By now, the Three Kings are well on their way to Bethlehem, and the Christmas season is drawing to a close.  But the Three Kings (actually, ‘wise men’ according to Matthew’s gospel) aren’t just bringing their famous three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  They bring with them another set of questions that we have […]

Nobody really knows what will happen in 2010, although Larry Sabato’s Jeanne Dixon-inspired post at Politico comes pretty close.  But there are ten stories that will shape the world this year — for better or for worse.  Other crises may erupt (I have not, for example, included the long-running conflict between Israelis and Palestinians on […]

In the cover article for Foreign Policy, which hits stands today, I discuss the intellectual and cultural traditions (based on the four schools I wrote about in Special Providence) which form the basis of Obama’s foreign policy, and the global and domestic challenges that he faces in the context of these traditions. Read it here.

Back in the beginning of the Christmas season, I wrote about the way the gospel Christmas narratives “roll the credits” by giving genealogical tables that link Jesus to Jewish history.  In contemplating Christmas, we should never forget that the first Christmas was first and foremost a Jewish event.  Mary, Joseph, the innkeeper, the shepherds, the […]

Greetings once again from sunny Belize.  Although I am blogging from a lovely beachside cabana with tropical breezes gently keeping the heat (and the insects) at bay as I lazily contemplate the snorkeling expedition we have planned for the afternoon, this point in the new year always reminds me of a fresh snowfall covering the […]

To those of you out there nursing your hangovers, Merry Christmas!  While most of American society considers today to be the last full day of the holiday season, the traditional Christmas won’t end until January 6.For some people Christmas hasn’t even started yet.  In some of the Eastern Orthodox churches, the twelve days of Christmas […]

Perhaps the satirists at the Onion were not joking when they reported in November 2008 that Barack Obama had just been given the worst job in the country. Look what he inherited: a global economic crisis, two difficult wars, erosion of the non-proliferation regime by North Korea and Iran, deterioration of the Middle East peace […]

President George W. Bush gets little credit in Washington these days, but he did achieve one major accomplishment in Asia: He resisted pressure from the Republican Right to confront China. U.S. cooperation with China and maintenance of U.S. alliances with Japan and South Korea are the pillars of future security in Asia. Contrary to popular […]

Two films show the fight in Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.

One year into his first term, we pretty much knew where a new President was located on the classical ideological axes of American foreign policy: internationalism vs. nationalism, realpolitik (Nixon, George H.W. Bush) vs. idealpolitik (Jimmy Carter). Within internationalism, there has always been an additional distinction: exemplarism vs. interventionism. Would America shine by example and […]