In Ian Buruma’s telling, Berlin during World War II was a time of contradictions: hedonism, escapism, heroism, and compromise.

The Editors read about urban gardening, a fantasy baseball association, and the effects of Evangelical fire-and-brimstone rhetoric on children.

Seamus Heaney's imaginative reach for the transcendent made him the model of a religious poet for a secular age.

The United States' sanctions in Cuba are a kind of violence, depriving Cubans of basic health and safety.

How did Americans become convinced that social problems are better left to the “free” market than to a democratically accountable government?

In the world of Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude, things are dire—but it’s often difficult to take them seriously.

Franz Kafka’s sword-wielding Lady Liberty seems like an all-too-fitting symbol of what America has become in Trump’s second term.

Sarah Ruden depicts a St. Perpetua concerned above all with expressing herself. This is a saint who can fit on a coffee mug.

James D. Tabor's new book promises a 'rediscovery' of Mary. His claims are extravagantly speculative.

The postliterate society may also be a postliberal one.

What is the future for literature in a world where machines churn out plausible facsimiles of our most artful human narratives?

In the letters of John Updike, very little self-reflection goes on and absolution reigns.

A posthumous collection of essays from Helen Vendler illustrates to readers exactly what it means to inhabit a poem.

"The message is / there is no message; life is luck"

Alfred Tennyson’s faith was shaken as scientific discoveries redefined his world. But a crisis of faith isn’t always a conquest of it.

Allowing lay preaching in the pulpit during Sunday liturgy would model that the Church is serious about synodality.

"She’s wooing, mic to mic. // She reverbs, calls back and gathers / the crowding owlish sounds / and life’s sweet red energies."

Trump's 2027 budget proposal is a scandalous document, evincing a total disregard for anyone who isn’t rich.

It’s too soon to determine whether the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will last. In the meantime, the Lebanese have their dead to bury.

For Pope Leo to visit the United States under present circumstances would be far more scandalous than his simply staying away.