Dear Reader,

You would be forgiven for concluding that there are simply too many -isms floating around the public square. Conservatism. Liberalism. Integralism. Not to mention all of their prefixed variants . . .

Taxonomies are useful, but in our current moment they more often foreclose conversation than invite it. Why engage the substance of an argument when the “label” tells you all you need to know?

Not you, though. You read FIRST THINGS to go beyond superficial labels and engage with substance, even when you ultimately disagree.

So does celebrated Notre Dame postliberal political theorist Patrick Deneen. That’s why you should join FIRST THINGS on Wednesday, May 15 in Chicago for a conversation on postliberalism with Deneen and FIRST THINGS editor R. R. Reno.

Please purchase your ticket at firstthings.com/chicago or by clicking on the button below. (A live stream of this conversation will be made available to active subscribers beginning at 7:30 p.m. C.T. on May 15. Stay tuned for details!)

So what is postliberalism?

If you have some time for homework, Deneen’s contributions to FIRST THINGS (see here) and his recent books, Why Liberalism Failed and Regime Change, are good places to start.

At the most basic level, postliberalism argues that our liberal political order misconstrues both the nature of the human person and of the polis in the primacy it affords to the autonomous individual. Postliberals like Deneen go further, seeking to reorient the political order around an older, classical vision of the individual, the polis, and the common good.

His is a project that religious believers ought to take quite seriously, which is why we are delighted to welcome him for the third annual FIRST THINGS Chicago Conversation on May 15 at the Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture.

Visit firstthings.com/chicago or click on the button below to reserve your ticket!

Wednesday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m.

Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture

2936 North Southport Avenue