We published some winners, to be sure, but also some losers. And so, with Lot’s wife as a warning against dwelling on the past, here are some observations. . . . Continue Reading »

’Tis the season to be jolly. ’Tis also the season for me to ask for your financial support! Our mission is important. Our need is great. First Things magazine and firstthings.com are published by the Institute on Religion and Public Life, a 503(c)(b) non-profit that depends on people like you for donations… . Continue Reading »

The mystery of Christmas begins with Abraham. It’s the story of love’s crazy concentration—God’s decision to get under our skin, as it were, by coming near and looking us in the eye… . Continue Reading »

’Tis the season to be jolly. ’Tis also the season for me to ask for your financial support! Our mission is important. Our need is great. First Things magazine and firstthings.com are published by the Institute on Religion and Public Life, a 503(c)(b) non-profit that depends on people like you for donations… . Continue Reading »

Fr. Ed Oakes died this morning.  Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last spring, his friends knew that they’d have to face this day. Still, it’s hard. Death always is. Ed is best known for his work on Hans Urs von Balthasar. He wrote one of the first comprehensive studies published . . . . Continue Reading »

’Tis the season to be jolly. ’Tis also the season for me to ask for your financial support! Our mission is important. Our need is great. First Things magazine and firstthings.com are published by the Institute on Religion and Public Life, a 503(c)(b) non-profit that depends on people like you for donations… . Continue Reading »

Now it’s certain. This will be a populist papacy. Denunciations of unfettered free market economics in Evangelii Gaudium—“an economy of exclusion and inequality”—attracted a great deal of attention in the secular press. But for the most part commentators ignore the fact that Francis’ populism has a very strong ecclesial dimension as well… . Continue Reading »

How to Limit Government The United States is no more likely to become Europe than China America. But the worry many have that we will become a comprehensive welfare state and regulatory behemoth is, however ill-framed, well-founded. Our culture doesn’t do a good job of limiting political . . . . Continue Reading »