Two years ago, when New York named its five most influential intellectuals in New York, three of the five had direct connections to Columbia. The first two were well-known professors Jeffrey Sachs and Brian Greene, but Bwog pauses today to remember the third Columbia presence on that list, Father Richard Neuhaus, who died today at the age of 72.

Unlike his professorial counterparts, Neuhaus, the famous conservative theologian and editor-in-chief of First Things, was no campus star, or even an official faculty member. Instead, he only spent several springs preaching at the Catholic Ministry’s on-campus masses. While his politics may not have matched with most of Columbia, or even much of his Catholic audience, his sermons – noted for their old-school oratorical stylings – were hugely popular among those who knew about them.

For the curious, Bwog highly recommends former B&W editor Andrew Flynn’s profile of Neuhaus in our April/May 2007 issue,  and you can also listen to his old sermons on the Columbia Catholic Ministry’s website.

– JCD