Description
Book SynopsisThis is a collection of essays that address some of the most fundamental human questions through the lenses of philosophy, literature, religion, politics and theology.
Trade ReviewOffers challenging and often brilliant examples of what moral and political reflection must be today, as the history of human striving for meaning seems to be finding its end in the satisfactions of technology..... -- Ralph Hancock, Brigham Young University
For the authors in this volume—as it was for Tocqueville and Nietzsche before them—a homogeneously democratic epoch would be one permeated by narcissistic self-satisfaction and moral degradation. Anyone troubled by these unintended byproducts of the democratic age—and hoping to find resources with which to resist them—will relish the serious and sober essays collected in this volume. * First Things *
The collection... describe[s] interesting new directions that liberated and pluralistic scholarship can take.... Individual essays... resonate deeply with readers' own academic projects.... There are many good reads here. * American Political Science Review *
With the Applications of Political Theory series, professors Peter Lawler and Dale McConkey offer a fine assorttment of essays in two complementary volumes, making a considerable contribution to that dialogue...Together, they constitute an impressive cross-section of research and reflection friendly to saving a place for religion in American politics. * Perspectives on Political Science *
Lively, thought-provoking essays on the relevance of Christianity and classical thought to the crisis of modernity and the challenges of postmodernism. The voices of Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Tocqueville, Solzhenitsyn, Manent, O'Connor, Percy, Murray, and Strauss transcend both secular optimism and pessimism in their encounter with the American identity and Kojève's "end of history." -- Ann Hartle, Emory University
Offers challenging and often brilliant examples of what moral and political reflection must be today, as the history of human striving for meaning seems to be finding its end in the satisfactions of technology. -- Ralph Hancock, Brigham Young University
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Autonomy and Community in Aristotle Chapter 2 Shakespeare in the Original Klingon: Star Trek and the End of History Chapter 3 On Spiritual Crisis, Globalization, and Planetary Rule Chapter 4 Stoics and Christians: Walker Percy and Flannery O'Connor on the Moral Contradictions of Southern Culture Chapter 5 Leo Strauss, America, and the End of History Chapter 6 End of History 2000 Chapter 7 The Ascent from Modernity: Solzhenitsyn on "Repentance and Self-Limitation in the Life of Nations" Chapter 8 Trevanian's Shibumi: The Perfect Postmodern Tale Chapter 9 Aristoteles Revivus: Pierre Manent's Reflections on "The Contemporary Political World" Chapter 10 A Postmodern Augustinian Recovery of Political Judgment Chapter 11 Tocqueville, Girard, and the Mystique of Anti-Modernism Chapter 12 Christianity's Epicurean Temptation: Reflections on Kenneth Craycraft's The American Myth of Religious Freedom Chapter 13 Flannery O'Connor's Teaching on the Nature of Evil in " The Lame Shall Enter First"
