Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!

Inevitable Scholasticism

Introduction to Scholastic Theology by ulrich g. leinsle trans. michael j. miller catholic university of america, 392 pages, $29.95 The standard narratives of twentieth-century Catholic theology written in the past forty years typically depict the ways in which modern Catholic theologians managed . . . . Continue Reading »

Two Thomisms,
Two Modernities

The past century and a half of papal teaching on modern times often seems a tangle: any number of different strands—theology, Thomistic ­philosophy, social theory, economics—all snarled together. And yet a little historical analysis may help loosen the knot. In fact, a careful reading . . . . Continue Reading »

Majority Rules

Voting About God in Early Church Councilsby ramsay macmullen  yale university press, 192 pages, $30 What do we know about the early Christian councils? We know quite a bit about the great figures who ­normally occupy attention—an Athanasius, say, or a Cyril of Alexandria—but what . . . . Continue Reading »

Briefly Noted 210

Benedict XVI: The Man Who Was Ratzinger by michael s. rose spence, 182 pages, $22.95 The author of Goodbye, Good Men, a scathing and much discussed account of homosexuality in American seminaries, provides a frequently astute evaluation of what might be expected from the new pontificate. Rose’s . . . . Continue Reading »

Theology After the Revolution

Twentieth-Century Catholic Theologians: From Chenu to Ratzinger by fergus kerr blackwell, 240 pages, $29.95 Over the last decade, a Scottish Dominican named Fergus Kerr has produced a series of books designed to orient readers to contemporary trends. In the 1997 Immortal Longings, he discussed a . . . . Continue Reading »

Evangelicals and the Mother of God

It is time for evangelicals to recover a fully biblical appreciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her role in the history of salvation—and to do so precisely as evangelicals. The question, of course, is how to do that. Can the evangelical reengagement with the wider Christian tradition . . . . Continue Reading »

Fighting the Good Fight

God’s War: A New History of the Crusades by christopher tyerman belknap, 1,040 pages, $35 Not too many years ago, single-volume histories of the Crusades were a rarity. Bookstores were crowded with volumes on the Civil War or World War II, but there was little on medieval battles fought in . . . . Continue Reading »

Filter Tag Articles