It has long been First Things tradition to offer a selection of books to readers who make gifts of $250 or more in support of the mission and ongoing work of First Things through our Year-End Giving Campaign. Preference is given to influential recent books written by First Things authors and friends. This year, we asked the authors of our 2024 Year-End Campaign books to share a bit about why First Things matters to them. Here are their stories.
“My wife and I are devoted First Things readers, and we’re deeply grateful for the witness of First Things, which has never been more important than it is now. What First Things does—the trenchant analysis it publishes from a Christian perspective—enables readers to look at the often bewildering events of the day and say, “We can find a through-line here.” And because we can see the through-line here from a Christian perspective, we’re also able to offer solutions and hope that is both extremely relevant and extremely necessary. So I’m really grateful for First Things. In the last four years, I can’t think of another publication that’s been more important.”—Sen. Josh Hawley
Click here to make a gift of $250 or more and receive a copy of Sen. Josh Hawley’s book, Manhood.
“Read First Things; you never know how much it might matter for your life. Take me. Before I had even met her, I spied my wife in the library at the University of Virginia reading First Things. But after seeing an attractive young woman reading my favorite magazine, I knew I had to figure out a way to get to know her. I did, and our relationship blossomed later into a great marriage and wonderful family. So follow my lead. Read First Things. Get married. Both will take you great places.”—Brad Wilcox
Click here to make a gift of $250 or more and receive a copy of Brad Wilcox’s book, Get Married.
“Over three decades after its founding, First Things still both sets and reflects the agenda for religious conservative intellectual life in America. Under R. R. Reno's leadership, the magazine successfully made the transition from the neoconservatism of the Neuhaus era to the postliberalism of the current age. In 2014, Reno perceived that the magazine's original hope to midwife a democratically healthy fusion of religious principle and American politics had failed. The acceptance and normalization of same-sex marriage was an unmistakable sign that these United States had at last become post-Christian.
From that 2014 Dulles Symposium at the magazine's headquarters came Michael Hanby's seminal essay “The Civic Project of American Christianity,” which was both a valediction for the original First Things vision, and a declaration of the stark challenges ahead for the magazine and all intellectuals who sail behind its flagship. First Things did not rest in nostalgia or sink into bitterness; rather, Reno and his team got busy thinking, writing, and publishing around the urgent question: “Now what?” They're still at it, which is why First Things remains such a vital, visionary read. In its pages, the future of intellectual religious conservatism continues to be not only seen, but also written.”—Rod Dreher
Click here to make a gift of $250 or more and receive a copy of Rod Dreher’s book, Living in Wonder.
“No other publication today features such highly intelligent and readable articles on the current scene from a broadly Christian perspective. To read First Things is to acquire an education in the history of ideas and their application to the world today. I always turn first to the columns by Liel Leibovitz, a master at combining pointed wit with sharp insight, and R. R. Reno, who offers thoughtful and unexpected insights unlike those of anyone else.”—Gary Saul Morson
“I think First Things is the best magazine that’s available out there as a tool of intellectual truth, and being part of it is just one of the really positive things in my life, particularly at this point in my career. I mean, to be able to be part of a conversation with serious thinkers, across the board, about faithful matters from the biblical tradition but also with very strong secular intellectual tools. That’s just pure candy to me at this point in my life.
What makes it essential to the public square, right now? Well, I think we’re living in an extremely conflicted time that would be the equivalent of, well, it’s got different names, the great reset, the upheaval, the second reformation, whatever you want to call it, it’s a time of tremendous cultural turmoil, and a voice of fidelity to the biblical tradition, but also excellence of intellectual work, is essential. So, being part of that is extraordinary for the writers it involved, but I think together they are building an island of sanity in a storm of a lot of cultural nonsense.”—Francis X. Maier
Click here to make a gift of $250 or more and receive a copy of Fran Maier’s book, True Confessions.
Astute readers will observe that there are six year-end books on offer, but only five testimonials above. Vice President-Elect JD Vance is a great and long-time friend of First Things, but out of deference to his undoubtedly busy schedule, we gave him a pass on penning some words for us!
Carter Skeel is Director of Institutional Advancement at First Things.
You have a decision to make: double or nothing.
For this week only, a generous supporter has offered to fully match all new and increased donations to First Things up to $60,000.
In other words, your gift of $50 unlocks $100 for First Things, your gift of $100 unlocks $200, and so on, up to a total of $120,000. But if you don’t give, nothing.
So what will it be, dear reader: double, or nothing?
Make your year-end gift go twice as far for First Things by giving now.
