If the first casualty of war is the unwelcome truth, the first tool of the discontented is the welcome lie. Such lies cluster freely around Thomas Aquinas. Here I want to engage two frequently encountered in feminist literature: that he claims women are defective males and that he claims that the . . . . Continue Reading »
God’s Representatives: The Eight Twentieth-century Popes by james bentleyconstable. 200 pages, £16.95 . Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes by eamon duffyyale university press. 500 pages, $23. The Papacy by paul johnson. edited by michael walsh wiedenfeld and . . . . Continue Reading »
The following excerpt is taken from a 1997 supplement of the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law to its highly influential 1994 report “When Death Is Sought: Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the Medical Context.” The original report has been widely quoted and was cited by the . . . . Continue Reading »
A few decades ago I published a short piece in Christianity Today about something I had observed on a Chicago expressway. I had been following a car that exhibited a Playboy bunny decal in its rear window; then as I went to pass the car I also noticed a plastic statue of Mary on . . . . Continue Reading »
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948, through Resolution 217A (III). There were forty-eight votes for the Declaration, none against, and eight abstaining (White Russia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Saudi . . . . Continue Reading »
This is the “hiring season” for those of us in academia, the time of year when faculty search committees sift through piles of applications for teaching jobs for the coming academic year, and when PhD candidates like me wait nervously for the telephone to ring with invitations for job . . . . Continue Reading »
In receiving the credentials of the Honorable Lindy Boggs as Ambassador to the Holy See on December 16, 1997, Pope John Paul II offered some pointed comments on the “credibility” of the United States and its world leadership. Herewith the complete text of a statement that bears close reading. . . . . Continue Reading »
We scratch where it itches and even the most casual observer of the Episcopal Church knows that homosexuality is where we itch. As a Deputy to the 1997 General Convention of the Episcopal Church held in Philadelphia, I got more than a passing view. The legislative committee responsible for a wide . . . . Continue Reading »
It was the issue of abortion that taught me to be suspicious of the word “reform.” It was the early 1960s and all right-minded people were in favor of “abortion reform.” I assumed I should be too until it gradually dawned on me, slow learner that I was, that people speaking of abortion . . . . Continue Reading »
Twenty-five years ago, on January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States, in what numerous constitutional scholars have called an act of raw judicial power, abolished the abortion laws of all fifty states. The news went out that the Court had settled the controversy over abortion. A . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
