Martin Heidegger is notorious for his embrace of Nazism in the 1930s. Yet he was a luminous commentator on the religious substance of modern poetry. Perhaps because of his own misbegotten metaphysical aspirations, Heidegger could feel and understand the anguish of those who sought but could not . . . . Continue Reading »
For postmodern thinkers, Christianity’s scandal of particularity proves an insurmountable stumbling block. The eternal God’s unique incarnation in Jesus Christ is absorbed and neutered either in the name of the System or of the Non-System—both equally totalitarian. Continue Reading »
Theologian Frederick Lawrence synthesizes the work of two twentieth-century giants: Bernard Lonergan and Hans-Georg Gadamer. Continue Reading »
Russia has annexed part of Crimea, has usurped America’s role as arbiter of winners and losers in the Middle East, and makes trouble in Ukraine. Putin is increasingly popular as the patron of anti-E.U. populism in Europe, and Moscow tried to influence the recent American presidential election. . . . . Continue Reading »
An awful lot of summer blockbusters in 2014 seemed to be about young people dying. Of terminal illnesses in The Fault in Our Stars, as far as I could tell from the previews, and at one another’s hands in convoluted, dystopian competitions in The Maze Runner and the third installment of The Hunger . . . . Continue Reading »
marriage pledge R. R. Reno writes in “Government Marriage” (December) that he “can’t see how a priest or pastor can in good conscience sign a marriage license for ‘Spouse A’ and ‘Spouse B.’” Then, in support of the Marriage Pledge put forward by . . . . Continue Reading »
In his preface to the Philosophy of Right, Hegel famously remarks that the owl of Minerva takes flight only as dusk is falling, which is to say that philosophy comes only at the end of an age, far too late in the day to tell us how the world ought to be; it can at most merely ponder what already . . . . Continue Reading »
My name has appeared on the masthead now for almost two months, but i have hesitated to pen an inaugural entry, especially since, unlike some of the others in the group, i have no full-fledged manifesto to announce. And — as these things go — the longer one waits, the more difficult it . . . . Continue Reading »
Edith Stein: A Philosophical Prologue 1913–1922by alasdair macintyrerowman & littlefield, 224 pages, $25.95 In the summer of 1921, while visiting friends, Edith Stein chanced upon the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila. Reading through the night, she completed an important stage in her own . . . . Continue Reading »
Wise is he to whom all things taste as they are.—Joseph Pieper The first time the popular use of “pragmatic” registered on me was during the campaign of 1960. Time explained that religion was not a real danger with either Kennedy or Nixon, since both were “pragmatic.” It was . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
