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

  1. Public Life

The Fall of Pride

On June 2, 2024, protestors temporarily halted the Philly Pride Parade. They were not congregants of the Westboro Baptist Church or representatives of the Proud Boys but members of a group called Queers 4 Palestine. They held up a sign saying “No Pride in Genocide.” As . . . . Continue Reading »

Empire Under Siege

I did a good bit of traveling in early June. Only in mid-month did I settle back into my regular routines, walking to work through midtown Manhattan with my miniature dachshund, Mabel. As I traversed the avenues, I noticed a striking fact: Pride flags are conspicuously absent. Yes, a large Pride . . . . Continue Reading »

Lonely Men of Faith

Some Christians regard the thought of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik as so anti-Christian that Christians should take no interest in it—as, indeed, many of Soloveitchik’s disciples take no interest in Christian thought. This is unfortunate. As Matthew Rose demonstrated recently in these pages . . . . Continue Reading »

Liberalism’s Fourth Turning

Something is wrong with America. A generation after the Great Republic vanquished the Soviet Union and established the superiority of constitutional self-government and free markets, voices in the public square lament domestic threats to “our democracy,” and it has become commonplace to list the . . . . Continue Reading »

Prayer in a Time of War

I do not understand war. Even in the present time, for all my deeply felt moral and religious commitments touching on today’s conflicts, the reality of war itself seems to engulf my certainties. I am often at a loss for words and prayers. In 2018, I attended a church service in a small . . . . Continue Reading »

Feel Free

Many people have been amazed by the capabilities of ChatGPT and the rapid advances in artificial intelligence. But something even more remarkable has now appeared: a book, described by its publishers as “plumb[ing] the depths of the science and philosophy of decision-making,” that claims to have . . . . Continue Reading »

Immortal Diamond

In March 2022, the Nordic Bishops’ Conference sent an open letter to the president of the German Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg. The Nordic bishops began by mentioning their historic debt of gratitude to the German Church: In Norway, for instance, the nineteenth-century . . . . Continue Reading »

Mozart’s God

In a glass case at Mozart’s birthplace in Salzburg is a small wax doll. Its eyes look demurely downward, it wears a crown several times the size of its head, and it is clad in a richly embroidered garment that looks like nothing so much as a sumptuous eighteenth-century ball gown. This is . . . . Continue Reading »

Building Back Better

Once upon a time, in a faraway place called Brooklyn, there lived a museum director named Anne Pasternak. Because she was a member of America’s self-appointed cultural elite, she liked to travel to trendy places like Aspen and make sweeping statements about art and society. If we don’t . . . . Continue Reading »

Featured Authors

    Filter Tag Articles

    2024 First Things. All rights reserved.
    View our privacy policy here.
    212.627.1985 ft@firstthings.com