In ‘The Uses of Idolatry,’ William Cavanaugh begins to write us a new story through which we might better understand ourselves and our times.
Patrick Gilger, S.J.
Patrick Gilger, S.J., is pursuing a Ph.D. in sociology at the New School for Social Research. He is America’s contributing editor for culture.
Posted inFeatures, Politics & Society
What’s Religious About Being Woke?
The church’s passion for justice arises not only from its moral certainty, but even more from its solidarity with those who are suffering.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: These six Ugandan leaders have enacted the ideals of Catholic social teaching
In “For God and My Country: Catholic Leadership in Modern Uganda,” J. J. Carney profiles a strategy for being both Catholic and catholic—both uniquely ourselves and totally for the world.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
We created our present-day crises. It’s uncomfortable but not unfixable.
Jason Blakely show that the very tools we human beings use to try to understand the world in fact end up constructing it, for better or for worse.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Why Americans should brush up on their Catholic history
Leslie Woodcock Tentler’s new book is both a rigorous and laudable effort to cure American Catholics of the illusion that our desires have no history.
Posted inFaith, Features
A Jesuit went to Milan to learn Italian. Covid-19 taught him something more.
Milan, under quarantine, has asked me to renounce the particular version of our American response to fear that I have made my own.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: 13 ‘misfits’ who spoke truth to power
13 stories, each a mini-biography of one of those great souls whose faith in Jesus inspired and necessitated and sustained their work toward a more righteous world.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Remaining faithful to fragile gifts
In ‘The Dangers of Christian Practice,’ Lauren Winner shows that even our holiest religious practices create characteristic distortions.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
James K. A. Smith’s Theological Journey
James K. A. Smith has spent much of his energy thinking about alternative communities and the politics of Jesus—about what role Christians should play in the American political project.
Posted inArts & Culture, Film
Star Wars and religion struggle with the same issue: What do you do with tradition?
“Star Wars,” as a franchise, does not quite know what to do with the history it has inherited.