Review of Maureen Condic’s Untangling twinning: what science tells us about the nature of human embryos

Last updated on: March 23, 2022 at 9:07 am By Francis J. Beckwith

The journal Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics just released online my review of Maureen L. Condic’s book Untangling twinning: what science tells us about the nature of human embryos, published in 2020 by the University of Notre Dame Press. Here’s how the review begins: When does an individual living human organism come into being? If one argues “at conception,” then one must deal with the perplexing problem of monozygotic twinning, which occurs after conception and before the beginning of the primitive streak. At some point during... Read more

Why Is Sexual Assault Special?: Transactional Sex and Sacred Intuitions

Last updated on: February 26, 2022 at 1:23 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

My essay, “Why Is Sexual Assault Special?: Transactional Sex and Sacred Intuitions,” was just published in The Palgrave Handbook of Sexual Ethics. Edited by David Boonin (University of Colorado, Boulder), other contributors include Boonin’s CU Boulder colleagues Michael Tooley and Alastair Norcross as well as Christopher Kaczor (Loyola Marymount University), Alan Soble (University of New Orleans), Edward Feser (Pasadena City College), Cheryl Abbate (University of Nevada, Las Vegas), John Corvino (Wayne State University), and Jessica Flanigan (University of Richmond). Here’s the abstract... Read more

Remembering my Father

Last updated on: March 17, 2022 at 11:02 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

Difficult to believe that tomorrow it will be seven years since my father died. In 2016 I wrote an essay about him at the first anniversary of his death. It was published over at The Catholic Thing. Here it is in its entirety: “Fathers are so necessary as examples and guides for our children in wisdom and virtue. Without father figures, young people often feel orphaned, left adrift at a critical moment in their growth and development.” – Pope Francis... Read more

My review of the book, American Pope: Scott Hahn and the Rise of Catholic Fundamentalism

Last updated on: February 16, 2022 at 12:10 am By Francis J. Beckwith

About two months ago I was invited by Angelus News to write a review of the book, American Pope: Scott Hahn and the Rise of Catholic Fundamentalism (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2021). My review was published in early January. Here’s how it begins: Scott Hahn is probably the most influential American Catholic author and speaker over the past three decades. An adult convert to the Catholic Church from Reformed Protestantism, Hahn serves as professor of theology and Scripture at Franciscan University in... Read more

What Good Am I?: Bob Dylan on Today’s 2nd Reading

Last updated on: September 12, 2021 at 12:44 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

Today’s 2nd reading for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time is from James 2:14-18: What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well, ” but you do not give them the necessities of the... Read more

R. R. Reno: “Why I Stopped Hiring Ivy League Graduates”

Last updated on: September 12, 2021 at 11:18 am By Francis J. Beckwith

My friend, Rusty Reno, published a piece yesterday in The Wall Street Journal that is worth your time, if you are interested in higher education and present trends in the academy. Entitled “Why I Stopped Hiring Ivy League Graduates,” it begins: I’m not inclined to hire a graduate from one of America’s elite universities. That marks a change. A decade ago I relished the opportunity to employ talented graduates of Princeton, Yale, Harvard and the rest. Today? Not so much. As... Read more

New article in Religions: “Catholicism and the Natural Law: A Response to Four Misunderstandings”

Last updated on: June 8, 2021 at 4:19 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

The academic journal, Religions, is publishing a special issue on the topic of “God, Ethics, and Christian Traditions.” My contribution to that issue–“Catholicism and the Natural Law: A Response to Four Misunderstandings“–is now accessible online. Just click here. Other contributors to the issue include Daniel Bonevac (University of Texas), Janine Idziak (Loras College), Blake McAllister (Hillsdale College), and my colleague, C. Stephen Evans (Baylor University). Here’s the abstract for my article: This article responds to four criticisms of the Catholic view... Read more

Lemon v. Kurtzman at 50

Last updated on: June 3, 2021 at 1:51 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

I just published an essay over at Law & Liberty on the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court case Lemon v. Kurtzman 403 U.S. 602 (1971). It is the case in which the Court gave us The Lemon Test. Unimaginatively titled, “Lemon v. Kurtzman at 50,” here’s how the essay begins: 2021 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Court case, Lemon v. Kurtzman. Its majority opinion, authored by Chief Justice Warren Burger, is well-known for giving us what would come... Read more

Bob Dylan at 80. My top 80 greatest Bob Dylan songs. Today: 10 through 1 (Part 8)

Last updated on: May 20, 2021 at 1:05 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

On May 24, 2021, Bob Dylan turns 80. In honor of this occasion, I have put together a list of what I believe are the 80 greatest songs that Dylan has composed and performed over his nearly 60-year career. (To see what I mean by “composed and performed,” go here). Starting on May 8, 2021, I began an eight-part series of posts on these 80 songs. We have already gone through songs (1) 80 through 71, (2) 70 through 61, (3) 60 through 51,... Read more

Bob Dylan at 80. My top 80 greatest Bob Dylan songs. Today: 20 through 11 (Part 7)

Last updated on: May 18, 2021 at 4:21 pm By Francis J. Beckwith