Book Review

Biography of JPII raises questions about partiality

Culture
Apr 28, 2011

The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II — The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy
By George Weigel
Published by Doubleday, $32.50

When George Weigel writes on John Paul II he is sure to raise concerns about partiality -- with good reason. In Witness to Hope, his 900-page account of the pope's life up to 1999, he does not hide his admiration of John Paul "the Great." Nor does he in this follow-up volume, which is likewise part biography, part history, part hagiography, all stamped with Weigel's American(ist) vision of the Church among the nations.

Book Review

Curran charts Catholic move to the mainstream

Culture
Apr 13, 2011

THE SOCIAL MISSION OF THE U.S. CATHOLIC CHURCH: A THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
By Charles E. Curran
Published by Georgetown University Press, $26.96

Charles Curran is a careful writer because what he writes is controversial. In The Social Mission of the U.S. Catholic Church, the controversial part comes in the last chapter, on the U.S. bishops and abortion law. Curran offers themes and arguments we have encountered before: a revisionist moral theology, a progressivist social ethic, and an Americanist historiography, all couched in a typically moderate prose style.

Neuhaus' first and last things

People
Jun 11, 2009

AMERICAN BABYLON: NOTES OF A CHRISTIAN IN EXILE
By Richard John Neuhaus
Published by Basic Books, $16.95

Soon after Fr. Richard John Neuhaus died in January, encomiums for his life and work appeared in this country’s top conservative newspapers and periodicals. Obituaries and assessments appeared also in journals that bore the brunt of his sardonic, scathing, at times unfair attacks, including the National Catholic Reporter.

This was not surprising, for even those who disagreed with him had to admit that Neuhaus made his mark, whether as a youthful civil rights advocate and opponent of the Vietnam War or, in more recent years, as founder of the Institute for Religion in Public Life and its signature journal, First Things.

Many commentators describe his career as a journey from left to right; as an abandonment of, or recovery from (depending on the viewpoint), his 1960s-style liberalism to an embrace of 1980s-style neoconservativism. Such plot lines obscure the extent to which Neuhaus propounded the same basic themes throughout his career. These themes are on full display in his last book.

Book Review

Neuhausí first and last things

Culture
Jun 10, 2009

AMERICAN BABYLON: NOTES OF A CHRISTIAN IN EXILE
By Richard John Neuhaus
Published by Basic Books, $16.95

In his last book, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus argues that Christian allegiance to America is provisional, not eschatological, limited yet substantial and real. For this reason, he affirms his identity as an American and derides radical critics who seek to escape time and place by claiming "citizenship of the world."

Read the full review here: Neuhaus' first and last things