Statecraft, Soulcraft, and the Politics of Envy

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:29 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

That’s the title of my latest entry over at The Catholic Thing. Here’s how it begins: Suppose a politician suggests that increasing the sales tax on yachts and private jets from 8 percent to 25 percent will increase government revenues that will onlyaffect the wealthy (who can afford it). So with this increased revenue the government may provide financial assistance to other citizens, including college students, the poor, and public employees. Imagine that this policy is implemented but the politican’s prediction... Read more

“Journeys of Faith: Evangelicalism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Anglicanism”

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:29 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

That it is the title of the forthcoming book of which I am one of the four main authors. I present an account of my return to Catholicism (touching on several issues not touched on in my 2009 book, Return to Rome: Confessions of An Evangelical Catholic). My chapter is followed by a response by Gregg R. Allison of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I then in turn reply to Allison in a small chapter. The other three authors each provide accounts... Read more

Unexamined Ballot, Not Worth Casting

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:29 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

That’s the title of my latest entry over at The Catholic Thing. Here’s how it begins: During the 2012 political campaigns for a variety of local and state-wide offices, chances are that you will have a candidate ring your doorbell or you will encounter one at a public gathering. He will tell you all about himself, hand you a piece of literature, and then ask if you have any questions. This is your chance to find out what the candidate... Read more

From Evangelical to Catholic in 95 Difficult Steps

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:29 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

I am pleased to announce the publication of a new book by Notre Dame sociologist, Christian Smith. Professor Smith, a life-long Evangelical, was recently received into the Catholic Church. In How to Go From Being a Good Evangelical to a Committed Catholic in Ninety-Five Difficult Steps (Cascade Books, 2011) Professor Smith takes the reader through just the sort of reasoning and reflection that resulted in his own reception into the Church. Here’s how the publisher describes the book: American evangelicalism has... Read more

Paul Cella on Sean Wilentz’s “Bob Dylan in America”

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:29 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

Over at What’s Wrong With the World, Paul J. Cella reviews the book Bob Dylan in America, authored by Princeton University historian Sean Wilentz. Here’s how the review begins: The fact that Bob Dylan became a Christian is still very much controversial among many of his fans. It is not too much to say that when he began recording directly evangelical, even apocalyptic evangelical albums of rock music, beginning in 1979, he delivered a shock comparable to that delivered to... Read more

Mormonism, Catholicism, and the Romney Candidacy

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:29 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

That’s the title of my latest entry over at The Catholic Thing. It begins this way: In a piece recently published in the Catholic and Evangelical portals of the Patheos website, Warren Cole Smith explains why he cannot support Mitt Romney’s candidacy for President of the United States. “A Vote for Romney is a Vote for the LDS Church” reminded me of the sort of anti-Catholic screeds that were widely published during the presidential candidacy of Senator John F. Kennedy. Catholics conversant with... Read more

Newsweek’s offensive cover

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:29 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

Imagine it is the summer of 2000 soon after presidential candidate Al Gore chose Senator Joseph Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew, to be his vice-presidential running mate. Newsweek does a cover story on Lieberman’s historic selection. Blazed across the cover are the words, “The Jewish Moment,” with a photograph of Lieberman, though the image is photoshopped. The face is clearly Lieberman’s, but in the image he is bearded in full rabbinic garb sitting at a desk preparing a sermon. And over his... Read more

Bishop Gorman Memory: The Evening I Blocked Willie Hicks’ Dunk

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:29 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

The wife and I just arrived in Las Vegas. We are here because on Sunday, June 5, 2011, I will be giving the commencement address at my alma mater, Bishop Gorman High School (class of 1978). While going through some old scrapbooks in preparation for my address, I came across an article from the sports pages of the Las Vegas Review Journal. Dated January 28, 1978, it includes a brief account of my greatest moment of individual accomplishment as a... Read more

A Second Look at “First Things”

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:29 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

That is the title of my recent entry over at The Catholic Thing. It is adapted from a portion of a paper I delivered on May 17, 2011 at Princeton University as part of panel celebrating the 25th anniversary of the publication of Hadley Arkes’ First Things: An Inquiry Into the First Principles of Morals and Justice (PrincetonUniversity Press, 1986). Here’s how it begins: Most books and articles in political and legal philosophy are dry. One rarely finds in them humorous anecdotes,... Read more

Happy 81st Birthday to my Dad!

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:29 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

Today, May 25, 2011, my father, Harold J. Beckwith, turns 81! To the right is a picture of my Dad, me, and my brother Jim in front of our Mercedes Benz with Caesar’s Palace in the background. We were at Caesar’s having lunch following my First Holy Communion in May 1968. At the bottom left is a picture of me, my wife, Frankie, and my parents last November in Las Vegas. Here is what I say about my father in Return... Read more