The Review of Politics articles from January 2000

The Review of Politics archives from January 2000

Is American Democracy Safe for Catholicism?
January 1, 2000... The question implies that the First Amendment's "separation of church and state," as interpreted by the Supreme Court, is an insufficient solution to the old conflict between American democracy and Catholicism. Catholicism has become unsafe...

Democracy Unsafe, Compared to What? The Totalitarian Impulse of Contemporary Liberals.
January 1, 2000... I am sympathetic to the problem enunciated by Professors Glenn and Stack, viz., "that contemporary American democracy, by constitutionally privileging secularism, offers Catholics in public life a strong inducement to abandon, relativize, or...

The Core of Freedom: Public or Private?
January 1, 2000... As a protest, the argument of Professors Glenn and Stack is valid and important. That the realm of public debate is largely closed to those who stand explicitly on Judaic and Christian principles is an intellectual scandal. This closure, of...

Robust Tension Over Safety.
January 1, 2000... Gary D. Glenn and John Stack advance two important claims; one explicit, the other implicit. Their explicit claim is that the "new regime of civil liberties" is dangerous to Catholicism. Here I am in qualified agreement, though important...

Response to Our Critics.(response to articles by Clarke E. Cochran, Michael Novak and Glenn Tinder in this issue)
January 1, 2000... We are grateful that the editors secured three thoughtful though critical responses to our essay. Such responses perform a service by calling to our attention matters we have insufficiently considered, pushing us to greater clarity, and...

Fides et Ratio: Approaches to a Roman Catholic Political Philosophy.
January 1, 2000... The relationship between philosophy, revelation, and politics is a basic intellectual theme, either at the forefront or in the background, of all political philosophy The 1998 publication of John Paul H's encyclical Fides et Ratio occasioned...

Leo Strauss's Indictment of Christain Philosophy.
January 1, 2000... Leo Strauss's writings reveal a subtle but consistent set of accusations against the influence of Christian thinkers on political philosophy. These accusations may be summarized in three charges. First, the attempt by Aquinas and other...

"It's a Miracle of God That There Is Any Common Weal among Us": Unfaithfulness and Disorder in John Calvin's Political Thought.
January 1, 2000... Disorder is a constant theme in John Calvin's political work. Calvin describes politics as a chaotic arena, precariously held together by contending forces. However, few who write on Calvin recognize how disorder shapes his political...

ECRASEZ L'INFAME.(Review)
January 1, 2000... George Walsh: The Role of Religion in History. (New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers, 1998. Pp. viii, 196. $34.95.) In this text, George Walsh, a professor emeritus of philosophy and the history of religions, presents us with...

ROOTS FOR THE ANGLO ELITE.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Kevin Phillips: The Cousins' War: Religion, Politics, and the Triumph of Anglo-America. (New York: Basic Books, 1999. Pp. xxviii, 707. $32.50.) At the beginning of World War 1, British soldiers found that the Germans wore badges...

MYSTIC AND SCHOLASTIC.(Review)
January 1, 2000... John Coffey: Politics, Religion and the British Revolutions: The Mind of Samuel Rutherford. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Pp. xii, 304. [pounds]35.00.) Samuel Rutherford, Scottish pastor and theologian, was born near...

GOD WANTS IT.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Gerald Studdert-Kennedy: Providence and the Raj: Imperial Mission and Missionary Imperialism. (Walnut Creek, London and New Delhi: Altamira Press, 1998. Pp. 273. $44 95.) In this new study, Gerald Studdert-Kennedy builds on his earlier...

CITY BESIEGED.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Richard Madsen: China's Catholics: Tragedy and Hope in an Emerging Civil Society. (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1998. Pp. xiii, 183. $ 27.50.) "Tragedy and hope": the expression aptly reveals the present...

PRUSSIAN INEFFICIENCY.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Ronald J. Ross: The Failure of Bismarck's Kulturkampf: Catholicism and State Power in Imperial Germany, 1871-1887. (Washington, D. C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1998. Pp. xiv, 220. $66.95.) There is no shortage of works...

HISTORY LESSONS.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Heinrich Meier: The Lesson of Carl Schmitt: Four Chapters on the Distinction between Political Theology and Political Philosophy. Translated by Marcus Brainard. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. Pp. 179. $26.00.) Heinrich...

HOLDING ON.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Vesna Drapac: War and Religion: Catholics in the Churches of Occupied Paris. (Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1998. Pp. xv, 302. $74.95.) The role of Catholics during the Occupation of France has always been a...

HOW PURITANISM WAS USED.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Dean Hammer: The Puritan Tradition in Revolutionary, Federalist, and Whig Political Theory. (New York Peter Lang Publishing, 1998. Pp. xix, 218. $32.95, paper.) Dean Hammer's clearly and gracefully written The Puritan Tradition in...

THE CLOSING OF THE AMERICAN JURISPRUDENTIAL MIND.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Robert Lowry Clinton: God and Man in the Law: The Foundations of Anglo-American Constitutionalism. (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1997. Pp. xiv, 293. $35.00.) Robert Clinton's ambitious God and Man in the Law easily could be...

THE MODERN CRISIS.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Ellis Sandoz, The Politics of Truth and Other Untimely Essays: The Crisis of Civic Consciousness. (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999. Pp. xv, 235. $39.95.) Ellis Sandoz, Hermann Moyse Jr. Distinguished Professor of Political...

INCARNATIONAL PRAGMATISM.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Robert J. Roth, S. J.: Radical Pragmatism: An Alternative. (New York: Fordham University Press, 1998. Pp. xviii, 168. $35.00. $18.00, paper.) Catholicism and pragmatism have had little to do with each other ever since America's...

JEFFERSONIAN BLINDERS.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Mary C. Segers and Ted C. Jelen, with an introduction by Clarke E. Cochran: A Wall of Separation? Debating the Public Role of Religion. (Lanham, MD and Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1998. Pp. xx, 191. $48.50, $14.95,...

MISSED CONFRONTATIONS.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Robert Song: Christianity and Liberal Society. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997. Pp. viii, 250. $65.00.) Given liberalism's pervasive influence on contemporary political life, argues Robert Song, one of the major tasks confronting...

PROCESS POLITICS.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Douglas Sturm: Solidarity and Suffering: Toward a Politics of Relationality. (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1998. Pp. viii, 335. $65.50. $21.95, paper.) Although Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) roughed out a broad...

THE BIBLE AND THE MODERN MENTALITY.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Paul Ricoeur and Andre LaCocque: Thinking Biblically: Exegetical and Hermeneutical Studies. Translated by David Pellauer. (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1998. Pp. xix, 441. $30.00.) This passionate, elaborate,...

THEALOGY.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Philip G. Davis: Goddess Unmasked: The Rise of Neopagan Feminist Spirituality. (Dallas: Spence Publishing Company, 1998. Pp. xi, 418. $29.95.) The problem with Philip Davis's book Goddess Unmasked is that it is not what it claims to be....

GLIMPSES INTO THE ETERNAL.(Review)
January 1, 2000... John Lawlor: C.S. Lewis: Memories and Reflections. (Dallas: Spence, 1998. Pp. xiv, 132. $22.95.) James Como: Branches to Heaven: The Geniuses of C. S. Lewis. (Dallas: Spence, 1998. Pp. xiv, 224. $22.95.) Emeritus Professor of English...

TO CHANGE OR NOT TO CHANGE.(Review)
January 1, 2000... John C. Schwarz: Global Population from a Catholic Perspective (Mystic, CT: Twenty-third Publications, 1998, Pp. v, 256. $19.95.) The Catholic Church is officially opposed to all artificial (as opposed to natural family planning) methods...

QUIET CHALLENGE.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Carol K. Coburn and Martha Smith: Spirited Lives: How Nuns Shaped Catholic Culture and American Life. 1836-1920. (Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1999, Pp. 400. $49.95.) The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet...

FORTRESS IN A STORM.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Richard Marius: Martin Luther: The Christian Between God and Death. (Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 1999. Pp. xv, 542. $35.00.) When I received the offer from this journal to do a review of a full biography of Martin...