From First Things <[email protected]>
Subject Stevenson’s Treasure
Date January 21, 2026 4:33 PM
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** Daily Newsletter: JANUARY 21, 2026
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** In today’s newsletter:
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ALGIS VALIUNAS: Stevenson’s Treasure ([link removed])

GEORGE WEIGEL: Fact-Checking the New Yorker ([link removed])
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** Stevenson’s Treasure ([link removed])
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** ALGIS VALIUNAS
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From the February issue: The author of Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was a thoughtful but unorthodox Christian. Valiunas writes that his “early exposure to the divine ‘wrath and curse’ visited upon fallen mankind . . . and his growing belief in a loving Christ as the paragon of goodness, make themselves felt throughout his writings.”

At a time when the literature of the West was swinging towards nihilism, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a series of books where grand battles between good and evil were witnessed through the eyes of the innocent.

For further reading: Last December, Valiunas contributed a major essay on the faith of another novelist: “Walker Percy’s Pilgrimage ([link removed]) .”
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** Fact-Checking the New Yorker ([link removed])
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** GEORGE WEIGEL
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Columnist George Weigel notes an error in the famously, thoroughly fact-checked New Yorker. Liberal Catholic writer Paul Elie repeats the old rumor that Timothy Cardinal Dolan “arranged for copies [of Weigel’s book, The Next Pope] to be sent to all the cardinals who were expected to vote in the next conclave.” As has been repeated ad nauseam, it was the publisher who distributed the book.

Weigel notes a series of mischaracterizations in the article.

Upcoming Events
* February 1, 2026: Second Annual Neuhaus Lecture at the New College of Florida: “Recovering the University’s Soul” ft. Bishop Robert Barron | Sarasota, FL. Register here ([link removed])

* February 3, 2026: Second Annual Angelicum Aquinas Lecture: “A Conversation with the Theologian of the Papal Household” ft. Fr. Wojciech Giertych, O.P. | New York, NY. Register here ([link removed]) .

* March 5, 2026: Annual D.C. Lecture: “Our Crisis is Metaphysical” ft. Mary Harrington | Washington, D.C. Details coming soon.

Until next time,


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JACOB AKEY
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Associate Editor
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