Benedict in Silence

by P. J. Smith

The more the present day is marked by noise about ephemera, the more the silence of Benedict XVI becomes profound in contrast.  Continue Reading »

6 Feb 2018

The Bridge That George Lindbeck Built

by C. C. Pecknold

With his “cultural-linguistic” approach to Christianity, George Lindbeck hoped to find a way for ecclesial theology to reenter the university. Continue Reading »

2 Feb 2018

McAuley Beyond Despair

by Dan Hitchens

James McAuley had a gift for overcoming first impressions. Manning Clark, the future ­doyen of Australian historians, met the twenty-five-year-old poet in the crowd at an Aussie Rules game. McAuley was blind drunk, full of wild slogans about art and politics, and looked wrecked even by the usual . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Feb 2018

Pagan Horror

by David P. Goldman

Hitler’s Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reichby eric kurlanderyale, 448 pages, $35 That Hitler and his inner circle were mad is not a matter of controversy. The source and character of their madness, though, is subject to debate. Eric Kurlander wants us to understand Nazi ideology . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Feb 2018

Pain, World, God

by Mark Bauerlein

The frequency of my headaches has dropped to one every six weeks or so. (I never say that without giving thanks three times.) For twenty years, they hit every third or fourth day, a twinge at 10 a.m. spreading into a steel net circling my head and tightening slowly, slowly, until it hurt to blink. . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Feb 2018

Postliberal Theology

by R. R. Reno

Blood pressure is rising. Folks are worried about “illiberalism.” In a November issue of the Washington Post, Anne Applebaum warned of a rising “neo-Bolshevism” assailing the West: “Donald Trump, Viktor Orban, Nigel Farage, Marine Le Pen and Jaroslaw Kacyniski.” Others have more . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Feb 2018

The Metaphysics of Democracy

by Thomas Joseph White

Liberalism began as a political project that sought to curtail the role of religion in public life. Religious impulses haven’t proven easy to expel, however, even in secular societies. Contemporary secular liberalism aspires to be a universal project that supplants traditional religion and . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Feb 2018

Virtuous Evildoers

by Gilbert Meilaender

At the end of Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, Brutus and ­Cassius, the conspirators who had assassinated Caesar, are themselves dead. Brutus has, in fact, fallen upon his sword rather than face capture by the armies of Octavius and Mark Antony. Brutus was bad enough to betray and murder a . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Feb 2018

Eight Theses on Sex

by Hans Boersma

First, sex is searching for God. I purposely put this thesis up front, as number one. Sex finds its purpose in God in that sexual union is a symbol or a sacrament of union with Christ. Paul writes in Ephesians 5:32 that this is what the mystery of sexual union is about. So you cannot think . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Feb 2018

Saint and Scribe

by Robert Royal

Lessons in Hope: My Unexpected Life with St. John Paul IIby george weigelbasic, 368 pages, $32 Czesław Miłosz once said that, in terms of moral grandeur and personal presence, St. John Paul II could have been one of Shakespeare’s kings. No less a judge than Joseph Ratzinger noted that it was . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Feb 2018