Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Quarterly
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Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Quarterly THE PRESIDENT’S LETTER Reasonable Rules .....................................................................Joseph Koterski, S.J. HOMILY Advent Sermon in the Cathedral of Trier, 34 December 4, 2003 ..................................................... Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger Number 4 ARTICLES winter 2011 The Study of Rhetoric as a Stepping Stone to Wisdom ................Anne Carson Daly Chesterton and the Pickpocket: A Fresh Look at Distributionism ........Karl Schmude Cameron: The Liberal Society and Its Defense ...............................Jude P. Dougherty The Loss of Maritain’s America .....................................................Jude P. Dougherty Anarchists Among Us ....................................................................Jude P. Dougherty Prenatal Adoption: Did the CDF Close the Door on Debate? ........Arland K. Nichols “Natural and Necessary”: Catholics and the State ................................ Steven Millies Maintaining Equilibrium at The Catholic Law School ....................... Michael P. Orsi Further Reflections on ‘Brain Death’ ..................................................William White BOOK REVIEWS The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism by Edward Feser ........................................................................D.Q. McInerny The Logic of Desire: Aquinas on Emotion by Nicholas E. Lombardo, O.P. ...................................................D.Q. McInerny Treatise on Human Nature, Summa Theologiae I, Questions 75-102 by St. Thomas Aquinas, translated by Alfred J. Freddoso ...............D.Q. McInerny Medieval Essays by Etienne Gilson, translated by James Colbert ......Jude P. Dougherty Lectures on the Philosophy of World History: Volume I: Manuscripts and Lectures 1822-3, by G.F. W. Hegel, ed. and translated by Robert F. Brown and Peter C. Hodgson ............................................................Jude P. Dougherty Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Philosophy, ed. James Hankins ..................................................................Jude P. Dougherty Michael Polanyi and His Generation: Origins of the Social Construction of Science by Mary Jo Nye .......................................................Jude P. Dougherty The Relevance of a Neglected Volume: Maritain on The Church of Christ ...............................................................Jude P. Dougherty The Constitution of Liberty: The Definitive Edition by F. A. Hayek .........................................................................Jude P. Dougherty ISSN 1084-3035 Christ and the Catholic Priesthood: Ecclesial Hierarchy and the Pattern of the Trinity by Matthew Levering ........................ John Gavin, S.J. Fellowship of Catholic Scholars The Appalling Strangeness of the Mercy of God: P.O. Box 495 The Story of Ruth Pakaluk, ed. by Michael Pakaluk ......................John Gavin, S.J. Notre Dame, IN 46556 My Correct Views on Everything by Leszek Kolakowski, (574) 631-5825 ed. by Zbigniew Jankowski ............................................................ Kevin Walker catholicscholars.org Toward the Gleam by T. M. Doran ....................................................Stephen Mirarchi J. Brian Benestad, Editor [email protected] BOOKS RECEIVED APPLYING FOR MEMBERSHIP OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS NOTICE EX CATHEDRA Fr. James Schall’s New Book, The Modern Age ..................................J. Brian Benestad FCS Quarterly • Winter 2011 1 THE PRESIDENT’S LEttER Reasonable Rules by Joseph W. Koterski, S.J. Fellowship of President, Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Catholic Scholars Jesuit friend of mind was recently given an Scholarship Inspired by the Holy Spirit, assignment to the Silicon Valley. A well-published in Service to the Church scientist himself, he was sent to do a kind of missionary work among the “techies.” Their Abiggest problem with organized religion, he quickly realized, CONTENTS was resentment at rules that made no sense to them. THE PRESIDENT’s leTTER ..............................................2 The problem was not the existence of rules. Rules, after all, are precisely their livelihood. What they do all day long HOMILY Advent Sermon, Cathedral of Trier .................................5 in writing computer programs is to operate according to various rules and to generate new rules as needed. Their ARTICLES The Study of Rhetoric ........................................................7 frustration with religion arose from a sense that the rules Chesterton and the Pickpocket .................................... 12 were arbitrary. Computer programs involve long strings of Cameron: The Liberal Society and Its Defense ......... 22 rules. But the techies can see how these rules make sense. The Loss of Maritain’s America ..................................... 23 The rules they work by might well be algorithms whose Anarchists Among Use .................................................... 25 complexity and obscurity will long befuddle the rest of us. Prenatal Adoption ............................................................. 26 But rules that make their computers do what they want “Natural and Necessary” ................................................. 31 them to do are, in their eyes, just fine. Maintaining Equilibrium at Like Paul in Greece, or Patrick in Ireland, or Boniface The Catholic Law School ................................ 35 in Germany, or Xavier in India, my friend spent his time in Further Reflections on ‘Brain Death’ ......................... 39 Silicon Valley as a missionary. The missionary needs to know BOOK REVIEWS the lay of the land. To preach the saving truths of Christ ef- The Last Superstition ......................................................... 42 The Logic of Desire ............................................................ 44 fectively, one has to learn how to navigate the local terrain Treatise on Human Nature, Summa Theologiae I ........ 47 and how to avoid certain obstacles that can risk obscuring Medieval Essays .................................................................. 49 people’s access to understanding the truths of the faith. Lectures on the Philosophy of World History ................ 50 What my friend learned to do was to be ready to Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Philosophy ...... 51 explain why the Church holds what she does and why she Michael Polanyi and His Generation .............................. 52 teaches what she teaches. Most of the Faith, of course, does The Relevance of a Neglected Volume ............................ 53 not consist in rules, but in his case rules were generally The Constitution of Liberty ............................................... 54 the problem. So, in those cases where something with the Christ and the Catholic Priesthood: .................................. 55 character of a rule was at issue, whether a moral norm or a The Appalling Strangeness of the Mercy of God .......... 57 My Correct Views on Everything ...................................... 58 disciplinary practice, he found that the best thing he could Toward the Gleam .............................................................. 61 do was to explain why “the rule” was “the rule.” Without needing to explain all of theology, or to be at all defensive BOOKS RECEIVED ............................................................... 62 about a given rule, let alone embarrassed about it, what he APPLYING FOR MEMBERSHIP ......................................... 62 would do, with grace and good humor, and with knowledge OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS ........................................... 63 of the faith, would be to explain how some rule that was in question actually made some sense. NOTICE ..................................................................................... 64 To his delighted surprise, resentment generally fell away. EX CATHEDRA ..................................................................... 65 For computer nerds (“like himself”), it proved quite enough to show that what they had perceived as an “arbitrary rule” Reminder: Membership dues will be was somehow reasonable. Doing simple things like this for mailed out the first of the year and are them made the Church as a whole seem reasonable. Would based on a calendar (not academic) year. that it were always quite this easy! 2 FCS Quarterly • Winter 2011 But there is a lesson here, and especially a lesson 3. Catholics are free in accordance with Catholic moral for Catholic scholars. Knowing the Faith, and knowing teaching to make health care decisions forgoing the why the Church holds what it does, and finding good use of extraordinary means that prolong a life in a clear ways to explain things may be just what it takes to terminal illness. help someone with difficulties about the Faith. It will 4. Suffering is a mystery. The role of medicine is to re- be helpful in defending the positions of the Church by lieve the suffering of the sick by diligent research and showing them to be reasonable rather than arbitrary— compassionate treatment. Suffering that cannot be and thereby opening a space for God’s grace to work alleviated can become redemptive when united with the rest. the suffering love of Christ. 5. Persons are obligated to take reasonable care of their • • • own health by preserving and nurturing it with ap- propriate and ordinary (proportionate) means. But, In the past six months I’ve been asked to speak on vari- no one is obligated to use extraordinary (dispropor- ous