James V. Schall

James V. Schall is a treasure of the Catholic intellectual tradition. A prolific author and essayist, Schall readily connects with his readers on sundry topics from war to friendship, philosophy, politics, and to ordinary everyday living. In his newest work, ""The Mind That Is Catholic"", he presents a retrospective collection of his academic and literary essays written in the past fifty years. In each essay, he exemplifies the Catholic mind at its best - seeing the whole, leaving nothing out. The 'Catholic mind' seeks to recognize a consistent and coherent relation between the solid things of reason and the definite facts of revelation. Its thought aims to understand how they belong together in a fruitful manner, each profiting from the other; each being what it is. The Catholic mind is not a confusion of disparate sources. It respects and makes distinctions. It sees where things separate. It is in fact delighted by what is. This delightful book is not polemical, but contemplative in mood. Schall shares with readers a mind that is constantly struck by how things fit together when seen in full light. He brings to his work a lifetime of study in political philosophy, a wide-ranging discipline that, in many ways, is the most immediate context in which reason and revelation meet. ""The Mind That Is Catholic"" respects what can be known by faith alone. But it also considers what is known by faith to be itself intelligible to a mind actively thinking on political and philosophical things. The whole, at the risk of its own contradiction, does not exclude the intelligibility of what is revealed.

In Roman Catholic Political Philosophy author James V. Schall tries to demonstrate that Roman Catholicism and political philosophy—-revelation and reason—are not contradictory. It is his contention that political philosophy, the primary focus of the book, asks certain questions about human purpose and destiny that it cannot, by itself, answer. Revelation is the natural complement to these important questions about God, human being, and the world. Schall manages to avoid polemicism or triumphalism as he shows that revelation and political thought contribute to a fuller understanding of each other.

In Roman Catholic Political Philosophy author James V. Schall tries to demonstrate that Roman Catholicism and political philosophy—-revelation and reason—are not contradictory. It is his contention that political philosophy, the primary focus of the book, asks certain questions about human purpose and destiny that it cannot, by itself, answer. Revelation is the natural complement to these important questions about God, human being, and the world. Schall manages to avoid polemicism or triumphalism as he shows that revelation and political thought contribute to a fuller understanding of each other.

Journalist, essayist, biographer, writer, philosopher and debater, Gilbert Keith Chesterton is regarded by many as one of the most gifted thinkers of the 20th century. In this book Father James V. Schall showcases a witty series of reflective essays prompted by the work of Chesterton.

How do politics and religion point to each other in a way that respects the integrity of both? Why are reason and revelation not in absolute opposition to each other? Political philosophy asks questions such as these that seem to call forth responses that do not come from politics alone. In seeking the answers, James V. Schall presents, in a convincing and articulate manner, the revelational contribution to political philosophy, particularly that which comes out of the Roman Catholic tradition. In At the Limits of Political Philosophy he fills the need for a sustained account of the higher reaches of political philosophy, where questions arising within the discipline bring it to its own limits. In the first section of the book, Schall points out what Leo Strauss called the “brilliant errors” that have arisen in the history of political philosophy and provides sober responses to those errors. He insists that neither the reality of evil nor the possibility of good within the city is completely explained within political philosophy, and he calls on political philosophy to acknowledge and respect its own boundaries. Schall maintains that a noncontradictory unity exists among three aspects of political philosophy - the problem of evil, the problem of virtue, and the problem of contemplation of the highest things. Thus in the second section of his book he moves to a discussion of “imperfect and dire conditions of human existence”: death, evil, suffering, injustice, hell. He espouses a “political realism” that understands them to be permanent realities in this world, realities that cannot be eliminated by human means. The third section treats the death of Socrates, the death of Christ, and the reality and meaning of happiness and of virtue. Schall examines the two deaths to show how ultimate issues arise within particular political instances and how they lead people to ask those questions about happiness and virtue that reveal the higher calling of human life. He maintains that political philosophy cannot be consistent with itself and not think about these higher realities. Finally, Schall addresses science, law, and friendship, which raise questions of truth, good, and love that are not adequately understood if viewed only in their political contexts. These are ideas that point to the deepest meaning of human experience; their uncommon importance requires political philosophy to consider them.

The engaging and inquiring mind of French philosopher Jacques Maritain reflected on subjects as varied as art and ethics, theology and psychology, and history and metaphysics. Maritain's work on the theoretical groundings of politics arose from his diverse studies. In this book, distinguished theologian and political scientist James V. Schall explores Maritain's political philosophy, demonstrating that Maritain understood society, state, and government in the tradition of Aristotle and Aquinas, of natural law and human rights and duties. Schall pays particular attention to the ways in which evil appears in political forms, and how this evil can be morally dealt with. Schall's study will be of great importance to students and scholars of political science, philosophy, and theology.

This text is about intellectual life, its spirit, conditions and methods.

A collection of ten articles analyzing the shifting relationship between religion and politics from a historical perspective. Contributors include George W. Carey, Paul Seabury, Donald W. Brandon, John W. Cooper, James V. Schall, S. J., Burton M. Leiser, David F. Forte, Richard G. Stevens, Edwin D. Johnston, and Jerome J. Hanus. The articles are controversial, but united in their viewpoint that antagonism between government and religion is neither new nor necessary.