First Things

First Things

Editor	R. R. Reno
Categories	Religion
Frequency	Monthly (10 issues/year)
First issue	March 1990
Company	Institute on Religion and Public Life
Country	United States
Based in	New York City
Language	English
Website	firstthings
ISSN	1047-5141

First Things(FT) is a journal aimed at "advanc[ing] a religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society",focusing ontheology,liturgy,history of religion,church history,culture,education,society,politics,literature,book reviewsandpoetry.First Thingsisinter-religious,inter-denominationalandecumenical,especiallyChristianandJewish.It articulates Christian ecumenism,Christian–Jewish dialogue,eruditesocialand politicalconservatismand a critique of contemporary society.

First Thingsis published by theNew York–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, wasRichard John Neuhaus.Since 2011R. R. Renohas served as editor.

Ross Douthatwrote that, throughFirst Things,Neuhaus demonstrated "that it was possible to be an intellectually fulfilled Christian".George Weigel,a long-time contributor and IRPL board member, wrote inNewsweekthat, under the influence of NeuhausFirst Thingshad "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 Thingswas founded in March 1990 byRichard John Neuhaus,aLutheranpastor turnedCatholicpriest, intellectual, writer and activist. He started the journal, along with some long-time friends and collaborators, after he left theRockford Institute.

In 1996, in response to theColorado Supreme Court's decision inRomer v. Evanswhich the magazine's leaders correctly predicted theSupreme Court of the United Stateswould uphold on appeal,First Thingspublished a symposium titled "The End of Democracy?" which denounced the ruling and included an essay byCharles Colsonwhich called for a violent uprising against the United States government.The symposium was widely denounced by the mainstream press and more moderate conservatives includingMidge Decterwho screamed at Neuhaus in a telephone call, andDavid Brooks,and the resignation of editorial board membersGertrude HimmelfarbandWalter Berns.

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 fromJudaismto Catholicism, from 2004 to 2005, when he left over disagreements with the editor-in-chief (he later publishedThe Theocons,a book very critical of Neuhaus);Joseph Bottum,a Catholic, from 2005, upon returning fromThe Weekly Standard.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 becomeinterimeditor.In April 2011,R. R. Reno,a professor of theology and ethics atCreighton University,who had been involved with the magazine for over a decade and was a Catholic convert from theEpiscopal Church,was selected by the IRPL board as editor.After Neuhaus's death,David P. Goldman,David Blum,David Mills,Midge Decter (ad interim),Mark Bauerlein,Matthew Schmitz, Julia Yost andDan Hitchenshave served as executive or senior editors. The latter two are currently in office.

In 2018,First Thingspublished a review by Romanus Cessario,OPofVittorio Messori's bookKidnapped by the Vatican? The Unpublished Memoirs of Edgardo Mortara,on thecase 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 writerMichael Sean Winterscalled the article "morally repugnant" and "intellectually deplorable", whileFirst Thingsregular contributorRobert P. Georgedescribed it as "an embarrassment".

Governance

First Thingsis 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,George Weigeland Robert Louis Wilken (former chairman), as of January 2023.Similarly toRichard John Neuhaus,Wilken is a former Lutheran minister converted to the Catholic Church.The pair first met at theLutheran Concordia College of Texasin 1953, became friends, graduated in 1955 and earned the master of Divinity atConcordia Seminaryin 1960.

Former members of the editorial board include neoconservativesGertrude HimmelfarbandPeter L. Berger,who resigned in November 1996 amid "The End of Democracy?" controversy,Methodist theologianStanley Hauerwas,who resigned in February 2002 in protest with the journal's stance on theWar on terror,andMary Ann Glendon,Catholic jurist and formerUnited States Ambassador to the Holy See.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 writerMidge Decter;historianWilfred M. McClay;philosophersHadley ArkesandRobert P. George;political scientist Timothy Fuller; Christian theologians or biblicists Gary A. Anderson (Methodist), Thomas Sieger Derr (Congregationalist),Timothy George(Baptist),Terryl Givens(Latter-day Saint),Chad Hatfield(Eastern Orthodox),Robert Jenson(Lutheran),Peter Leithart(Presbyterian),Cornelius Plantinga(Dutch Reformed) and Ephraim Radner (Anglican); Jewish scholarsDavid G. Dalinand Eric Cohen, founding editor ofThe New Atlantis;physicistStephen Barr;andMark C. Henrie,president of the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation and former Chief Academic Officer and Senior Vice-president of theIntercollegiate Studies Institute.Until his death in February 2017, the council included also theologian and writerMichael Novak,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 Thieland George Weigel.

Other former leading members of the advisory council have includedJean Bethke Elshtain,Ernest Fortin,Elizabeth Fox-Genovese,Suzanne Garment,Bruce C. Hafen,Carl F. H. Henry,Leonid Kishkovsky,Glenn Loury,George Marsden,Gilbert Meilaender (who still contributes to the journal) andMax Stackhouse.

Contributors

Contributors usually represent traditionalCatholic,Orthodox,Anglican,Protestant(especiallyLutheran,MethodistandPresbyterian),JewishandIslamicviewpoints.

Frequent contributors in the magazine's first year (1990) included Catholic juristMary Ann Glendon(laterUnited States Ambassador to the Holy SeeunderGeorge W. Bush); rabbiDavid Novak;Catholic philosopher, diplomat and authorMichael Novak;Lutheran-turned-Catholic historian Robert Louis Wilken; Catholic scholar and papal biographerGeorge Weigel;and Lutheran ethicistGilbert Meilaender.Others appearing includedGary Bauer,William Bennett,Peter L. Berger,David Brooks,Robertson Davies,Avery Dulles(latercardinalof the Catholic Church),Jean Bethke Elshtain,Robert P. George,Stanley Hauerwas,David Horowitz,Peter Leithart,Martin E. Marty,Ralph McInerny,Mark NollandMichael Wyschogrod.

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 asHadley Arkes,Sohrab Ahmari,Mark Bauerlein,Hans Boersma,Randy Boyagoda,Christopher Caldwell,archbishopCharles J. Chaput,Elizabeth C. Corey,Ross Douthat,Mary Eberstadt,Joseph Epstein,Anthony Esolen,Timothy George,David Bentley Hart,Peter Hitchens,Sam Kriss,Wilfred M. McClay,Joshua Mitchell,Stanley G. Payne,cardinalGeorge Pell,Nathan Pinkoski, Ephraim Radner,Robert Royal,Matthew Rose,Roger Scruton,Wesley J. Smith,Patricia Snow, Peter Tonguette, Michael Toscano andCarl Trueman.

First Thingshas often hosted statements byEvangelicals and Catholics Together,a group of leading scholars in the United States that are eitherevangelicalProtestants or Catholics.

Beginning in May 2017Shalom Carmy,anOrthodoxrabbi teaching Jewish studies and philosophy atYeshiva University(where he is Chair of Bible and Jewish philosophy atYeshiva Collegeand an affiliated scholar atBenjamin N. Cardozo School of Law) as well as editor ofTradition,wrote a regular column named "Litvakat Large ".In the August/September 2021 issue, Carmy's column was taken over byLiel Leibovitz,writing under a column named "Leibovitz at Large". Carmy continued to be a frequent contributor ofFirst Things.

To this day, R. R. Reno has continuedRichard John Neuhaus's columns called "The Public Square" and "While We're At It" and each issue ofFirst Thingshosts poetry.

The magazine publishes articles every day in the "Web Exclusives" section of its website.

List of editors

Editor-in-chief

• Richard John Neuhaus(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
• R. R. Reno(2011–present), Catholic

Executive/senior editors

• David P. Goldman(2009–2010), Jewish
• David Blum(2010), Catholic
• David Mills(2011–2013), Catholic
• Midge Decter(ad interim,2013–2014), Jewish
• Mark Bauerlein(2014–2019), Catholic
• Matthew Schmitz (2017–2022), Catholic
• Julia Yost (since 2017), Catholic
• Dan Hitchens(since 2021), Catholic

External links

• Official website