Caitrin Nichol Critiques of genetic or neurological determinism, or any of the other reductionist bugbears, too often preoccupy themselves with what they assume to be a sinister philosophical agenda at work. This is not entirely unreasonable; there are any number of amoral attractions in the idea of human beings as mere matter in motion, on a biologically fixed course, with all our choices and values just illusory epiphenomena. But this idea has cinched its vises on the modern psyche less... Read more

Steve Talbott When it emerged a few years ago that humans and chimpanzees shared, by some measures, 98 or 99 percent of their DNA, a good deal of verbal hand-wringing and chest-beating ensued. How could we hold our heads up with high-browed, post-simian dignity when, as the New Scientist reported in 2003, “chimps are human”? If the DNA of the two species is nearly the same, and if, as most everyone seemed to believe, DNA is destiny, what remained to... Read more

David Warren While there have been persistent and increasing attacks on Christians, as well as on other religious minorities, all over the Muslim world, this one was especially notable, and deserved far more sustained press coverage. Many details are only now emerging, from the wounded who were flown out of Iraq to Rome, and other European cities, for medical treatment. http://www.davidwarrenonline.com/index.php?id=1221 Read more

David Mills “Derek? Who’s Derek?” begins a flyer I have in my files. “He isn’t a prophet or a god, just a member of the Unitarian-Universalist Community at Pitt. You see, we draw upon many sources in our search for truth. Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism. And most importantly You [sic]. After all, you determine your own faith.” http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2010/12/the-advent-search Read more

RR Reno We need art. It trains our imaginations to linger, to hesitate, to receive the textures and colors and shapes of the world. We need this training in receptivity so that we can see and participate in Christ more fully. For if our imaginations are saturated with reality, then with the eyes of faith we are better able to see him in all things. http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2010/12/art-and-human-flourishing Read more

I’ve never met Benedict XVI, but I feel as though I have. Or at least I think I have a pretty good sense of how his mind works: clear, to the point, and earthy. OK, maybe not D. H. Lawrence earthy, but for a German university professor very direct, concrete, and capable of a memorable turn of phrase. http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2010/12/the-pontificate-of-continuity Read more

Francis Beckwith Catholics are often surprised to learn that there are Evangelical Protestants who claim to be Thomists. When I was a Protestant, I was one of them. What attracts these Evangelicals are Thomas’s views on faith and reason, his philosophy of the human person, command of Scripture, and intellectual rigor. Some of them think that on justification, Thomas is closer to the Protestant Reformers than to the Catholic view (as taught in the 1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church).... Read more

Peter Wehner One of the errors both Christ­ians and non-Christians make is to plunge into the midst of political debates without sufficiently reflecting on first principles. Just as we need a blueprint to build a house, people need to think through what ought to be the role and purpose of government in our lives. God willed the state, as Edmund Burke put it; but what does He want the state to achieve? http://www.eppc.org/publications/pubID.4302/pub_detail.asp Read more

Ross Douthat This may be remembered as the great tragedy of the culture war: While college-educated Americans battle over what marriage should mean, much of the country may be abandoning the institution entirely. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/opinion/06douthat.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&nl=opinion&emc=tyb1 Read more

RR Reno The Reformation happened, and for many good reasons, as well as some very bad ones. Luther was right about the abuses of indulgences, for example. And his essentially Augustinian insight into the primacy of grace was surely right as well. But were those and other reasons “enough”? http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2010/12/03/was-the-reformation-necessary/ Read more