History turned a corner with the birth of Jesus Christ, and while the written reports of that event don’t tell me everything I want to know, they do tell me everything I need. The Gospels occupy a kind of center point in human culture as a whole: products of a particular time and place, but comprehensible to all.

President Trump misunderstands the Soviet-Afghan War’s cause, the nature of the Soviets, and the rebel forces they were fighting. The Soviets were not “right to be there.” They invaded Afghanistan not to fight terrorists but to expand the communist empire.

Helping nations in need often serves America’s most important interests while burnishing America’s highest ideals.

Recent passage of the BUILD Act, which aims to “facilitate market-based private sector development and inclusive economic growth in less developed countries,” presents an ideal opportunity to discuss the thorny issue of foreign aid.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of Ukraine to Russia: in addition to Greater Russia, there is Holy Rus. Now the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is independent, which has the potential to be a seminal event in the history of both countries.

Robert Nicholson and Shadi Hamid’s conversation addresses questions about the West and the Muslim world in a modern context, but it also contributes to debates that have been going on for centuries.

Cynical pundits often warn we’re experiencing the “Fall of the American Republic.” Josiah Osgood’s history of the Roman Republic’s fall in “Rome and the Making of a World State” shows how there may be a broad parallel between their age and ours.

Removing Francisco Franco’s body from the Valle de los Caídos would disturb an unwritten pact of forgiveness and forgetting Spain made during its transition to democracy.

We have memorials to Pearl Harbor and Auschwitz, Oklahoma City and Shanksville, PA, not merely because we want to remember those we lost, but because we do not want to forget the lessons we learned about ourselves in those moments. Each tragedy speaks to the depth of our collective depravity and the glory of God’s image in every victim and hero.