2O13 Annual Report Institute on Religion and Public Life 35 East 21St Street, 6Th Floor New York, NY 10010 212-627-1985
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institute on religion and public life publisher of 2o13 Annual Report institute on religion and public life 35 East 21st Street, 6th Floor New York, NY 10010 212-627-1985 www.firstthings.com Institute Board ROBERT LOUIS WILKEN RUSSELL HITTINGER holds the Chairman & President Chair of Catholic Studies at the University Robert Louis Wilken is the William R. of Tulsa, where he is also a research professor Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus of the History in the School of Law. His books include The of Christianity at the University of Virginia. First Grace: Redisovering the Natural Law in a He is the author of The First Thousand Years. Post-Christian World. DAVID NOVAK COLIN MORAN is a managing partner at Vice President Abdiel Capital. He holds degrees from Duke University, Stanford University Law School, David Novak is the J. Richard and Dorothy and the University of Oxford. Shiff Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto. His books include In Defense of Religious Liberty and The Sanctity of Human Life. JAMES N. PERRY, JR. is co-founder and managing director of the private equity FREDERIC H. CLARK is the founder firm Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC. of Pacific Equity Management and president He serves on numerous professional and of the Casillas Foundation. He is chairman of philanthropic boards, including the school The Berkeley Institute, founder of Inner City board of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Scholarship, Inc., and a trustee at Fellowship of Catholic University Students, The Institute for Family Studies, and the Witherspoon LARRY A. SMITH is a former private Institute, among others. business consultant and now president of ScholarLeaders International, a nonprofit ministry that encourages and enables Christian MARY ANN GLENDON was the theological leaders. He also serves on the United States Ambassador to the Holy See board of the Fuller Theological Seminary. and is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Her books include Rights Talk: The Impoverishment of Political GEORGE WEIGEL is a distinguished Discourse and A Nation Under Lawyers. senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a Catholic theologian, and one of America’s leading public intellectuals. His books include Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, The Cube and the Cathedral, and Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st-Century Church. Editorial � Advisory Council C LAUDIA ANDERSON Managing Editor, The Weekly Standard. GARY A. ANDERSON Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame. RYAN T. ANDERSON William E. Simon Fellow in Religion and a Free Society, Heritage Foundation, and editor of Public Discourse. HADLEY ARKES Professor of Jurisprudence and American Institutions, Amherst College. STEPHEN M. BARR Professor of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware. ERIC COHEN Adjunct Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center, and Editor- at-Large, The New Atlantis. JOSEPH DAVIS Professor of Sociology, University of Virginia. DAVID DALIN Rabbi, historian, and Professor of History and Politics, Ave Maria University. MIDGE DECTER American journalist and author. THOMAS DERR Professor of Religion and Ethics, Smith College. DOUGLAS FARROW Professor of Religious Studies, McGill University. TIMOTHY FULLER Professor of Political Science, Colorado College. ROBERT P. GEORGE Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University. TIMOTHY GEORGE Dean of Beeson Divinity School, Samford University. TERRYL GIVENS Professor of Literature and Religion, University of Richmond. CHAD HATFIELD Chancellor and Professor of Missiology, St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. MARK C. HENRIE Executive Director, Arthur N. Rupe Foundation. ROBERT JENSON Lutheran and ecumenical theologian. PETER LEITHART Fellow of Theology and Literature and Dean of Graduate Studies, New Saint Andrews College. WILFRED M. MCCLAY G.T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty, University of Oklahoma. GILBERT MEILAENDER Professor of Theology, Valparaiso University. MICHAEL NOVAK Scholar in religion, philosophy, and public policy; visiting professor and trustee, Ave Maria University. CORNELIUS PLANTINGA Senior Research Fellow, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, and President Emeritus, Calvin Theological Seminary. EPHRAIM RADNER Professor of Historical Theology, Wycliffe College. Letter from the Editor irst Things is committed to speaking in a media. From abortion to euthanasia, contraception to frank, forthright way about the issues we care marriage, in vitro fertilization to embryo experimenta- about. The rest of this annual report looks back on how tion, and more, Catholicism remains a powerful voice Fwe’ve done that in 2013, a very successful year for the of dissent in the West. Today the universities and cor- magazine and for the Institute on Religion and Public porations say “yes.” Even the military says “yes.” But the Life, the 501(c)(3) organization that publishes First Church still says “no.” Things. But in this letter I will tell you what I see com- Therefore, the pope’s remarks about hot-button moral ing in 2014. issues will continue to make news. Progressives smell In Arabic, dhimmi refers to a subordinate, non-Muslim surrender, which excites them. The slightest indication person living under Islamic law. Dhimmis are allowed of capitulation from Rome reassures them that so-called to exist and endure but cannot exercise influence over progress will progress. the public realm, where Islam dominates unchallenged. Concerns about inequality are certain to become even Although they’d never put it this way, that’s how many more prominent in American politics, and perhaps else- secular thinkers now view religious believers. They may where as well. First Things has an important contribu- appreciate our traditions and be happy to have us as tion to make. Taken broadly, equality is incoherent as neighbors (perhaps), but they don’t want us to have a a measure of social justice. Equal with respect to what? role in shaping our collective future. Religious people have a more mature vocabulary. Social Which means redefining the role of religion in public justice involves respect for the dignity of the person, life. Which means narrowing the meaning of religious subsidiarity, and solidarity. We can use these concepts to liberty. Resisting those efforts—resisting the temptation transform current anxieties about inequality into more to accept dhimmitude—will be an important part of our focused and fruitful reflection. work this year, and for years to come. We will need to continue our fight against reductive Pope Francis. He’s very likely to remain in the news. materialism. For a long time I was baffled by the way There’s no question that the depth and integrity of his our elite culture has warmed to the cold message of faith arrests many. I’m certainly inspired. But it’s the materialism. Then I recognized that they were hearing moral issues that will keep him prominent in the secular no soul and no freedom as good news, for it means R. R. RENO joined First Things as editor in April 2011. He has been published in many academic journals, and his essays and opinion pieces on religion, public life, contemporary culture, and current events have appeared in Commentary and the Washington Post, among other popular outlets. His most recent books include Sanctified Vision: An Introduction to Early Christian Interpre- tation of the Bible and Fighting the Noonday Devil. Reno has appeared as a guest on CNN’s Crossfire, EWTN’s Faith & Culture, and numerous radio shows. Editorial Staff R . R. RENO Editor and Executive Director DAVID MILLS Executive Editor MATTHEW SCHMITZ Deputy Editor no consequences and no responsibilities. Materialism LAUREN WILSON reinforces the progressive secular dream: money, power, Managing Editor and pleasure with no strings attached. MATTHEW CANTIRINO Our most important task is to defend the weak. Resist- Assistant Editor ing the abortion regime provides an obvious example, coming as it does at the expense of the weakest of the DAVID BENTLEY HART weak, the unborn. But the deconstruction of marriage, Contributing Writer legalization of marijuana, acceptance of pornography, JAMES NUECHTERLEIN expansion of gambling, provisions for doctor-assisted Editor at Large suicide—these and other trends also harm the vulner- able. Gay marriage is a luxury good for the rich that’s AUSTIN STONE going to be paid for by the poor. Web Developer Yes, it’s a war, a war on the weak—one of the great so- PAUL LAKE cial injustices of our time. If first things mean anything, Poetry Editor we have to mount a counter-offensive. That’s not a pre- diction. That’s a promise. Yours, Contents 4 Letter from the Editor R. R. Reno 6 Feature: On Creative Minorities Editor, First Things 12 firstthings.com Executive Director, Institute on Religion and Public Life 14 Junior Fellows 16 Program Highlight: Human Dignity, Critical Realism, and Innovation 17 Evening Events and Colloquia 18 Editor’s Circle 2o Philanthropic Partners 22 2013 Review On Creative Minorities Christians can learn from Jews how to thrive in a secular world that no longer regards faith as central. So argued Rabbi Jonathan Sacks at the FIRST THINGS 2013 Erasmus Lecture, a condensed version of which appears below. Speaking to more than five hundred peo- ple on the evening of Monday, October 21, at the Union League Club in New York, Sacks outlined a vision in which religious com- munities—Jewish and Christian—can function as creative minori- ties. His lecture was published in the January 2014 issue of First Things, along with responses from Maria M. Dakake, Thomas Joseph White, Shalom Carmy, and Wilfred M. McClay. The annual Erasmus Lecture is the Institute on Religion and Public Life’s most prestigious event. Previous Erasmus lecturers have in- cluded Pope Benedict XVI (as Cardinal Josef Ratzinger), Archbish- op Timothy Dolan, Gilbert Meilaender, and Jean Bethke Elshtain. In 2014, the 27th annual Erasmus Lecture will feature the Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop of Philadelphia. lmost exactly twenty-six centuries ago, a of Jewish history, perhaps even, in an indirect way, that of man not otherwise known for his positive Western civilization as a whole.