Israel is a Jewish state but has not succeeded in defining just what that means in a national constitution. Although the 1948 Declaration of Independence called for the enactment of a constitution within months of the state’s inception, nothing has been achieved beyond a fragmentary “Basic . . . . Continue Reading »
One way anti-Jewish sentiment has been interpreted is simply as a quid pro quo. Gentile animosity, in this view, does to the Jews what the Jews have done, or at least would like to do, to Gentiles—because we Jews present ourselves as the chosen people. In the seventeenth century, Baruch . . . . Continue Reading »
Again and again, in the history of the genre of science fiction, religious themes have been examined, debated, proposed, and . . . . Continue Reading »
Somewhere in Tolkien’s letters he makes clear that the Dwarves of Middle Earth are his Jews. The Dwarvish language of which a few short examples are given is obviously derived from Semitic sources, just as High-Elven stems from Finnish and other Northern European roots. The Dwarves were created . . . . Continue Reading »
Joseph Bottum, a young medievalist, made his debut in First Things with an account of faith in a postmodern age. From the February 1994 issue. I We are living at a time near the end of the world. Not that our age is apocalyptic: apocalypse means an uncovering, a revelation, and revelation is what . . . . Continue Reading »
I want to sidestep the brief, silly article running in Esquire about the increasing number of “kaleidoscopically shifting arrangements” we honor with the name family, but I also want to use it to frame what I think ought to emerge as a new vein to be mined in the sometimes . . . . Continue Reading »
(Tens of thousands of Haitians have already died in the wake of the devastating earthquake on Tuesday, and tens of thousands more are threatened by disease and a lack of food and clean water. We thought this would be an appropriate moment to revisit David B. Hart’s essay from the March 2005 issue of First Things, written in light of the tsunami that devastated the South Asian coastline in December 2004.) Continue Reading »
A friend of mine, in her college days, had a bumper sticker that offered this peaceful counsel: Don’t Buy War Toys. Once, she and a companion were stuck in a traffic jam on the highway, next to several young men in a pickup on their way home from deer hunting. The traffic was creeping along, one . . . . Continue Reading »
“Noah . . . sent forth a raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth” ”Genesis 8:6 He loosed the window latch And then he loosened me, My grim cavort The first report, Now made belatedly. From gopher wood and thatch I plied by eye and wing, The ruffled weather, . . . . Continue Reading »
Justice Clarence Thomas has observed that the Supreme Court’s decisions and doctrine having to do with religious freedom, church“state relations, and “religion in the public square” are in “hopeless disarray.” What accounts for this mess? The causes, no doubt, are many: For example, the . . . . Continue Reading »
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