Magazine

December 20, 2013

v.140 n.20

Article

The Last Word: Christmas Eve, Cell Eight

The single piece of evidence in what may be the St. Louis Police Department’s oldest unsolved mystery is a stunning drawing of the crucifixion.

By W. E. Mueller

December 20, 2015

U.S. Catholicism

The Last Word

Article

Making the Past Present

As with many of Auden’s longer poems, 'For the Time Being' is a slippery beast. Whenever you think you’ve got a hold of it, it goes off in another direction.

By Anthony Domestico

December 9, 2013

Books

Article

Sending the Wrong Signal

Many of us have adapted to our consumer culture—a culture in which affluence is morally innocent or even commendable. “More” is taken to be a universal aspiration.

December 9, 2013

Article

Health Scare

While the next few months could be rocky, there are still reasons to be optimistic about the ACA. To understand why, it helps to know a few details about the law.

By J. Peter Nixon

December 9, 2013

Domestic Affairs

Health Care

Article

Journet’s Blind Spot

Just before the Second Vatican Council, Journet was among the most prominent intellectuals in the church.

By Jerry Ryan

December 9, 2013

Religious Life

Theology

Vatican II

Article

Heard on High

Did Wallace Stevens convert to Roman Catholicism as he lay dying in the summer of 1955? This question has provoked more controversy than one might expect.

December 9, 2013

Article

All At Sea

'Captain Phillips' is thoughtful and electrifyingly exciting; 'All Is Lost' is Sisyphean hopelessness but also a Sisyphean defiance.

By Richard Alleva

December 9, 2013

Movies

Article

Letters | How to Reform Public Education

Readers write on Ravitch review, with a response from Jackson Lear.

By The Editors

December 9, 2013

Domestic Affairs

Books

Article

‘I Do’ Undone

One always has to consider the cultural background of a vow. A vow made in our culture today means something different from one made in our culture fifty years ago.

By John Garvey

December 9, 2013

Article

System Failure

As a signature policy issue, President Barack Obama’s national health-care program is right up there with Bush’s Iraq.

December 9, 2013

Article

Painting in Slang

A vigorous and superbly contextual show, “Léger: Modern Art and the Metropolis”—at the Philadelphia Museum of Art—focuses on the artist's most experimental years.

By Leo J. O’Donovan

December 9, 2013

Arts

Article

Once Upon a Time

Christianity can be described primarily as intellectual and dogmatic only if one sets aside lots of evidence. That’s precisely what Geza Vermes does in this book.

By Michael Peppard

December 9, 2013

Article

Poem | At The End

of a late August evening / comes a light through maples / and over orange marigolds / a light that eddies over fallen apples

By Harry Humes

December 9, 2013

Poetry

Article

Out of the Tomb

The differences between Francis and Benedict have been exaggerated, but the exhortation does signal a real contrast of emphasis between the two popes.

By The Editors

December 2, 2013