Nicanor Austriaco

Evolutionary theory has raised numerous disputed questions among Catholics and other Christians concerning the relationship between faith and reason and between religion and science. Thomistic Evolution shows that the Thomistic intellectual tradition provides insightful and compelling responses to these questions. This second edition includes a revised account of human evolution, an expanded defense of the the historicity of an original human being, and a new chapter in response to criticisms of the first edition of Thomistic Evolution. Along with its companion website (www.thomisticevolution.org), Thomistic Evolution seeks to remedy the poverty of knowledge and understanding regarding Thomistic responses to disputed questions in science and religion. The novelty and brilliance of the Thomistic approach to evolution will surprise believers and skeptics alike, transcending and reconciling the dichotomies that shape the contemporary science and religion debate.

We need a vision of how medicine might serve the good of the whole human person: the body’s health, but also the health of that “piece of divinity in us.” Medicine, so long as you don’t need it, is a tangential part of life, just one more profession among others. Until that is, a loved one suffers an accident or falls sick. Then, suddenly, medicine is quite literally, a matter of life or death. Medicine is also big business. Doctors have been reclassified as “service providers,” and patients are “clients.” Such commercialism breeds false incentives and inequalities, even in nations. We need a vision of how medicine might serve the good of the whole human person: the body’s health, but also the health of that “piece of divinity in us.” We need love and reverence for humans as they are, not humans as technology may someday engineer them to be. Jesus, the healer from Nazareth, showed what it means to love the imperfect, the frail, the average. The glory of the medical profession is that it is dedicated to these works of mercy. In today’s money-driven healthcare industry, such tasks are often poorly rewarded. Yet they’re at the heart of medicine’s original mission. Also in this issue: original poetry by Suzanne Harlan Heyd; reviews of new books by Barbara Ehrenreich, Ryan T. Anderson, Beth Macy, and David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé; and art by Tim Lowly, Michelangelo, Julian Peters, Wanjin Gim, Scott Goldsmith, Jan Mostaert, Suleiman Mansour, Cécile Massie, Peter Doig, Erin Hanson, and Jason Landsel. Plough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to put their faith into action. Each issue brings you in-depth articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art to help you put Jesus’ message into practice and find common cause with others.