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R.R. Reno is editor of First Things.

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IUDs, MOOCs, and Money

From First Thoughts

Pamela Fox makes really cool stuff. So says Tessa Miller on  Life Hacker , a website the “curates [web-speak for exercising editorial judgment] tips, tricks, and technology for living better in the digital age.” I’m sure that’s true, about Pamela I mean. But she’s more . . . . Continue Reading »

Pope Francis

From the May 2013 Print Edition

Pope Francis Un ersatz: a phony. That’s how, the day after the papal election, Argentine journalist Horacio Verbitsky described the new pope in Página/12, a leading progressive paper in Buenos Aires. It’s a striking charge, one made in anger and with a certain bitterness. We do well to pay . . . . Continue Reading »

Rahner the Restorationist

From the May 2013 Print Edition

Karl Rahner was once the figure to be reckoned with. When, at the very outset of the Second Vatican Council, the gathered bishops rejected the schema on revelation prepared in advance by the Holy Office, they signaled the end of the presumptive authority of neoscholastic theology over the . . . . Continue Reading »

Lord Byron’s Foot

From First Thoughts

Poet George Green isn’t somebody I’d want to meet in the Muse’s dark alley. If his wonderful new book of poetry, Lord Byron’s Foot , is any indication, he swings a mean verbal broadsword. Here’s a short poem. It’s part of a series titled “Warhol’s . . . . Continue Reading »

Selective Discipline

From First Thoughts

We live with interesting dissonances. For example, it’s fascinating that young people now accept economic discipline with little protest. That’s something I wouldn’t have predicted when I was in college when people still worried about being imprisoned in what Weber called the . . . . Continue Reading »

The Triumph of Capitalism

From Web Exclusives

We live in an era of unparalleled economic freedom. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, free markets have ruled without much in the way of resistance. As a consequence, for the most part our political problems now involve coming to terms with the global triumph of capitalism… . Continue Reading »

Bespoke Identity Formation

From First Thoughts

We’re in the midst of a big shift, no doubt. Check out this report from the Nation : “ NHL Takes ‘Historic Step’ for LGBT Equality .” The piece speaks of sports as a bulwark of “heteronormative socialization,” with the implicit suggestion that this, like . . . . Continue Reading »

Rod Dreher on the Sexual Revolution

From First Thoughts

In a very fine article in the American Conservative, ” Sex After Christianity ,” Rod Dreher explains how the growing support for gay marriage reflect deep and profound changes in our moral imaginations. He writes, correctly I think, that “gay-marriage proponents succeeded so . . . . Continue Reading »

Gay Marriage and Conservatism

From Web Exclusives

Republicans are in a world of hurt. Many analysts believe that the old coalition of social and fiscal conservatism doesn’t sell, at least not well enough to win national elections. The culprit, many think, is “certain social issues,” as a recent GOP national report delicately put it… . Continue Reading »

The Next Pope

From the April 2013 Print Edition

The Next Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation marks the end of the heroic generation. Writing as I am before the conclave, I can’t know who will be his successor, but I can foresee this: No longer will the chief pastor of the Catholic Church be a man who participated in the Second Vatican Council, . . . . Continue Reading »