The gospel of humanitarianism

In The Idol of Our Age: How the Religion of Humanity Subverts Christianity (Encounter Books, 2018), Daniel J. Mahoney confronts a central heresy of our age, the “remarkably truncated view of human beings” that fails to “acknowledge the hierarchy of goods and values that characterize the moral order and the life of the soul.” Continue Reading...

Christmas consumerism: A symbol of materialism or generosity?

In the days after Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and all the rest, the Christmas shopping season is well underway—and with it, a peculiar blend of hyper-generosity and hyper-consumerism. Surely there is much to celebrate, and not just in the social and spiritual glories of human exchange and gift-giving. Continue Reading...

The slow death of liberation theology in Brazil

The Sandinista Revolution (1979 – 1990), which sought to transform Nicaragua into a new Cuba, was well-known for many things, including the way in which it highlighted the new alliance between the Latin American Communist movements and liberation theologians. Continue Reading...

YouTube powers Brazil’s conservative Catholic wave

Father Paulo Ricardo is a very sympathetic man. Always smiling, he is tall, thin, and balding. His austere appearance reminds us of priests portrayed in the films of the 1960s. Father Paulo could easily pretend to be Dom Camilo, the wise Italian priest created by Giovannino Guareschi and immortalized in the cinema by the brilliant French actor Fernandel. Continue Reading...