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Eminent theologians have revered Weil (Paul Tillich, Thomas Merton, Pope Paul VI), and so have writers of the first rank, especially women (Hannah Arendt, Ingeborg Bachmann, Anne Carson, Flannery O’Connor, Susan Sontag).—Judith Thurman, The New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2024 Of the 20 pictures by him gathered here, just four are of the first rank.—Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2022 Not that there weren’t theatrical luminaries of the first rank.—Los Angeles Times, 2 June 2022 The absolute worst of these is still just a literary writer of the first rank.—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 24 Apr. 2022 In the scientific community, Linde is widely regarded as a physicist of the first rank.—Alan Lightman, The Atlantic, 8 Feb. 2021 But many critics considered his books literature of the first rank.—Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 13 Dec. 2020 Don’t miss: The fresh banana malts are a summertime treat of the first rank, and the half-pound, California-style Burger-Ette is a signature item for a reason.—Rick Nelson, Star Tribune, 29 July 2020 Of all the intellectual activities in my life my striving toward a better appreciation of the shape of reality which science outlines for us has always been of the first rank.—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 21 June 2012
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