# First Things The flagship journal of post-Reagan-era American religious-conservative intellectual life, founded by **[[Richard John Neuhaus]] in March 1990** as the principal publication of the **Institute on Religion and Public Life (IRPL)** that Neuhaus had founded the previous year. Published monthly (with substantial supplementary online content), *First Things* has been across its post-1990 history the most institutionally consequential American religious-conservative intellectual venue — distinctively ecumenical (publishing Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and Jewish religious-conservative authors), substantively rigorous (theological argument at graduate-seminary-level depth), and politically engaged (sustained involvement with judicial-confirmation politics, religious-liberty jurisprudence, life-issues advocacy, and adjacent political-cultural concerns). Under Neuhaus's editorship (1990–2009), *First Things* established the **theoconservative intellectual project** as a distinct strand of post-Reagan-era American religious conservatism. Under current editor **[[R. R. Reno]]** (2011–present), the magazine has substantially pivoted toward alignment with the **[[New Right]] / [[National Conservatism]]** movement, publishing **[[Sohrab Ahmari]]**, J. D. Vance (now Vice President), [[Patrick Deneen]], [[Adrian Vermeule]], and other post-fusionist conservative figures. The Reno-era *First Things* is, in some respects, a continuation of Neuhaus's project; in others it is a departure from his late-1990s political alignments toward a more aggressively populist-traditionalist posture. For the right-wing knowledge base, *First Things* matters as **the principal intellectual venue of post-1990 American religious-conservative political-theological argument** and as a leading-edge documentary case of the **post-2016 fragmentation of American religious conservatism** between the fusionist-Reaganite framework Neuhaus institutionalized and the post-liberal/New Right framework that has substantially displaced fusionism across the 2016–2026 period. ## Founding and the Neuhaus Era (1990–2009) Neuhaus founded the **Institute on Religion and Public Life (IRPL)** in 1989 and launched *First Things* in **March 1990** as IRPL's principal publication. The magazine was explicitly modeled on **Commentary** — the neoconservative journal [[Norman Podhoretz]] had edited from 1960 to 1995 — but oriented toward religious-conservative readership across denominational lines rather than primarily toward Jewish-neoconservative readership. The editorial agenda across the Neuhaus period (1990–2009): - **Public theology** — sustained argument for religious participation in American public life, against the post-1960s liberal-secular framing that the post-WWII American mainline-Protestant accommodation had implicitly accepted - **Catholic-Protestant ecumenism** — *First Things* was deliberately ecumenical, publishing Catholic, evangelical Protestant, mainline Protestant, Orthodox, and Jewish religious-conservative authors. The magazine's success in attracting both Catholic and evangelical Protestant readership across the post-1990 period was institutionally distinctive - **Religious-liberty advocacy** — the magazine became a key intellectual platform for arguments that the federal courts had developed an unconstitutional anti-religious bias in interpreting the Establishment Clause - **Anti-abortion intellectual leadership** — sustained, theologically sophisticated argument against *Roe* and the broader American abortion regime - **Neoconservative foreign-policy alignment** — *First Things* became one of the principal religious-conservative platforms supporting Reagan-era anti-communism and (after 2001) the [[Iraq War]] as "just war" — substantially through [[George Weigel]]'s sustained contributions - **Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT)** publication — *First Things* published the 1994 ECT founding declaration and the subsequent supplementary declarations across the post-1994 period. The magazine was the principal published venue of the ECT project The Neuhaus-era *First Things* was institutionally consequential across multiple registers: - **Intellectual respectability** — the magazine's combination of theological rigor with political engagement provided post-Reagan-era American religious conservatism with a venue for substantive intellectual argument distinct from the more activist-oriented religious-right organizing - **Bush 43 institutional integration** — [[Richard John Neuhaus]]'s advisory role with the [[George W. Bush]] administration substantially operated through *First Things*' intellectual visibility. The Bush-era faith-based initiatives, judicial-nomination strategy, and Iraq War theological justification operated substantially through *First Things*-articulated frameworks - **Cross-tradition coalition documentation** — the magazine's editorial structure, with substantial Catholic, evangelical, Orthodox, and Jewish religious-conservative contribution, provided documentary record of the post-1994 cross-tradition religious-conservative coalition ### The "Public Square" Column Neuhaus's personal monthly column, "The Public Square," was the magazine's distinctive editorial signature across 1990–2009. The column provided sustained commentary on contemporary political-cultural developments through Neuhaus's distinctive theoconservative framing — substantively theological, politically engaged, frequently lengthy (often 8,000–15,000 words per monthly column), and substantively driving the magazine's editorial direction. The "Public Square" archive across the post-1990 period is one of the principal documentary records of post-Reagan-era American religious-conservative intellectual development. ## Neuhaus's Death (2009) and the Editorial Transition [[Richard John Neuhaus]] died of complications from lung cancer on **January 8, 2009**. The post-Neuhaus editorial transition was substantially difficult. Jody Bottum served as editor across 2009–2010 (Bottum had been Neuhaus's deputy and was substantially aligned with the Neuhaus-era framework). The Bottum period was substantially continuous with the Neuhaus framework but did not produce the same editorial distinctiveness; Bottum departed in 2010 amid institutional restructuring. **R. R. Reno** was appointed editor in **2011** and has held the position continuously since. The Reno-era *First Things* has substantially diverged from the Neuhaus-era framework across multiple registers. ## The Reno Era (2011–Present) and the New Right Pivot Reno's editorship has substantially aligned *First Things* with the **post-2016 New Right / National Conservatism** movement. The principal markers of the editorial pivot: ### Authors Published - **[[Sohrab Ahmari]]** — the principal New Right Catholic intellectual; 2019 "[[Against David French-ism]]" essay published in *First Things* established the magazine as the principal venue of the [[David French]] / Sohrab Ahmari debate over fusionist-versus-post-liberal conservative direction - **Patrick Deneen** (Notre Dame) — author of *[[Why Liberalism Failed]]* (2018); the principal academic articulator of the post-liberal critique - **Adrian Vermeule** (Harvard Law) — Catholic-integralist legal scholar; substantially influential in the post-2018 Catholic-integralist intellectual current - **J. D. Vance** — *[[Hillbilly Elegy]]* (2016) author; Ohio senator (2023–2025); Vice President (January 2025–); his pre-2024 *First Things* contributions are substantial documentary record of his Catholic-conservative intellectual development - **[[Yoram Hazony]]** — Israeli political philosopher; principal architect of the **National Conservatism** movement and its annual NatCon conference series ### Editorial Posture Reno's editorial framework has substantially rejected the Neuhaus-era **fusionist-Reaganite** framework (which had integrated free-market economics, neoconservative foreign policy, and traditional-values social conservatism into a unified post-Reagan governing ideology). The Reno-era *First Things* has substantially embraced: - **Skepticism of free-market economics** — particularly post-2016 critiques of the Reagan-era trade and labor-policy framework as having harmed American working-class communities - **Skepticism of neoconservative foreign policy** — particularly opposition to continued American military engagement in foreign conflicts, in substantial contrast to Neuhaus's and Weigel's sustained foreign-policy interventionism - **Post-liberal political philosophy** — substantial sympathy for arguments that classical liberalism is theoretically and operationally bankrupt, and that an explicitly Catholic-integralist or post-liberal political framework is theologically and politically preferable - **National Conservatism alignment** — substantial integration with the post-2019 NatCon movement and its institutional infrastructure ### The Cost of the Pivot Reno's editorial pivot has substantially fragmented the post-Neuhaus *First Things* readership. The Neuhaus-era readership had included substantial fusionist-Reaganite-aligned Catholic and Protestant conservatives; many of these readers have substantially disengaged from the Reno-era magazine. The pivot has gained substantial New Right / National Conservative readership in exchange. The fragmentation has been particularly visible across: - **George Weigel** — Neuhaus's principal Catholic-neoconservative collaborator — has substantially distanced himself from the Reno-era *First Things*, with public disagreements particularly on foreign policy and on the post-2016 Trump-era political alignment - **David French** — the post-2019 framing of "David French-ism" as a target of New Right critique in *First Things* produced French's substantial departure from religious-conservative coalition spaces; French's subsequent work at *The Dispatch* and *The New York Times* operates substantially outside the post-2019 *First Things* framework ## Significance for the Knowledge Base *First Things* matters to the KB for three reasons: **1. As the principal intellectual venue of post-Reagan-era American religious conservatism.** The Neuhaus-era *First Things* established the theoconservative intellectual project as a distinct and substantively rigorous strand of post-Reagan-era American religious conservatism. The post-1990 American religious-conservative intellectual landscape operates substantially within frameworks the Neuhaus-era *First Things* articulated. **2. As the principal documentary case of the post-2016 fragmentation of American religious conservatism.** The Reno-era editorial pivot toward New Right / National Conservatism alignment is one of the cleanest documentary cases of the broader post-2016 American conservative fragmentation between fusionist-Reaganite and post-liberal/New Right frameworks. The magazine's contemporary editorial direction is substantially divergent from its post-1990 founding framework; the divergence is institutionally documented in the editorial archive. **3. As the institutional venue of [[Evangelicals and Catholics Together]] across its full institutional history.** *First Things* published the 1994 ECT founding declaration and the subsequent supplementary declarations through the post-1994 period. The magazine remains the principal published venue of the ECT project in 2026. The institutional bridge from the Neuhaus-era ECT coalition to the contemporary Reno-era New Right is substantially documented through the magazine's continuous publication record. ## See Also - [[Richard John Neuhaus]] — founder and longtime editor - [[Evangelicals and Catholics Together]] — publication venue - [[George Weigel]] — principal Catholic-neoconservative contributor across the Neuhaus era - [[Sohrab Ahmari]] — principal New Right Catholic intellectual; 2019 "Against David French-ism" venue - [[Charles Colson]] / [[Avery Dulles]] / [[Bill Bright]] — ECT-era contributors and signers