Every thinker has one idea—and after he formulates it, all his subsequent works are no more than elaboration: developments and revisions of the same basic intuition. Or so, at least, claimed the French philosopher Henri Bergson, and if ever there was a definitive example, it’s José Ortega y . . . . Continue Reading »
Twenty years ago historian J.G.A. Pocock shook the academic establishment with a sweeping account of the development of republican political ideals, from Florence in the Renaissance to the American Founding. His work, The Machiavellian Moment , was perhaps the most ambitious of its kind to trace the . . . . Continue Reading »
With the record-setting release of The Dark Knight , his sequel to Batman Begins , Christopher Nolan, whose previous films include Memento , Insomnia , and The Prestige , stakes his claim to be our most inventive and most philosophical filmmaker. He has certainly surpassed M. Night Shyamalan, whose . . . . Continue Reading »
Nicosia, Cyprus touts itself¯mournfully but with a dash of pride¯as the world’s “last divided capital.” The southern side, which is muscularly Orthodox when not pedantically secular, boasts dozens of lovingly tended churches and several active, impressive mosques. On a . . . . Continue Reading »
I’m working away at a new book, tentatively titled American Babylon: Notes of a Christian Exile . It will be a greatly expanded version of the argument set out in an earlier article [ Our American Babylon , First Things , December 2005]. In the course of my research, I’ve been delving into . . . . Continue Reading »
The other day, I visited with my father-in-law and watched the television news¯something I rarely do, but a good way of catching up with the conventional wisdom about current events. From the talking heads, I learned that Barack Obama is doing what every conventionally smart candidate does . . . . Continue Reading »
My father, Thomas Patrick Carroll, Sr., was always a man of hope. Thanks to his natural Irish optimism, Dad spent much of his career in motion, moving my mother, brother, and me to half-a-dozen states where better opportunities beckoned and God’s call seemed to lead.Seen through Dad’s . . . . Continue Reading »
Nearly six hundred purple-shirted Anglican bishops will gather this week in England for the Lambeth Conference , the decennial meeting of all the bishops in the global Anglican Communion. Of course, there would have been well over eight hundred, but for the fact that the bishops of five national . . . . Continue Reading »
The trouble with posting a notice, as I do each month, in praise of the new issue of First Things , is that when a really superior issue comes along¯one even beyond our usual high standards¯the superlatives have all been used up. Greater than Great! Better than Best! More Infinitely Good . . . . Continue Reading »
The following address, described by Robert P. George as “the greatest pro-life speech ever given,” was delivered by Richard John Neuhaus at the close of the 2008 convention of the National Right to Life Committee. —Ed. Once again this year, the National Right to Life convention is partly a . . . . Continue Reading »
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