I Howard J. Van Till Although the rhetoric Phillip E. Johnson employs in his article “Creator or Blind Watchmaker?” (FT, January 1993) differs in some details from that of the “scientific creationists” of North American Christian fundamentalism, the effect of his pronouncements is the same. . . . . Continue Reading »
Natural Law Theory: Contemporary Essays edited by robert p. george clarendon/oxford university press, 371 pages, $39.95 A few years ago I appeared on “Firing Line” with my Notre Dame colleagues Gerhardt Niemeyer and Ralph McInerny for a discussion of natural law. My memory of that occasion is . . . . Continue Reading »
When Dr. George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, visited Pope John Paul II in May 1992, the two church leaders discussed the probable future ordination of women priests in the Anglican Church. That, the Pope said, “touched on the very nature of the sacrament of holy orders.” A Vatican . . . . Continue Reading »
Covenant Of Love: Pope John Paul II on Sexuality, Marriage, and Family in the Modern World edited by Richard M. Hogan and John M. Levoir Ignatius Press, 328 pages, $14.95 For those who have had enough of the dull and deadly conformism of recent decades, a manifesto for a sexual revolution that . . . . Continue Reading »
The ideas of “tradition” and “creativity” seem at first glance to be opposed and incompatible. Tradition says continuity; creativity says innovation and hence discontinuity. With the proper distinctions, however, it may be possible to show that the two are not only compatible but mutually . . . . Continue Reading »
People who talk overmuch about beginning a new phase of life often appear quite foolish. After all, we rarely know until much later the meaning of our past and the promise of our future. Our ignorance and confusion alone ought to suggest that at times of transition (like the beginning of a new . . . . Continue Reading »
“Vatican II,” George Weigel writes in Freedom and Its Discontents, “posed a basic challenge to the many monisms, religious and secular, ancient and modern, that continue to beset human life and the cause of human freedom.” The Council mounted this challenge to the monistic cast of . . . . Continue Reading »
What do modern Jewish thinkers make of Christianity? Is Christianity in their eyes still the oppressive, pervasive presence that medieval Jews experienced as Christendom? Is Christianity held to be that which fills the hearts of Gentiles with implacable contempt for Jews? Or is it a chastened, . . . . Continue Reading »
The Democracy Reader: Classic And Modern Speeches, Essays, Poems, Declarations And Documents On Freedom And Human Rights Worldwide edited by Diane Ravitch and Abigail Thernstrom HarperCollins, 330 pages, $35 A very useful anthology of almost a hundred readings. Regrettably, the . . . . Continue Reading »
With so many translations and study aids available, clergy and literate laity must from time to time make a decision about which edition of the Bible to adopt as their daily working edition. The Oxford Study Bible is a very strong candidate indeed. Its chief merit is the accuracy and . . . . Continue Reading »
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