One Saturday morning, when I was around 10 years old, my elder brother Stuart and I were running and jumping off the side of our street down an embankment into a white sand pit left by builders. It ...

The word “confidence” is defined as “a firm belief; trust; reliance; the fact of being certain; assurance.” We place our confidence in many things — intelligence, talents, influence and connections.

The Mountain Goats' Heretic Pride/Satanic Messiah followup The Life Of The World To Come came out yesterday. So far we've listened to the downcast, homeless nostalgia of "Genesis 3:23" and the totally ...

Editor’s note: This article was first published in the Aug. 2, 1997, issue of America, titled “Praying the Psalms: Some Notes.” For some years I have been keeping rather extensive reading notebooks.