Coetzee on the Stillbirth of the Humanities Out of Theology

Last updated on: July 20, 2013 at 12:04 pm By Artur Rosman

I suspect the endless essays about the rethinking, protecting, death, in other words, the “crisis,” of the humanities in The Chronicle of Higher Education (if only) have cleared more than one forest. I’ve written about the religious uses of the “secular” academy elsewhere in my post about Warhol and Blau. As you can tell from the post it’s not like I’m first in line to bust up the idols of the secular academy. On the other hand, the disappointing exchange surrounding yesterday’s post about (classical liberal) ideology... Read more

The Ideological Winters of American Catholicism

Last updated on: July 19, 2013 at 2:22 pm By Artur Rosman

The average American parishioner is more faithful to the Democratic and Republican platforms than the Credo. Alasdair MacIntyre pithily noted this (classical) liberal creep in his classic Whose Justice? Which Rationality?: “Liberalism is often successful in preempting the debate . . . so that [objections to it] appear to have become debates within liberalism. . . . So-called conservatism and so-called radicalism in these contemporary guises are in general mere stalking-horses for liberalism: The contemporary debates within modern political systems... Read more

Coetzee Demolishes Greek Harmony With Christian Agony

Last updated on: July 18, 2013 at 11:05 am By Artur Rosman

The best religious novelist of our time isn’t, as far as I know, a Christian believer. J.M. Coetzee completed his doctoral dissertation upon another Christ-haunted writer Samuel Beckett. He also is clearly influenced by the philosophical and theological writings of the Catholic (other than Bruno Latour) most-discussed in the secular academe. Of course, I’m talking about René Girard, whose work I’ve alluded to elsewhere. Coetzee did attend a Catholic high school, plus he has both Dutch and Polish ancestry. Poland was... Read more

You Have no Idea How Much Nastier I Would be if I Was Not a Catholic

Last updated on: July 16, 2013 at 1:53 pm By Artur Rosman

My post about the historical roots of resistance to the widespread and sociologically natural practice of abortion got quite a few people riled up. Luckily it didn’t result in as many stalkers, haters, and insinuators (usually about pedophilia) as my post on anti-Catholicism. I can only handle so many hatchet jobs before I get emotionally felled. Be that as it may, the surprising reaction to the latter piece only confirmed it’s central thesis that something like anti-Catholicism is alive and... Read more

Anti-Catholicism: America’s Last Acceptable Prejudice

Last updated on: May 22, 2015 at 12:11 pm By Artur Rosman

Systematic prejudice in America is rightfully in the spotlight again after yesterday’s verdict in Florida. The reaction to it reminded me of an article by Philip Jenkins, a sociologist who is America’s most even-handed commentator on religion. The article below summarizes the argument of one of his most important books The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice. The irony is that anti-Catholicism is so pervasive in the United States that it’s invisible. The biased coverage of the priest sex-abuse scandals is... Read more

Top 10 Theology Books of the Last 10 Years (That I've Read)

Last updated on: July 12, 2013 at 11:33 am By Artur Rosman

Here is a list of what I consider to be the ten most important theology-related books (I’ve read) of the past ten years. They’re in no particular order (kinda). If given another chance to make this list I’d probably choose (mostly) the same books, or I’d make the list longer. The books are accompanied by publisher blurbs, which should explain why these books are so important. I’d like to see what your top 10/10 list looks like. Feel free to submit... Read more

Famous Atheists Who Weren't Atheists 3: Warhol's Byzantine Iconoclasm & the Mystery of Blau's Bafflement

Last updated on: July 11, 2013 at 1:34 pm By Artur Rosman

You’d be surprised how many Christian academics with cushy jobs at state schools are gloating over the demise of the humanities in the “secular” academe during the latest round of budget cuts. They think the cuts will result in fewer people getting degrees in post-colonial studies, therefore fewer students will become polluted by them (and we’ll have fewer students overall). In turn all those saved from the evils of scholarship will be taught “responsibility” in the “real world” by the... Read more

The Wild & Wooly von Balthasar

Last updated on: July 10, 2013 at 12:34 pm By Artur Rosman

It’s a given von Balthasar is smarter than you are. Henri de Lubac once called him the most cultured man alive. The story is he was so cultured he gave away his stereo because he could play back all of Mozart . . . in his head. True story. He’s frequently given flack for concentrating too much on beauty and not enough on politics, especially when he makes statements like this one which I cited in an earlier post here: ... Read more

Disconsolate Karłowicz & Dostoevsky Tarry with Theological Corpses

Last updated on: July 9, 2013 at 12:04 pm By Artur Rosman

One of my readers has (rightfully?) chided me about my obsession with the negative aspects of life. “Why not look at a happy integrated family, or the beauty of God’s creation?,” he asks. “Why think about violence, death, and perversion instead?,” he wants to know. I confess to being drawn toward the latter. For example, I have written about Nowosielski’s dark iconic vision here, or Kristeva’s obsession with the sickly Baroque here, or dirty, gritty Rabelaisian Catholicism here and here. I talk abut these things... Read more

Hannah Arendt: Any Anthropology is Always-Already a Theology

Last updated on: July 8, 2013 at 3:17 pm By Artur Rosman

We are in the middle of something like a Hannah Arendt Renaissance. One of my professors who specializes in German philosophy told me with a certain alacrity that Arendt has eclipsed her own former professor and lover Heidegger. There’s even an Arendt film out that makes her life look like The Maury Povich Show (That one was for you Pedro, SJ. Vote for Pedro 2016.). Take a look: One hopes this is an instance where the film is much better... Read more