Magazine

May 17, 2019

v.146 n.9

Article

The Generalist

Simon Leys struck a delicate balance between hope and resignation. He tried to live without illusions, but also knew that reality is full of mystery.

May 13, 2019

Article

Radical Witnesses

Short, informative reviews of four new religious books: on St. John, St. Theresa of Avila, Chrisitanity in Asia, and Fr. Daniel Berrigan.

By Luke Timothy Johnson

May 13, 2019

Article

The Mildred Mysteries

To pray the rosary is to engage in a sustained contemplation of mystery. It can also bring us into the reverent presence of the dead.

By Jon Volkmer

May 12, 2019

Spirituality

Death and Dying

The Last Word

Article

Why I Stayed, and Why I’m Leaving

My daughter Moy Moy died suddenly and unexpectedly in July 2018. During her funeral, I realized the church I believed in had lost credibility.

By Jo McGowan

May 8, 2019

Article

College as Department Store

However enchanting arcane research and increasing specialization might be, it is not going to help preserve democracy in a truly free society.

By Paul Lakeland

May 6, 2019

Higher Education

Secularism and Modernity

Social Justice

Article

Creepy and Creepier

Some scary movies succeed by trafficking in every sort of imaginary monster. But Steve Bannon is the real deal.

By Rand Richards Cooper

May 4, 2019

Article

From Data to Wisdom

Toni Morrison’s style is stately, not so much ornate as complex, not so much stentorian as insistent, authoritative, often fierce.

May 3, 2019

Article

No Neutral Ground

French thinker Étienne Balibar argues that the modern nation-state has become a religion that is now collapsing under the weight of its contradictions.

By Paul J. Griffiths

April 30, 2019

Secularism and Modernity

Philosophy

Theology

Foreign Affairs

Article

Evangelization First

Details of the new constitution mapping reforms of the Vatican curia could arrive as soon as June. One major change is the downgrading of the CDF.

April 23, 2019

Feature

At Kilometer Zero

There’s the natural urge to pronounce on the fire’s deeper meaning. But for now, it might be more fitting to look upon Notre-Dame once again in gratitude and awe.

By Christopher Schaefer

April 17, 2019

Spirituality

Secularism and Modernity

Architecture

Article

Don’t Blame the Patriarchy

Contrary to the narrative put forward by major news outlets, the resignation of the all-female board at ‘Women-Church-World’ was not caused by clericalism.

March 28, 2019

Article

A Relentless Interrogator

A new collection of essays by the famed New Yorker critic Janet Malcolm evinces her winning enthusiasm for the idiosyncratic and esoteric.

By Paul Baumann

March 21, 2019

Books

Columnists

Article

A May Day Saint

Charismatic, combative, and silver-tongued, Fr. Thomas Hagerty waged a life-long struggle for the working class, all while remaining “as Catholic as the pope.”

April 30, 2023

Article

Poem | The Family

Bright, upright, / They are / Like flowers in a jar.

By Sarah Ruden

May 6, 2019

Poetry

Article

Poem | New Moon

Not a coin I can spend / but a penny worn dark, / a star collapsed.

By Michael Cadnum

May 6, 2019

Poetry

Article

Poem | *

These walls become sails, their corners / opening as if this pillow / is reaching out where two should be.

By Simon Perchik

May 6, 2019

Poetry

Article

Poem | Hate Is an Echo

Olive leaves disguised by the darkness / Unenlightened desperate reason / Offering little hope to all mankind.

By M. L. Liebler

May 6, 2019

Poetry

Article

Europe is a post-Christian continent and the growth of Christianity has stalled in the United States.

Letters | The decline of the West, taxing the rich

By The Editors

May 6, 2019

Letters

Article

The Politics of Humor

Throughout the history of European thought, humor has always had an unruly, utopian impulse: one that transcended class and threatened to upend the social order.

May 6, 2019