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Begin with a sobering fact. During the past ten years, some of the sharpest observers of our time have come to believe that the tectonic plates underlying Western civilization have shifted momentously. One result is a deep, creative struggle among the thoughtful for new imagery and fresh analogies to illuminate what’s perceived as a darkening […]

In his new book God is Not Nice (Ave Maria Press), Ulrich L. Lehner—a professor of religious history and theology at Marquette University—makes the case that for too many people in the West, God has become a personal life coach, a counselor, or even benign grandfather, rather than the awe-inspiring, untamed, demanding God that he truly is. […]

When the Supreme Court re-defined marriage in the Obergefell v. Hodgesdecision to include same-sex relationships, it was immediately clear that this sea change would create a conflict between this newly-discovered constitutional right, and the first freedom listed in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights: the right of religious liberty. Everyone from pundits and journalists to […]

“There are no statistics!” cried a critic of an article I wrote for Crisis a couple of weeks ago. I had asked a prominent Jesuit to open his eyes and look at the vast human misery caused by the breakdown of sexual mores in the West. Had I laced the piece with statistics, people would have complained that […]

Modern man is at a precipice. We all know it. The yearning for something more than empty selves, fleeting friendships, the “joyless quest for joy,” and a desire for the sublime are all indicative of the dimly lit flame St. Augustine says remains in us even after the Fall. Like Aristophanes’s separated man we are busy […]

Reading the late theologian Dietrich von Hildebrand’s newly republished book, In Defense of Purity, is to remind oneself that Christian teaching and understanding of sex come from another world – indeed, the world of the supernatural. It is much more profound than merely a question of Catholic morality and keeping to certain rules. It also […]