“Reply to Immigration Idealism by Matthew Schmitz,” First Things (August 2019)

The August 2019 issue of First Things includes a letter to the editor from me, in which I briefly attempt to convince Matthew Schmitz, senior editor over at First Things, that his recent "Immigration Idealism" presents a sub-Christian argument which he should reconsider:

"Will [Schmitz] also signal his disagreement with Augustine, who said, “This world is to all the faithful who are seeking their homeland what the desert was to the people of Israel”? Will he disagree with Aquinas who, in his Commentary on Hebrews, claims that we who are children of Abraham “are given to understand that we should live in the world as foreigners and strangers”? Might he beg to differ even with the apostolic writer of Hebrews who reminds his Christian readers that “here we have no lasting city, but we seek a city that is to come” (Heb. 13:14)? Are we to believe that Augustine, Aquinas, and the Apostle are sentimentalists? If not, it seems Schmitz finds himself in disagreement over the pilgrim status of the Christian not merely with Cavanaugh, but with the mainstream of Christian theological reflection."

You can read the whole letter here.