Redeeming Philosophy:
From Metaphysics to Aesthetics
Edited by John Conley, S.J.
Book Overview
Inspired by the Thomism of Jacques Maritain, this collection of essays explores how philosophy can redeem contemporary society from some of its defects and how contemporary philosophy itself can be redeemed through a revival of philosophical realism. In metaphysics, such a real- ism emphasizes the primacy of contemplation, especially the contemplation of being itself, in a society overwhelmed by activism. In theology, it helps the Church to focus on the fleshly reality of the body, the human nature of Christ, and the sacraments. In history, it sketches the possible sources of hope in a society struggling with a despairing culture of death. In aesthetics, it explores how art permits the unspeakable to become poetic word and the unseeable to become visible icon. In the social order, this realism indicates possible paths for the reform of education, gender relations, economic relations, and international organizations devoted to peace. Scholarly in form and tone, the essays echo the everyday questions tormenting the American Catholic community. How can we find a place for contemplation in a society of workaholics? Why do so many Catholics reject the Church's teaching on sexuality, especially its doctrine on contraception? Why have so many abandoned the sacraments? Is Christian art exhausted? Where do we find a durable hope when so many moral-social trends could tempt us to despair?
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Contents
John J. Conley, S.J., “Introduction: Disputed Questions of Redemption”
John F. X. Knasas, “Being and the Twenty-First Century Thomist”
Heather M. Erb , “Natural Mysticism Gateway or Detour? Aquinas, Maritain, and the Core / Contextualist Debate”
Daniel D. De Haan, “Simon and Maritain on the Vocation of Species in Media”
James Capehart, “Incarnate Spirit: Proper Thomistic Definition of the Human Being or Merely a Description of the Human Soul?”
Michael Novak, “Maritain on the Void”
Roger W. Nutt, “Christ's Esse and Filiation: Interpreting St. Thomas on the Metaphysical Status of Christ's Human Nature”
James F. Keating, “The Proper Role of Credibility in the Work of Theology”
Bernard Doering, “Jacques Maritain, Charles Journet, and Humanae Vitae”
John J. Conley, S.J., “Sign, Symbol, Initiatory Sacrament”
Randall B. Smith, “Hope and History”
C. A. Tsakiridou, “Spiritual Expressionism: Léon Bloy, the Maritains, and the Mystery of Israel”
John Marson Dunaway, “Maritain's Influence on American Literature”
Joshua Hren, “The Sound and the Fury, Symbolizing Something: Maritain and Percy on the Paradoxical Miracle at the Limits of Language”
Anne M. Wiles, “Maritain on Education”
Samantha Bertrand, “Aristotle's Gentleman: A Good and Noble Philosophy of Education”
Bernadette E. O Connor, “Two False Theories of Human Equality Identified by Jacques Maritain: Applied to Feminist Issues”
Nikolaj Zunic, “Philosophy and the Search for Peace”
Thomas R. Rourke, “Moral Problems in Economic Organization in the Work of Yves R. Simon: Unequal Exchange and Man as the Principle of Integration”
About the Authors
Index
American Maritain Association Publications