First Things
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| Editor | R. R. Reno |
|---|---|
| Categories | Christianity |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| First issue | March 1990 |
| Company | Institute on Religion and Public Life |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Website | First Things |
| ISSN | 1047-5141 |
First Things is an ecumenical journal focused on creating a "religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society".[1] The journal is inter-denominational and inter-religious, representing a broad intellectual tradition of Christian and Jewish critique of contemporary society. Published by the New York-based Institute on Religion and Public Life,[2] it is published monthly, except for bi-monthly issues covering June/July and August/September. Newsweek called First Things "the most important vehicle for exploring the tangled web of religion and society in the English-speaking world."[3]
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[edit] Founding
First Things was founded in 1990 by Richard John Neuhaus, a prominent Lutheran minister and writer, who converted to Catholicism and entered the priesthood shortly after the journal's founding. Fr. Neuhaus served as the journal's editor-in-chief until his death in 2009 and wrote a regular column called, "The Public Square." He started the journal after his connection with the Rockford Institute was severed.[4]
[edit] Influence
With a circulation of approximately 30,000 subscribers, First Things is considered to be influential in its articulation of a broadly ecumenical and erudite social and political conservatism. George Weigel, a sometime contributor, wrote that after its founding in the early 1990s, First Things "quickly became, under [Neuhaus's] leadership and inspiration, the most important vehicle for exploring the tangled web of religion and society in the English-speaking world."[3] Ross Douthat wrote that, through First Things, Neuhaus demonstrated "that it was possible to be an intellectually fulfilled Christian."[5]
[edit] Editors and contributors
Neuhaus died in January 2009, and was succeeded by Joseph Bottum. Bottum, who had come to the magazine from The Weekly Standard, served through October 2010, when James Nuechterlein returned from retirement to become interim editor. R. R. Reno, a professor of theology at Creighton University who had been involved with the magazine for over a decade, became the magazine's third editor in April 2011. David Mills, who had been serving as deputy editor, became executive editor.[6]
Contributors represent traditional Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Jewish viewpoints. Among the frequent contributors in the magazine's first year (1990) were Harvard Law professor Mary Ann Glendon, historian Robert Louis Wilken, papal biographer George Weigel, and Lutheran ethicist Gilbert Meilaender. Others appearing included Peter L. Berger, Robertson Davies, Avery Dulles, later named a cardinal, Stanley Hauerwas, Martin E. Marty, Michael Novak, Robert Royal, and Michael Wyschogrod.[7] Frequent contributors in recent years have included many of those writers, as well as Orthodox writer David Bentley Hart, Anthony M. Esolen, Mary Eberstadt, Alan Jacobs, Robert P. George, and Wilfred M. McClay.[8]
The magazine publishes articles every day in the On the Square section of its website. Regular columnists include Reno, Mills, Hart, Weigel, Leithart, Catholic blogger Elizabeth Scalia, and the magazine's online editor Joe Carter. It also sponsors a blog called "First Thoughts".[9]
[edit] Governance
The magazine is run by the board of the Institute on Religion and Public Life, whose members include Jewish ethicist David Novak, Glendon, Wilken, and Weigel.[10] First Things' Advisory Council includes physicist Stephen M. Barr; neoconservative writers Michael Novak and Midge Decter; Jewish scholars David G. Dalin and Eric Cohen, Editor-at-Large of The New Atlantis; McClay, an historian; philosophers Hadley Arkes, Jean Bethke Elshtain and George; theologians Timothy George (Baptist), Robert Jenson (Lutheran), Peter Leithart (Presbyterian), and Meilaender; and Mark C. Henrie, Chief Academic Officer of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.[11]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ First Things Mission Statement
- ^ http://www.firstthings.com/
- ^ a b "Richard John Neuhaus, 1936–2009", George Weigel, Newsweek, Jan. 10, 2009.
- ^ FIRST THINGS: A Journal of Religion, Culture, and Public Life
- ^ "Richard John Neuhaus, RIP", The Atlantic blog, Ross Douthat, Jan. 8, 2009.
- ^ http://www.firstthings.com/masthead
- ^ http://www.firstthings.com/issue_archive.php?offset=4
- ^ http://www.firstthings.com/issue-archive
- ^ http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts
- ^ http://www.firstthings.com/masthead
- ^ http://www.firstthings.com/masthead
[edit] External links
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