''First Things'' (''FT'') is a journal aimed at "advanc nga religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society", focusing on

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

history of religion The history of religion refers to the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago (3200 BC). The prehistory of religion involves th ...

church history __NOTOC__ Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual ...

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

society A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

book review __NOTOC__ A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review may be a primary source, opinion piece, summary review or scholarly revie ...

s and

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

. ''First Things'' is inter-religious, inter-

denominational A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name and tradition among other activities. The term refers to the various Christian denominations (for example, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and the many variet ...

and

ecumenical Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

, especially

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

and

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. It articulates Christian ecumenism, Christian–Jewish dialogue, erudite

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

and political

conservatism Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

and a critique of contemporary society. ''First Things'' is published by the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

–based Institute on Religion and Public Life (IRPL) as a monthly, except for bi-monthly issues covering June/July and August/September, and has a circulation of approximately 30,000 copies. ''First Things''' founding editor, from 1990 to his death in 2009, was

Richard John Neuhaus Richard John Neuhaus (May 14, 1936–January 8, 2009) was a prominent Christian cleric (first in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, then ELCA pastor and later as a Catholic priest) and writer. Born in Canada, Neuhaus moved to the United Stat ...

. Since 2011

R. R. Reno Russell Ronald Reno III (born 1959), known as R. R. Reno, is the editor of ''First Things'' magazine. He was formerly a professor of theology and ethics at Creighton University. Biography Reno was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1959, and ...

has served as editor.

Ross Douthat Ross Gregory Douthat (born 1979) is an American political analyst, blogger, author and ''New York Times'' columnist. He was a senior editor of ''The Atlantic''. He has written on a variety of topics, including the state of Christianity in Americ ...

wrote that, through ''First Things'', Neuhaus demonstrated "that it was possible to be an intellectually fulfilled Christian".

George Weigel George Weigel (born 1951) is a Catholic neoconservative American author, political analyst, and social activist. He currently serves as a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Weigel was the Founding President of the ...

, a long-time contributor and IRPL board member, wrote in ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'' that, under the influence of Neuhaus ''First Things'' had "quickly became, under his leadership and inspiration, the most important vehicle for exploring the tangled web of religion and society in the English-speaking world."

History

''First Things'' was founded in March 1990 by

, a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

pastor turned

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest, intellectual, writer and activist. He started the journal, along with some long-time friends and collaborators, after he left the

Rockford Institute The Rockford Institute was an American conservative think-tank associated with paleoconservatism, based in Rockford, Illinois. It ran the John Randolph Club and published the magazine ''Chronicles''. In early 2019, the Rockford Institute merged wi ...

. In 1996, in response to the

Colorado Supreme Court The Colorado Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Colorado. Located in Denver, the Court consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. Powers and duties Appellate jurisdiction Discretionary appeals The Court p ...

's decision in ''

Romer v. Evans ''Romer v. Evans'', 517 U.S. 620 (1996), is a landmark United States Supreme Court case dealing with sexual orientation and state laws.. It was the first Supreme Court case to address gay rights since ''Bowers v. Hardwick'' (1986),. when the C ...

'' which the magazine's leaders correctly predicted the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

would uphold on appeal, ''First Things'' published a symposium titled "The End of Democracy?" which denounced the ruling and included an essay by

Charles Colson Charles Wendell Colson (October 16, 1931 – April 21, 2012), generally referred to as Chuck Colson, was an American attorney and political advisor who served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1970. Once known as Pr ...

which called for a violent uprising against the United States government. The symposium was widely denounced by the mainstream press and more moderate conservatives including

Midge Decter Midge Decter (née Rosenthal; July 25, 1927 – May 9, 2022) was an American journalist and author.David Brooks, and the resignation of editorial board members

Gertrude Himmelfarb Gertrude Himmelfarb (August 8, 1922 – December 30, 2019), also known as Bea Kristol, was an American historian. She was a leader of conservative interpretations of history and historiography. She wrote extensively on intellectual history, w ...

and

Walter Berns Walter Berns (May 3, 1919 – January 10, 2015) was an American constitutional law and political philosophy professor. He was a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a professor emeritus at Georgetown University. Early life an ...

. Neuhaus, the journal's editor-in-chief until his death in January 2009, wrote columns called "The Public Square" and "While We're At It". Three editors served under Neuhaus: James Nuechterlein, a Lutheran, from 1990 to 2004; Damon Linker, who converted from

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

to Catholicism, from 2004 to 2005, when he left over disagreements with the editor-in-chief (he later published ''The Theocons'', a book very critical of Neuhaus); Joseph Bottum, a Catholic, from 2005, upon returning from ''

The Weekly Standard ''The Weekly Standard'' was an American neoconservative political magazine of news, analysis and commentary, published 48 times per year. Originally edited by founders Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes, the ''Standard'' had been described as a "red ...

''. After his death, Neuhaus was thus succeeded by Bottum. Bottum served through October 2010, when he was forced out after a controversy about the future and the funding of the magazine, and Nuechterlein returned from retirement to become ''interim'' editor. In April 2011,

, a professor of theology and ethics at

Creighton University Creighton University is a private Jesuit research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2015 the university enrolled 8,393 graduate and undergra ...

, who had been involved with the magazine for over a decade and was a Catholic convert from the Episcopal Church, was selected by the IRPL board as editor. After Neuhaus's death,

David P. Goldman David Paul Goldman (born September 27, 1951) is an American economist, music critic, and author, best known for his series of online essays in the ''Asia Times'' under the pseudonym Spengler with the first column published January 1, 2000. The p ...

David Blum David Blum is an American writer and editor. Blum was born in Queens, New York, and graduated with a degree in English literature from the University of Chicago in 1977. He began his career as a reporter in 1979 for ''The Wall Street Journal''. ...

, David Mills, Midge Decter (''ad interim''),

Mark Bauerlein Mark Weightman Bauerlein (born 1959) is an English professor emeritus at Emory University and senior editor of ''First Things'' journal. He also serves as a visitor of Ralston College, a start-up liberal arts college in Savannah. Early life ...

, Matthew Schmitz, Julia Yost and

Dan Hitchens Dan Hitchens (born 1989) is an English journalist and former editor of the ''Catholic Herald''. Biography Educated at Cambridge University and Oxford University, he is the son of journalist and commentator Peter Hitchens and nephew of Christoph ...

have served as executive or senior editors. The latter two are currently in office. In 2018, ''First Things'' published a review by Romanus Cessario, OP of

Vittorio Messori Vittorio Messori (born 1941) is an Italian journalist and writer. According to Sandro Magister, a Vaticanist, he is the "most translated Catholic writer in the world."Sandro Magister"From Rome to the World: The Global Offensive of the Catholic ...

's book ''Kidnapped by the Vatican? The Unpublished Memoirs of Edgardo Mortara'', on the case of Eugenio Mortara, a Jewish boy who was mistakenly baptized by nuns who believed his parents were dead and kidnapped by the Vatican, on the grounds that anyone who was baptized had to be raised Catholic. Cessario wrote that "Divine Providence kindly arranged for his being introduced into a regular Christian life." Catholic writer

Michael Sean Winters Michael Sean Winters is an American journalist and writer who covers politics and events in the Roman Catholic Church for the ''National Catholic Reporter'', where his blog "Distinctly Catholic" can be found. Bio "Distinctly Catholic" received th ...

called the article "morally repugnant" and "intellectually deplorable", while ''First Things'' regular contributor

Robert P. George Robert Peter George (born July 10, 1955) is an American legal scholar, political philosopher, and public intellectual who serves as the sixth McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and ...

described it as "an embarrassment".

Governance

''First Things'' is run by the board of the Institute on Religion and Public Life (IRPL), which is chaired by Colin Moran and whose members include, among others, Russell Hittinger,

David Novak David Novak, (born August 19, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro Ea ...

and Robert Louis Wilken (former chairman), as of January 2023. Similarly to

, Wilken is a former Lutheran minister converted to the Catholic Church. The pair first met at the Lutheran Concordia College of Texas in 1953, became friends, graduated in 1955 and earned the master of Divinity at

Concordia Seminary Concordia Seminary is a Lutheran seminary in Clayton, Missouri. The institution's primary mission is to train pastors, deaconesses, missionaries, chaplains, and church leaders for the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). Founded in 1839, t ...

in 1960. Former members of the editorial board include neoconservatives

and

Peter L. Berger Peter Ludwig Berger (17 March 1929 – 27 June 2017) was an Austrian-born American sociologist and Protestant theologian. Berger became known for his work in the sociology of knowledge, the sociology of religion, study of modernization, and theor ...

, who resigned in November 1996 amid "The End of Democracy?" controversy, Methodist theologian

Stanley Hauerwas Stanley Martin Hauerwas (born July 24, 1940) is an American theologian, ethicist, and public intellectual. Hauerwas was a longtime professor at Duke University, serving as the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School ...

, who resigned in February 2002 in protest with the journal's stance on the

War on terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...

, and

Mary Ann Glendon Mary Ann Glendon (born October 7, 1938) is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a former United States Ambassador to the Holy See. She teaches and writes on bioethics, comparative constitutional law, property, and human rig ...

, Catholic jurist and former

United States Ambassador to the Holy See The ambassador of the United States to the Holy See is the Ambassadors of the United States, official representative of the United States, United States of America to the Holy See, the leadership of the Catholic Church. The official representatio ...

. Both Berger, a Lutheran, and Hauerwas continued to publish articles in the journal also after their resignation from the editorial board. The journal used to have an advisory council (appointed by the institute board). In mid 2017 it included, among others, neoconservative writer

Midge Decter Midge Decter (née Rosenthal; July 25, 1927 – May 9, 2022) was an American journalist and author.Wilfred M. McClay; philosophers

Hadley Arkes Hadley P. Arkes (born 1940) is an American political scientist and the Edward N. Ney Professor of Jurisprudence and American Institutions ''emeritus'' at Amherst College, where he has taught since 1966. He is currently the founder and director of t ...

and

; political scientist Timothy Fuller; Christian theologians or biblicists Gary A. Anderson (Methodist), Thomas Sieger Derr (Congregationalist),

Timothy George Timothy George (born 9 January 1950) is an American theologian and journalist. He became the founding dean of Beeson Divinity School at the school's inception in 1988 and was the dean from 1989–2019, now serving as Research Professor of Divinity ...

(Baptist),

Terryl Givens Terryl Lynn Givens is a senior research fellow at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute of Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University (BYU). Until 2019, he was a professor of literature and religion at the University of Richmond, where he held the ...

(Latter-day Saint), Chad Hatfield (Eastern Orthodox),

Robert Jenson Robert William Jenson (August 2, 1930 – September 5, 2017) was a leading American Lutheran and ecumenical theologian. Prior to his retirement in 2007, he spent seven years as the director of the Center for Theological Inquiry at Princeton Theol ...

(Lutheran),

Peter Leithart Peter James Leithart (born 1959) is an American author, minister, and theologian, who serves as president of Theopolis Institute for Biblical, Liturgical, & Cultural Studies in Birmingham, Alabama. He previously served as Senior Fellow of Theology ...

(Presbyterian),

Cornelius Plantinga Cornelius "Neal" Plantinga Jr. (born 14 February 1946 in Jamestown, North Dakota) is an American theologian. He most notably served as president of Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan from 2002 through 2011.

(Dutch Reformed) and Ephraim Radner (Anglican); Jewish scholars David G. Dalin and Eric Cohen, founding editor of '' The New Atlantis''; physicist

Stephen Barr __NOTOC__ Stephen Matthew Barr (born November 28, 1953) is an American physicist who is a professor emeritus of physics at the University of Delaware. A member of its Bartol Research Institute, Barr does research in theoretical particle physics a ...

; and Mark C. Henrie, president of the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation and former Chief Academic Officer and Senior Vice-president of the

Intercollegiate Studies Institute The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) is a nonprofit educational organization that promotes conservative thought on college campuses. It was founded in 1953 by Frank Chodorov with William F. Buckley Jr. as its first president. It sponsors ...

. Until his death in February 2017, the council included also theologian and writer

Michael Novak Michael John Novak Jr. (September 9, 1933 – February 17, 2017) was an American Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. The author of more than forty books on the philosophy and theology of culture, Novak is most widely known ...

, who, along with fellow Catholics Neuhaus and Weigel, was part of the so-called "neoconservative trinity", according to critics. Until 2010, the journal also had a finance committee, whose latest members were William Burleigh, Frederic Clark, Robert P. George,

Peter Thiel Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in Fac ...

and George Weigel. Other former leading members of the advisory council have included

Jean Bethke Elshtain Jean Paulette Bethke Elshtain (1941–2013) was an American ethicist, political philosopher, and public intellectual. She was the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics in the University of Chicago Divinity School with ...

Ernest Fortin Ernest L. Fortin, A.A. (December 17, 1923 – October 22, 2002) was a professor of theology at Boston College. While engaged in graduate studies in France, he met Allan Bloom, who introduced him to the work of Leo Strauss. Father Fortin wo ...

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese Elizabeth Ann Fox-Genovese (May 28, 1941 – January 2, 2007) was an American historian best known for her works on women and society in the Antebellum South. A Marxist early on in her career, she later converted to Roman Catholicism and became ...

Suzanne Garment Suzanne Garment (née Bloom) is a Jewish American scholar, writer, editor and attorney. Garment is best known for her book, ''Scandal: The Culture of Mistrust in American Politics,'' and for her work as an aide to Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moyni ...

Bruce C. Hafen Bruce Clark Hafen (born October 30, 1940, in St. George, Utah) is an American attorney, academic and religious leader. He has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) since 1996. Early life Hafen ...

Carl F. H. Henry Carl Ferdinand Howard Henry (January 22, 1913 – December 7, 2003) was an American evangelical Christian theologian who provided intellectual and institutional leadership to the neo-evangelical movement in the mid-to-late 20th century. His earl ...

, Leonid Kishkovsky,

Glenn Loury Glenn Cartman Loury (born September 3, 1948) is an American economist, academic, and author. He is the Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences and Professor of Economics at Brown University, where he has taught since 2005. At the age of ...

George Marsden George Mish Marsden (born 1939) is an American historian who has written extensively on the interaction between Christianity and American culture, particularly on Christianity in American higher education and on American evangelicalism. He is be ...

, Gilbert Meilaender (who still contributes to the journal) and

Max Stackhouse Max Lynn Stackhouse (July 29, 1935 – January 30, 2016) was the ''Rimmer and Ruth de Vries Professor of Reformed Theology and Public Life Emeritus'' at Princeton Theological Seminary. He was ordained in the United Church of Christ and was the pr ...

Contributors

Contributors usually represent traditional

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

(especially

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

and

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

and

Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...

viewpoints. Frequent contributors in the magazine's first year (1990) included Catholic jurist

(later

under

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

); rabbi

; Catholic philosopher, diplomat and author

; Lutheran-turned-Catholic historian Robert Louis Wilken; Catholic scholar and papal biographer

; and Lutheran ethicist Gilbert Meilaender. Others appearing included

Gary Bauer Gary Lee Bauer (born May 4, 1946) is an American civil servant, activist, and former political candidate. He served in President Ronald Reagan's administration as Under Secretary of Education and Chief Domestic Policy Advisor, and later became p ...

William Bennett William John Bennett (born July 31, 1943) is an American conservative politician and political commentator who served as secretary of education from 1985 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan. He also held the post of director of the Office of ...

, David Brooks,

Robertson Davies William Robertson Davies (28 August 1913 – 2 December 1995) was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best known and most popular authors and one of its most distinguished " men of letters" ...

Avery Dulles Avery Robert Dulles (; 1918–2008) was an American Jesuit priest, theologian, and cardinal of the Catholic Church. Dulles served on the faculty of Woodstock College from 1960 to 1974, of the Catholic University of America from 1974 to 1988, a ...

(later

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

of the Catholic Church),

David Horowitz David Joel Horowitz (born January 10, 1939) is an American conservative writer. He is a founder and president of the right-wing David Horowitz Freedom Center (DHFC); editor of the Center's website ''FrontPage Magazine''; and director of Disco ...

Martin E. Marty Martin Emil Marty (born on February 5, 1928) is an American Lutheran religious scholar who has written extensively on religion in the United States. Early life and education Marty was born on February 5, 1928, in West Point, Nebraska, and raised ...

Ralph McInerny Ralph Matthew McInerny (February 24, 1929 – January 29, 2010) was an American author and philosophy professor at the University of Notre Dame. McInerny's most popular mystery novels featured Father Dowling, and was later adapted into the '' ...

Mark Noll Mark Allan Noll (born 1946) is an American historian specializing in the history of Christianity in the United States. He holds the position of Research Professor of History at Regent College, having previously been Francis A. McAnaney Professor ...

and

Michael Wyschogrod Michael Wyschogrod (September 28, 1928 – December 17, 2015) was a Jewish German-American philosopher of religion, Jewish theologian, and activist for Jewish–Christian interfaith dialogue. During his academic career he taught in philosophy and ...

. Frequent contributors in recent years have included some of the aforementioned authors and several members or former members of the IRPL board and the former advisory council, as well as

Sohrab Ahmari Sohrab Ahmari ( fa, سهراب احمری, translit=Sohrāb Aḥmarī, translit-std=ALA-LC; born February 1, 1985) is an Iranian American columnist, editor, and author of nonfiction books. He is a founding editor of the online magazine ''Compact ...

Hans Boersma Hans Boersma (born 1961) is a Dutch-Canadian Anglican theologian specialising in patristics, sacramental theology, and ''nouvelle théologie''. He is of Reformed background, but has become a convert and a priest in the Anglican Church in North Am ...

Randy Boyagoda Soharn Randy Boyagoda (born 1976) is a Canadian writer, intellectual and critic known for his novels ''Governor of the Northern Province'' (2006), ''Beggar's Feast'' (2011), ''Original Prin'' (2018), and ''Dante's Indiana'' (2021). He is also the ...

, Christopher Caldwell, archbishop Charles J. Chaput, Elizabeth C. Corey,

Mary Eberstadt Mary Tedeschi Eberstadt is an American essayist, novelist, and author of several books of nonfiction. Her writing has appeared in publications including ''Quillette'', ''TIME'', the ''Wall Street Journal'', the ''Washington Post'', ''National Rev ...

Joseph Epstein Joseph Epstein (October 16, 1911 – April 11, 1944), also known as Colonel Gilles and as Joseph Andrej, was a Poland, Polish-born Jewish Communism, communist activist and a French Resistance leader during World War II. He was executed by the ...

Anthony Esolen Anthony M. Esolen is a writer, social commentator, translator of classical poetry, and Writer-in-Residence at Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts. He taught at Furman University and Providence College before transferring to the Thomas More Coll ...

David Bentley Hart David Bentley Hart (born 1965) is a writer, philosopher, religious studies scholar, critic, and theologian with academic works published on a wide range of topics including Christian metaphysics, philosophy of mind, classics, Asian languages, and ...

Peter Hitchens Peter Jonathan Hitchens (born 28 October 1951) is an English author, broadcaster, journalist, and commentator. He writes for ''The Mail on Sunday'' and was a foreign correspondent reporting from both Moscow and Washington, D.C. Peter Hitchens h ...

, Sam Kriss, Wilfred M. McClay, Joshua Mitchell,

Stanley G. Payne Stanley George Payne (born September 9, 1934) is an American historian of modern Spain and European Fascism at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He retired from full-time teaching in 2004 and is currently Professor Emeritus at its Department ...

, cardinal

George Pell George Pell (born 8 June 1941) is an Australian cardinal of the Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . I ...

, Nathan Pinkoski, Ephraim Radner,

Robert Royal Robert Shelton Royal (born May 15, 1979) is a former American football tight end. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the fifth round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at LSU Tigers football, Louisiana State. He also pl ...

, Matthew Rose,

Roger Scruton Sir Roger Vernon Scruton (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher and writer who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of traditionalist conservative views. Editor from 1982 t ...

Wesley J. Smith Wesley J. Smith (born 1949) is an American lawyer and author, a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center on Human Exceptionalism, a politically conservative non-profit think tank. He is also a consultant for the Patients Rights Council. S ...

, Patricia Snow, Peter Tonguette, Michael Toscano and

Carl Trueman Carl R. Trueman (born 1967) is a Christian theologian and ecclesiastical historian. He was Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary, where he held the Paul Woolley Chair of Church History. In 2018 True ...

. ''First Things'' has often hosted statements by

Evangelicals and Catholics Together ''Evangelicals and Catholics Together'' is a 1994 ecumenical document signed by leading Evangelical and Catholic scholars in the United States. The co-signers of the document were Charles Colson and Richard John Neuhaus, representing each side of ...

, a group of leading scholars in the United States that are either

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

Protestants or Catholics. Beginning in May 2017

Shalom Carmy Shalom Carmy (born May 1, 1949) is an Orthodox rabbi teaching Jewish studies and philosophy at Yeshiva University, where he is Chair of Bible and Jewish philosophy at Yeshiva College and an affiliated scholar at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of ...

, an

rabbi teaching Jewish studies and philosophy at

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universit ...

(where he is Chair of Bible and Jewish philosophy at Yeshiva College and an affiliated scholar at

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is the law school of Yeshiva University. Located in New York City and founded in 1976, the school is named for Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo. Cardozo graduated its first class in 1979. An LL.M. p ...

) as well as editor of ''

Tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

'', wrote a regular column named " Litvak at Large". In the August/September 2021 issue, Carmy's column was taken over by

Liel Leibovitz Liel Leibovitz (born 1976) is an Israeli journalist, author, media critic and video game scholar. Leibovitz was born in Tel Aviv, immigrated to the United States in 1999, and earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2007. In 2014, he was Visiting ...

, writing under a column named "Leibovitz at Large". Carmy continued to be a frequent contributor of ''First Things''. To this day, R. R. Reno has continued

's columns called "The Public Square" and "While We're At It" and each issue of ''First Things'' hosts poetry. The magazine publishes articles every day in the "Web Exclusives" section of its website.

List of editors

Editor-in-chief *

(1990–2009), Lutheran/Catholic Editors *James Nuechterlein (1990–2004), Lutheran *Damon Linker (2004–2005), Jewish/Catholic * Joseph Bottum (2005–2010), Catholic *James Nuechterlein (''ad interim'', 2010–2011), Lutheran *

(2011–present), Catholic Executive/senior editors *

(2009–2010), Jewish *

(2010), Catholic * David Mills (2011–2013), Catholic *

Midge Decter Midge Decter (née Rosenthal; July 25, 1927 – May 9, 2022) was an American journalist and author.Mark Bauerlein Mark Weightman Bauerlein (born 1959) is an English professor emeritus at Emory University and senior editor of ''First Things'' journal. He also serves as a visitor of Ralston College, a start-up liberal arts college in Savannah. Early life ...

(2014–2019), Catholic *Matthew Schmitz (2017–2022), Catholic *Julia Yost (since 2017), Catholic *

(since 2021), Catholic

References

External links

Official website
{{Neoconservatism Monthly magazines published in the United States Political magazines published in the United States Conservative magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1990 Religious magazines published in the United States Christianity studies journals Magazines published in New York City Christian magazines