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** Daily Newsletter: October 6, 2025
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** In today’s newsletter:
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R. R. RENO: Technological Nationalism ([link removed])
STIVEN PETER: Charlie Kirk, Christian Vitalist ([link removed])
MARK BAUERLEIN: The Church's Answer to the World ([link removed])
Welcome to the new and improved Daily Newsletter from FIRST THINGS. Our content isn’t going to change drastically—we’ll still bring you the new articles each day, straight to your inbox.
Now, we'll also connect new articles to the larger conversations FIRST THINGS has been leading for thirty-five years.
And if you don’t want to read all that, the new articles are listed at the top.
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** Technological Nationalism ([link removed])
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** R. R. Reno
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From the October issue: First up today, editor Rusty Reno reviews a tech founder’s vision for technology in service of the nation. Alex Karp, CEO and co-founder of Palantir, rebukes the one-world, anti-tribal messaging of Silicon Valley in his book The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and Future of the West. In Karp’s diagnosis, the moral relativism and materialism that informs most tech projects is corroding capacity for greatness. Karp believes the antidote is a shared national project, which will call men to heroism. In other words, strong loves.
For further reading: The return of strong loves and loyalties is central to Rusty’s book, Return of the Strong Gods. The post-war project to villanize national and family loyalty is failing. These gods made themselves known throughout the chaos of 2020, and are regaining ground every year. Rusty reflects on this in the 2021 article “Shared Loves and Strong Loyalties ([link removed]) ,” adapted from the preface of the book's paperback edition.
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** Charlie Kirk, Christian Vitalist ([link removed])
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** Stiven Peter
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Charlie Kirk’s outreach encouraged young men to “embrace their vitality,” and his memorial service channeled the mystical life force of Christ, which brings with it grace and healing, writes Stiven Peter. Though Kirk’s life was exceptional, his death brought about the “tent revival to end all the tent revivals.”
For further reading: Much has been written about Kirk’s life in these pages. Check out Bishop Robert Barron’s hugely popular tribute “He Died With a Microphone in His Hand ([link removed]) ” or R. R. Reno’s “A Turning Point For America ([link removed]) ,” written in the hours after Kirk died.
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** The Church's Answer to the World (ft. Carter Griffin) ([link removed])
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** Mark Bauerlein
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Listen: Fr. Carter Griffin joins Conversations with Mark Bauerlein to discuss in book, Forming Families, Forming Saints. Griffin, rector of St. John Paul II Seminary in Washington, D.C., applies lessons from forming young priests to raising children in virtue.
For further listening: For further discussion of raising well-rounded children, check out the episode “Kids Need the Classics ([link removed]) .”
Upcoming Events
* November 2, 2025: A Night of Poetry with Ben Myers | New York, NY. Register here ([link removed]) . ([link removed])
* November 3, 2025: The 38th Annual Erasmus Lecture: In Praise of Translation | New York, NY. Register here. ([link removed])
* November 11, 2025: Lecture at the University of Dallas | Irving, TX. Details coming soon.
* January 9, 2026: Second Annual Neuhaus Lecture at the New College of Florida | Sarasota, FL. Details coming soon.
Until next time.
Virginia Aabram's signature
** VIRGINIA AABRAM
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Newsletter Editor
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