Vox Nova At The Library: Pirate Freedom

Last updated on: November 22, 2007 at 12:14 pm By Henry Karlson

Note: While Vox Nova is meant to show Catholic commentaries on Culture, Society and Politics, for the most part the blog represents a Catholic dialogue with contemporary American society and its political concerns. However, there is room for more; my own Vox Nova at the Movies is an attempt to engage the culture at large; now I am beginning another series (and one which I hope others will also join in with me): Vox Nova at the Library. My posts in this series will be less frequent than my (almost) once a week Vox Nova at the Movies, and they will discuss books past and present. You might or might not agree with my choices or my reactions to the books themselves; but, more than movies, the books I read (fiction and non-fiction) have had a major influence on the way I think and I think it will help anyone interested in my views to read some of the many works which have influenced and continue to influence them.

For this inaugural post, I have decided to choose the recently published Pirate Freedom by Gene Wolfe (New York: TOR, 2007).

Gene Wolfe is one of the best, if not the best, science fiction authors still writing books. He is also one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult, writers to read: his works contain mysteries and riddles which the reader is intended to solve (if not in the first read, in the second or further reading of the text). Most of his novels are written in the first person with narrators who contain one or many flaws, flaws which require us to question what it is we have been told, and even consider what it is that we have not been told as a way to understand and grasp the true story. Finally, the narrators themselves tend to be people of questionable character; we get a glimpse of the way they think, and why they think what they think, but the things they do can be quite unsettling to the reader (rape, murder, and even cannibalism are common events in a Gene Wolfe story). Yet there is a point to all of it, and so however revolted the reader might be about the unfolding events in a Gene Wolfe story, they tell us something about the character, and even more, something about humanity itself (and not always, as one might imagine, all bad). Indeed, a Gene Wolfe novel is a profoundly religious work, and his Catholicism is quite apparent throughout.

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British Bishops ban church-based Amnesty International groups

Last updated on: November 19, 2007 at 4:57 pm By Policraticus

From the Telegraph:

Thousands of Roman Catholic schools and churches have been banned from membership of Amnesty International because of its new policy on abortion.

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What Ways Are There For Us To Get Out Of These Vicious Circles?

Last updated on: November 16, 2007 at 4:29 pm By Henry Karlson

A state needs a police force with sufficient power and might to protect the interests of the state. The primary interest of the state should be the common good, and this means that the people of the state are to be protected from harm. Yet the way to protect the people from harm seems to be through the threat of violence before harm is done, and the use of violence once it has been done. If this is the case, then we already suggest that it can be morally acceptable to engage in and practice harm upon others, and if this is the case, then why should the state protect people from harm?

If the police force is used to protect the people from each other, what is to protect the people from the police force if the police force is out of control? Normally it is said that this responsibility lies with some political authority, such as the mayor of the city. Yet then who is to watch this political authority and make sure they are not out of control – is it not the people? But then, if the police are meant to watch over the people, with political authorities are the ones who are to watch over the police, and the people of the state are the ones who are to watch over the political authorities, what is one to do if this system of checks and balances gets unhinged? Who is it that really has the authority and ability to fix the situation?

Anscombe on Punishment

Last updated on: November 12, 2007 at 4:56 pm By Morning's Minion

I remember we had a good discussion a while back on the nature and purposes of punishment. I argued that defense against the criminal is the fundamental (and often only) purpose of punishment, and others pointed to the importance of retribution. I thought it would be useful here to reference the thought of Elizabeth Anscombe, as laid out in her insightful essay from 1978, “On the Source of the Authority of the State” (published in G.E.M. Anscombe, 1981, Ethics, Religion, and Politics: Collected Philosophical Papers Volume III, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.

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The Need for Awareness

Last updated on: November 7, 2007 at 8:00 pm By voxnovablog

In my blog Civilization of Love, I have included “awareness” as one of the many ways in which we can build this “civilization of love” that the Church talks about. What do I mean by “awareness”?

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Dorothy Day’s Pacifism–The Result of Reason and Praxis

Last updated on: October 26, 2007 at 7:23 pm By Policraticus

Dorothy Day, who is on the path to sainthood, was an intellectual. But more importantly, she was a manifestation of what deep Catholic faith becomes. Very few have had the courage to live their Catholic faith beyond their front porch like Dorothy Day…the Desert Fathers, the martyrs, St. Francis of Assisi and Bl. Teresa of Calcutta come immediately to mind. These are the ones who hung on every word of Christ, and these are the ones who convict me of my unworthiness to fancy myself a Catholic man. These are the saints of the saints.

One of my philosophy professors was a close friend of Dorothy Day’s. He is not a Catholic, but he contributed to the Catholic Worker in New York for many years. He told me that Dorothy Day was the real thing. He also told me that she was tough as nails, which is surprising given her pacifism. But Dorothy Day was the real thing–unflinching in terms of Liturgy, faith and her hallmark, social justice.

An important component of Dorothy Day’s exemplary faith was pacifism. But her pacifism was not the result of sentimentality or liberalism. It was the product of vivacious faith, strong intellectual formation and experience in hospitality to the poor and forsaken. A truly brilliant and beautiful article on Dorothy Day written by Andrew Hamilton, which extrapolates the foundations of her pacifism, appeared at Eureka Street. I post it here in full:

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A Consistent Ethic of Life

Last updated on: October 23, 2007 at 5:03 pm By Morning's Minion

As Catholics, we believe that the dignity of the human person is paramount, as each person is made in the image and likeness of God, a God who shared our human form. Every human being is intrinsically valuable. In the public sphere, we are called upon to act on our beliefs and promote the gospel of life, a holistic and encompassing ethic. Things tend to go awry when people try to compartmentalize life issues, and align the gospel of life with various political parties or movements. Nowhere is this more true than with the abortion issue.

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The Concreteness of Spirituality

Last updated on: April 19, 2017 at 9:52 pm By Gerald L. Campbell

No one in America, or so it seems, can escape the ubiquitous impact of cynicism and distrust, violence and fear, intemperance and injustice, and the isolation and aloneness that ravages so much of our national life. Statistics on homelessness, substance abuse, youth violence, corruption within the family, and the litany of social and economic inequities have long told this tale but only through numbers.

Yet lurking in the shadows lies the specter of the autonomous individual. Anthropological atomism is embedded in American culture, and it acts as the wellspring of a spiritual alienation that rages unabated like a firestorm across the land. Its alluring dynamic fragments and distorts the nation’s institutions. It corrupts the lives of present and future generations. In every respect, its impact constitutes a serious intellectual, moral, and cultural challenge to an integral America.

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Quote of the Week

Last updated on: October 16, 2007 at 10:38 am By Henry Karlson

In this situation, what can we do and what ought we to do? Let us begin by noting some basic truths. It is impossible to overcome terrorism, illegal violence detached from morality, by force alone. It is indeed true that the defense of the rule of law against those who seek to destroy it must sometimes employ violence. This element of force must be precisely calculated, and its goal must always be the protection of the law. An absolute pacifism that refused to grant the law any effective means for its enforcement would be a capitulation to injustice. It would sanction the seizure of power by this injustice and would surrender the world to the dictatorship of force; we reflected briefly on this at the beginning of this essay. But in order for force to be employed by law and not itself become unjust, it must submit to strict criteria that are recognizable by all. It must pay heed to the causes of terrorism, which often has it sources in injustices against which no effective action is taken. This is why the system of law must endeavor to use all available means to clear up any situations of injustice. Above all, it is important to contribute a measure of forgiveness, in order to break the cycle of violence. Where the principle of “an eye for an eye” is applied without pity, it is impossible to escape the power of that cycle. Gestures of a humanity that breaks through it by seeking the human person in one’s foe and appealing to his humanity are necessary, even where they seem at first glance to be a waste of time.

In all these cases, it is important to prevent one single power from presenting itself as the guardian of the law, for it is all too easy for one-sided interests to come into play, making it harder to keep justice in view. An urgent requirement is a real ius gentium, a “law of nations,” without disproportionate hegemonies and the actions to which these lead. Only so can it remain clear that the cause at state is the protection of the rule of law on behalf of everyone, even of those who are fighting on the other side, so to speak. It was this that made the Second World War a convincing enterprise, and it was this that created a genuine peace between former enemies.

–Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), “Searching for Peace: Tensions and Dangers” in Values in a Time of Upheaval. Trans. Brian McNeil (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), 106-107.

The Principle of the Antichrist in Balthasar’s Theo-Drama

Last updated on: October 15, 2007 at 7:08 pm By Henry Karlson

If the Good, the Truth, and the Beautiful are One through self-sacrificial love, then an explicit rejection of one is an implicit rejection of all. Of course, this implicit connection is most often not understood by the one who says No to one. Indeed, this implicit No to all of them is hardly apparent to most Christians. But if that No is lived out to its final conclusion, the explicit No to one will become an explicit No to all. In this fashion, Hans Urs Von Balthasar understands the ramifications of the post-Christian No to Christ as leading to the “anti-Trinitarian” standard of the powers of evil, a standard which will be fully revealed and released upon the face of the earth once they have culminated in the production of the Antichrist. (more…)