My Baylor colleague, the historian Philip Jenkins, has posted over at The Anxious Bench the first of three entries on the Francis Papacy and how it portends to the next conclave’s selection of a successor. Here is how it begins: In the quite near future, the world’s largest religious institution will be choosing a new head. As everyone knows, Pope Francis is extremely sick, and for a man of his age, there is a strong possibility that he will be... Read more
Imagine that you make a fine salary employed by a multibillion dollar charitable organization whose purpose is to eradicate some horrible human malady or condition, e.g., cancer, heart disease, poverty, etc. Suppose you were to succeed. But then you’re out of a job. To make matters worse, a lot of your funding comes from corporate donors whose products actually increase these maladies in their customers. Because of your “partnership” with these donors it may not be in your economic interest... Read more
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), scholars who support abortion rights have defended different ways to ground a constitutional right to abortion. Some have argued for a religious liberty angle. In a just-published article I co-authored with Australian legal scholar, Alex Deagon, we offer a detailed critique of this approach. Appearing in the Baylor Law Review (76 [Fall 2024]: 511-574), it is entitled, “Religious Freedom and Abortion: Why State-Imposed... Read more
I am happy to report that I just published in World Magazine a review of the book, Believe: Why Everyone Should be Religious (Zondervan 2025), authored by the New York Times columnist, Ross Douthat. Here’s how the review begins: In 1952, a well-known public intellectual named C.S. Lewis published Mere Christianity, a small and accessible book in which he made a case for the Christian faith in response to a particular set of objections that were becoming increasingly prevalent in the... Read more
One of the great blessings of my career as a professor is being invited to speak at the many chapters of the Thomistic Institute found on college campus throughout North America and Europe. Over the past year I have spoken at the University of Miami, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, University of Toronto, and Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City. In 2025 I am set to give lectures at the University of North Florida and New York University. One... Read more
In the November 2024 issue of World Magazine is my review of Rod Dreher’s new book, Living In Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age (Zondervan, 2024). Entitled “Disenchantment and Truth,” here’s how the review begins: “Like all dreamers, I confused disenchantment with truth.” Those pithy words, penned by the existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, encapsulate the plight of the modern West. It’s this plight that writer and journalist Rod Dreher confronts in his latest book, Living in Wonder: Finding... Read more
I am pleased to announce the publication of my new book, A Catholic Engagement with Latter-Day Saints. Co-edited with my dear friend, Utah State University philosopher and Catholic convert, Richard Sherlock, the book is set for release by Ignatius Press on November 30, 2024. Among the other contributors are Rachel Lu, Alexander Pruss, Matthew Levering, and Brad S. Gregory. Here is the description of the book from the Ignatius website, followed by the Table of Contents: A collection of... Read more
In a 2002 debate book he did with J. J. Smart–Atheism and Theism—the Scottish philosopher John Haldane offers a First Cause argument for God’s existence. It is not a First Cause argument based on the impossibility of an infinite past series of events–like the Kalam Cosmological Argument–but one that makes a case for a First Cause of everything whose existence depends on another in the here and now even if the universe had always existed. It is an argument within... Read more
While working on the revised edition of my 2007 book, Defending Life, I came across a June 8, 1981 New York Times opinion piece written by the great Catholic novelist Walker Percy. Entitled “A View of Abortion, With Something to Offend Everybody,” I publish it here in its entirety (with a spelling correction): I feel like saying something about this abortion issue. My credentials as an expert on the subject: None. I am an M.D. and a novelist. I will... Read more
From an article entitled, ” Scientists push new paradigm of animal consciousness, saying even insects may be sentient:” Nearly 40 researchers signed “The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness,” which was first presented at a conference at New York University on Friday morning. It marks a pivotal moment, as a flood of research on animal cognition collides with debates over how various species ought to be treated. The declaration says there is “strong scientific support” that birds and mammals have... Read more
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