Suchergebnisse

The political thinkers at the vanguard of the European project have miscalculated. In attempting to weaken the political salience of national loyalty, they have undermined the only modern political structure-the nation-state-capable of securing individual rights. In contrast to Europe, the United States has successfully reconciled liberalism, with its defense of individual freedom, and a strong sense of nationhood that commands healthy political loyalty. As a result, Americans are better prepared to defend personal freedom in a variety of domestic and international contexts, from assimilating immigrants into the homeland to fighting liberty's enemies abroad. Adapted from the source document.

"John Courtney Murray (1904–1967) was a member of the Society of Jesus. He taught at the Jesuit theologiate in Woodstock, Maryland and was editor of the Jesuit journal Theological Studies from 1941 until his death. He became a leading American public figure – the subject of a 1960 Time cover story. He was known mainly for his work on the relationships between the Catholic Church and America's country's political life, his interpretation of the American view of religious liberty, and his resolutely Catholic view of the true ground of that liberty. His affirmation of the basic continuity between the Catholic and the American views of human nature and human liberty led to tensions with and even his silencing by the Vatican Curia, but something like his view of religious liberty was affirmed by the Second Vatican Council. "(.)

This introduction to "A Symposium on Leo Strauss and His Students" briefly describes the three contributions that follow, noting that the authors all dissent from Strauss & Straussians in that they doubt that philosophy can truthfully liberate human beings from a natural orientation toward morality & God, though they do acknowledge that Strauss helped clarify the complex relationship between reason & faith. This author contends that he is confronted with a postmodern interpretive nightmare in that each contributor says what he thinks is true about Strauss & Straussians but in a way that defends his own views of the relationships among theology, morality, philosophy, & politics. Strauss separated these elements. In particular, he sought to purge the doctrine of philosophy, or the philosopher himself, of Christian elements. The philosopher is disoriented in the world of men, & political citizens experience his alienation & depersonalization of the world as a threat to their feeling at home in society. Lawler contends that only a whole human being, one who accepts all these elements & draws them together, can be open to the whole of life. J. Stanton