Joseph Ratzinger did not fade into obscurity when he retired to a life of prayer inside the Vatican walls in 2013. On the contrary, his work remains as influential as…
First Things ↗I remember wondering, one idle summer when I was a child, why God had made the world so boring. I was watching a lot of kids’ TV shows... The post A…
First Things ↗I visited a friend of mine a few years ago. He was a deeply faithful theologian, but without much success in his profession. Deeply devoted to each other, he and... The…
First Things ↗Nothing terrifies more than the Noyour lover whispers through a closed door:You may die for all I care, just go!Nothing terrifies more than the Noof denial catching in your... The…
First Things ↗G. K. Chesterton’s novel The Flying Inn begins with a strange seaside encounter involving one Misysra Ammon, a “little owlish man in a red fez... The post The West Distorted appeared…
First Things ↗I tire of debates about postliberalism. So it was with reluctance that I turned to Zachary Chambers’s intervention, “The Logic of Liberalism” (Law & Liberty, March 18, 2026), which warns... The…
First Things ↗I doubt you’ll be a simple kind of manbut listen to the song. It’s a good plan. Cuss rarely and for maximum effect.Attention doesn’t mean you’ve won respect. In... The…
First Things ↗The pamphleteers are hard to miss. They stand in front of the big doors of Lobby 7, MIT’s main entrance, waving, preaching, and flagging down passersby with all the... The…
First Things ↗During the last year or so, I’ve worked on a memoir. The topic is my youth spent chasing rock-climbing dreams. At age eighteen, I went to Yosemite Valley rather... The…
First Things ↗As waiters glide across the room,espresso steams beside my bookon the small, round table.The low purl of conversations eddies around me, though most of usstare down at screens and dreamof... The…
First Things ↗