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part i. symposium: reflections on the political thought of fr. james v. schall: reason, revelation, and politics

1. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Steven J. Brust

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2. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Peter Augustine Lawler

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The most prolific and genuinely provocative writer in America today is James Schall. Schall tells that the Catholic Church is today about the sole source of a genuinely reasonable—meaning genuinely realistic—view of “what is.” That’s why Schall contends that political science is not a natural science; our lives as social or relational animals living together in community can’t really be understood realistically without seeing the whole truth about who each of us is.
3. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Marc D. Guerra

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James V. Schall is well known for being a learned theorist (and an equally learned practitioner) of so-called Christian Aristotelianism. That Schall affirms the basic compatibility of Christian faith and human reason, then, is not surprising. But the particular way that he affirms this is surprising. Schall regularly speaks of the relation of Christian faith and human reason in terms of the qualified incompleteness of both political philosophy and Christian revelation. The mutual incompleteness of political philosophy and Christian revelation indirectly sheds light on the characteristic error made by contemporary hyper-rationalists, whether they are overt modern rationalists or covert religious rationalists.
4. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Hadley Arkes

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For James Schall, revelation becomes open to us, on the most important questions that revelation can address, when it is opened by people who “study politics,” as Samuel Johnson had it. For Plato, the best city, the best political order, was spun out in the world of speech. It is not a place we expect to inhabit. But Plato had Socrates say at the end of the Republic that, whether this City exists anywhere or not, it is the only city in which the thoughtful man would wish to take part. But even so, as Schall says, revelation alerts us to the possibility that our true home will really be elsewhere.
5. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
James V. Schall, S.J.

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What has concerned me most is the coherence of political philosophy in the light of what is not political philosophy. Reality, what is, is always richer than our knowledge of it. If we are to understand political things, we have to understand more than political things—things like history, science, literature, practical living, common sense, philosophy itself, and yes, the terms and content of revelation.

part ii. articles

6. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Ryan Barilleaux

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Walker Percy was an American Catholic and Southern writer best known for novels about the place and purpose of the individual in the universe, but two of his novels (Love in the Ruins, 1971, and The Thanatos Syndrome, 1987) were more explicitly political in nature. Percy’s reflections on the state of the American regime informed several essays as well as his politically-oriented novels. He was concerned about the condition to which the United States had declined in the late twentieth century, and examined how the nation’s pursuit of the wrong kind of happiness contributed to its decline and endangered its future. Percy understood that true happiness lay in virtue and in faith, and he laid considerable blame for America’s cultural decline on its embrace of scientific materialism. While his novels are not didactic, they urge a return to faith as the key to saving American society.
7. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Steven Schultz

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The Common Core State Standards are an initiative to adopt a uniform set of kindergarten through 12th-grade mathematics and English educational standards throughout the United States.  Many Christian schools are also voluntarily adopting Common Core standards.  This article examines whether such a practice is truly in the best interest of students and parents by considering the compatibility of Common Core with a classical Christian philosophy of education.  This article begins with an analysis of Common Core standards to identify the foundational philosophy of education inherent in Common Core.  This philosophy of education is then contrasted with the classical Christian philosophy of education to discern whether Common Core is compatible with the Christian core that should be at the heart of every Christian school.
8. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Caleb Henry

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Was the Obergefell decision a refutation or an extension of Lockean political thought? I summarize three perspectives on Locke and show how these interpretations can elucidate the Obergefell opinions. I then argue that the dissenters have the better Lockean argument. I conclude by explaining why Catholics should view Obergefell through Lockean lenses. Locke shows us how Obergefell will lead to a direct attack on familial moral education. However, Locke can also give us tools to fight in the public square for familial moral education.
9. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
William H. De Soto

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Orestes Brownson is regarded as one of the most important contributors to Catholic social thought that the United States has ever produced. Although he is famous for changing his views during the course of his intellectual career, he in fact consistently defended several core principles. His defense of community and social obligation never wavered. He called for greater social equality as a young socialist and Transcendentalist; as a mature Catholic he urged his readers to take seriously Jesus’s command that they love one another. Although Brownson wrote in the nineteenth century, his views remain relevant in the second decade of the twenty-first century. His work challenges the narcissism, individualism, and selfishness that plague our world today. In contrast to our culture’s tendency to focus on the individual, Brownson calls for us to think about our communities. He asks us to rise above our sinful natures.
10. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Michael A. Scaperlanda

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Through the lives and deaths of Thomas More and Ivan Ilyitch, this article explores the consequences of choosing to follow God or to follow man. Although one man is historical and the other fictional, they make a good contrast because they both are prominent lawyers adroit in governmental and judicial affairs. Both wisely understand what modern liberalism rejects, that humans are dependent creatures. More places himself in the hands of God while Ilyitch places himself in the hands of his social betters. More lives a life of joy. Ilyitch lives a life of quiet despair. More can embrace death. Ilyitch cannot embrace his earthly end until at last he sees that even though he wasted his life redemption is still possible.
11. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Fr. Dan Pattee, T.O.R.

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This essay examines a revision that took place in the meaning of social justice among commentators on and scholars of papal social teaching from the time of Pope St. John XXIII. The revision occurred under the influence of Marxist ideology over the application of Catholic social thought to questions of reform in society. This essay will argue that there was never any real change in the papal social encyclicals themselves, as evidenced by Blessed Pope Paul VI’s statements in and by the attempt of Pope St. John Paul II to return the meaning of social justice to its original soil of the Gospel and the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas.
12. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Alfred D'Anca, Sr. Eileen Fagan, SC

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In this retribution-centered age of American criminal justice, with continued high rates of drug offenses, the Drug Treatment Court (DTC) model has emerged as a means of managing the needs of non-violent drug offenders through multidisciplinary teams that include judges, prosecuting and defense attorneys, and treatment providers. Now operative in state and Federal jurisdictions, the model is characterized by a more therapeutic vision of law, an acknowledgment of the drug offender as redeemable, a supportive but accountable relationship between judge and drug offender, and non-adversarial collaboration by court officials and treatment providers. This paper examines relevant principles of Catholic social teaching which tend to affirm the innovative drug treatment court model as a rehabilitative and restorative approach to justice by which both the needs of drug offenders and community safety are addressed. The agreement between Catholic social teaching and the principles underlying drug treatment courts is reflected in the Church’s support for legislation favoring community and faith-based outreach offender programs.
13. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Alex D. Binder

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The Popes have directly and indirectly taught that money ought to serve man and be used for the common good. They have also condemned the idolatry of money and warned those who manage it for society to do so responsibly and according to the principle of subsidiarity. Money is the “life-blood” of the market economy, yet its creation and distribution is widely misunderstood in the United States. The Federal Reserve has less control over the money supply than is commonly thought because of their commitment to provide an elastic currency, and the federal government must maintain monetary sovereignty in order to pursue the goals of full employment and price stability. Though an elastic currency and monetary sovereignty are potentially inconsistent with Catholic teaching, they are not inherently so, as long as those with power act for the good of all.

part iii. book reviews

14. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Allan C. Carlson

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15. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Charles K. Bellinger

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16. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Clifford Staples

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17. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Stephen Sharkey

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18. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Kieran Flanagan

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19. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Stephen M. Krason

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20. Catholic Social Science Review: Volume > 21
Adam Tate

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