Reflections on where American Catholic biblical scholarship has been and what direction it might profitably take in the years to come.

Will severing the connection marriage has forged between sex, procreation, and family formation undermine the expectations our culture places on the institution?

“Disentanglement” is not a stable or feasible response to the dangers to religious freedom posed by the legal redefinition of marriage.

The Court made the right decision in Windsor, but the majority was unclear about why DOMA’s exclusion of same-sex marriages was unconstitutional.

Not every constitutional disagreement takes the right form for decision by a federal court.

Why have final rituals, some of which go back two millennia, changed so markedly in the past fifty years?

'Hannah Arendt' offers an immersion in the world of postwar New York intellectuals; 'A Hijacking' portrays the travails of a cargo ship set upon by Somali pirates.

BBC America's 'Broadchurch' grows increasingly suspenseful and engrossing as it goes, thanks to canny pacing, smart plotting, and vivid performances.

'The Myth of Persecution' puts Candida Moss in the ranks of historian-physicians who seek to heal the ills of Christianity via the therapy of revisionist history.

Most of what we think we know about medieval heretics is wrong, argues the celebrated British historian R. I. Moore in 'The War on Heresy.'

The tug-and-pull of polarities forms an enduring reality of public discourse. David Cannadine’s stimulating book attests to the workings of this remorseless process.

Rouben Mamoulian, original director of the movie version of 'Porgy and Bess,' is forgotten. In '“On My Way,”' Joseph Horowitz endeavors to restore his reputation.

The writing in George Saunders's newest collection of stories is willing to risk wonder.

Readers write, with comments on biological facts, the strengths of Catholic moral thought, and absolutism; Peter Steinfels replies.

For the Romans, 'luxuria' was the near-equivalent of Greek hubris. It has behind it the imagery of material excess leading to a diminished sense of cause and effect.

The hand-bound book is brittle / Note the fingerprints done in cinnamon