Gilbert Meilaender

In his engagingly titled book, What’s Wrong with the World, G. K. Chesterton argued that his fellow citizens could not repair the defects of the family because they had no ideal for which to aim. Neither the Tory (Gudge) nor the Socialist (Hudge) viewed the family as sacred or had an image of . . . . Continue Reading »

There are moments when a person says something that should have been obvious but which has been left unsaid-and we wonder why the rest of us have failed to see or say it. That, at least in part, is my reaction to a thesis put forward by Jonathan Mills in a little book titled Love, Covenant & . . . . Continue Reading »

On November 6, 1997, the German Catholic philosopher Josef Pieper died at the age of ninety-three. Hearing that news reminded me of the first time I read his work. In a graduate course I had been assigned to read some sections on the virtues from the Summa Theologica and then, in addition, to read . . . . Continue Reading »

Although it is sometimes forgotten that a worthy human life can be lived by those who do not work, or do not work for pay, it is still true that work is one of the most fundamental of human experiences. Necessary for human existence, it is also an activity in which we struggle to find meaning and . . . . Continue Reading »

The Moral Vision of the New Testament by Richard B. Hays HarperSanFrancisco, 508 pages, $25 This book is both a reviewer’s dream and nightmare. From one perspective it is simple to review. Long as the book is, its contents can easily be outlined, so clear and carefully developed is Hays’ . . . . Continue Reading »

The Desire of the Nations: Rediscovering the Roots of Political Theology by Oliver O’Donovan Cambridge University Press, 304 pages, $68.50 Granting, of course, that there are countless books I have not read, and with apologies in particular to the friends whose books I have read, The Desire . . . . Continue Reading »

(The following remarks were presented to the National Bioethics Advisory Commission on March 13, 1997.) I have been invited, as I understand it, to speak today specifically as a Protestant theologian. I have tried to take that charge seriously, and I have chosen my concerns accordingly. I do not . . . . Continue Reading »

My family and I moved last summer, moving to Valparaiso, Indiana from Oberlin, Ohio, where we had lived for eighteen years. Now, eighteen years is a reasonably long time in anyone’s life. It constitutes the bulk of the life of my children, and almost the entire life of several of them. It is by . . . . Continue Reading »

Religion and Medical Ethics: Looking Backward, Looking Forward Edited by Allen Verhey Eerdmans, 160 pages, $18 As bioethics has gained coherence as a discipline in recent years, it has given rise to a number of attempts to take stock of the nature and health of that discipline. Perhaps this is . . . . Continue Reading »

Testing the Medical Covenant: Active Euthenasia and Health Care Reform By William F. May Eerdmans, 146 pages, $14 If one has time to read only a single book on medical ethics in the near future, Testing the Medical Covenant: Active Euthanasia and Health Care Reform would be an excellent choice. As . . . . Continue Reading »