December 2002
America’s Most Influential Journal of Religion and Public Life
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Pacifism Redux
We, the undersigned, are grateful to Darrell Cole for “Listening to Pacifists” (August/September). He writes with charity,…
Orestes Brownson and the Truth About America
If you attend Mass in the crypt of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University…
Ivan Karamazov’s Mistake
It is has become commonplace to regard Ivan Karamazov’s “Legend of the Grand Inquisitor” as a prescient…
Dakota Christmas
What fades in memory is not the fact but the feeling. I can call up nearly every…
A Musical Requiem
Timing is everything. To complete his three-year tenure as composer-in-residence with the Pacific Symphony (an ensemble in…
Abortion in the Tides of Culture
Where did the pro-life movement go? A half-dozen years ago movement activists were everywhere, drafting statements, holding…
To Beginning Law Students
Regardless of what each of you has come to law school to do, allow me to suggest…
Halfway Through the Hail Mary
A Methodist friend of mine has always been puzzled by the emphasis Catholics place upon ready-made prayers.…
Celibacy in Context
It seems that the one thing everyone knows about the Eastern Churches is that “they have married…
Economics as Religion: From Samuelson to Chicago and Beyond
Economics, as a social science, occupies a peculiar space within academic and national life. Economists deal with…
What Is Ancient Philosophy?
According to Pierre Hadot, a prominent historian of ancient thought and professor emeritus at the CollËge de…
Briefly Noted 48
After Aquinas: Versions of Thomism. By Fergus Kerr. Blackwell. 254 pp. $24.95 paper. “The problem with Thomism,”…
Separation of Church and State
During last year’s commencement exercises at the University of Virginia, every graduate received a fancy compendium of…
Eric Voegelin: The Restoration of Order
First, the basics: born in Germany in 1901, Eric Voegelin received a doctorate in political science from…
The Embarrassment of Sin and Grace
It is hard to know precisely where we are in the unfolding of the Long Lent of…
Pushing Back
“Here we go again. The December war of religion is among our most cherished traditions. Somebody is…
The Soul of Steven Pinker
It is not entirely a straw man that he is attacking. For a long time now, especially…
What Should Pius XII Have Done?
“During the discussion about the possible beatification/canonization of Pope Pius XII the major critique of Pius has…
“Sorry, Jesus…”
A first among ELCA Lutherans is the action of the Delaware-Maryland Synod to rescind its membership in…
On Modernity and Train Wrecks
Our Jody Bottum—I say “our” because I’ve never quite accepted his defection to the Weekly Standard—gets into…
Media Abused and Abusing
“Abused by the Media,” while not without its own problems, is a valuable article by Peter Steinfels,…
Why Israel Matters
The subject of Jews and Christians in “Christian America” is riddled with difficulties, and we should have…
While We’re At It
· I won’t go so far as to say that some of my best friends are, but…
Poetry
Night falling early: silver in the duff, frosty small change, and in our maple, crows, calculating and…
