Poetry, the Polish poet Adam Zagajewski explains, springs from the negotiation poets routinely make between “the real, tangible world of history” and the imaginary. History is not a benign abstraction for the Poles. This was painfully true in the twentieth century, yet out of Poland’s . . . . Continue Reading »
Just before Thanksgiving, news broke about a new stem-cell technique that could produce the equivalent of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) but without using or destroying human embryos. We referred to the news that these cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), could be made from human skin . . . . Continue Reading »
The calibrations and ruminations of sociologists all too often dress up as expert “findings” what we already knew, resulting in conventional wisdom with numbers added. (Anticipating another protest from that thoughtful sociologist Christian Smith, I quickly add that there are notable . . . . Continue Reading »
“I was hoping she was expelled from school or into hard drugs”¯Nothing, it seems, could be worse in parents’ eyes than having a teenage daughter get pregnant. Especially when it’s going to last for nine months. But as a New York Times headline announced last month, after . . . . Continue Reading »
A few years ago, the academic mandarins in Cambridge embarked on a round of curricular revision. This does not surprise. The no-there-there Core developed in the 1960s was never coherent. It endorsed the suspect “teaching ways of thinking” approach to education that basically divided up . . . . Continue Reading »
We’re in the middle on annual fundraising drive here at First Things . Our work really does need your support , particularly this year, with our daily article , our new blog , and the ongoing publication of the magazine , in many ways the only journal of its kind being published today.So if you . . . . Continue Reading »
Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.There is no such thing as . . . . Continue Reading »
Here’s an instructive exchange between Luke Timothy Johnson and Eve Tushnet. Johnson is a distinguished New Testament scholar at Emory University and Tushnet is a writer living in Washington, D.C. She is a recent convert to Catholicism and identifies herself as a lesbian. The exchange appeared . . . . Continue Reading »
A few years ago, I was in the middle of giving a lecture in Paris about religious persecution and martyrdom during the twentieth century when a woman stood up and shouted, “The French state has been repressing and killing Christians ever since the Revolution¯and it has to stop!” Her . . . . Continue Reading »
In America we tend to have a division of labor. The university professors are dry and dusty academics. Jim Lehrer brings them on to his show , and they pull their beards and make well-considered comments about Afghan or Kurdish or Shi’ite history and its possible relevance to present affairs. . . . . Continue Reading »
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