Ever Ancient, Ever New Ruminations on the City, the Soul, and the Church

by Fortin, Ernest L.; Foley, Michael P.

• ISBN13: 9780742559196
• ISBN10: 074255919X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-10-07
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

More than any other thinker in the twentieth century, Ernest L. Fortin, A.A. (1923-2002) resuscitated the study of political philosophy for Catholic theology. Fortin's interests and accomplishments were vast, ranging from the Church Fathers, to Dante and Aquinas, to modern rights, American democracy, and Catholic social justice. His dispassionate scholarly heft was animated by a pressing drive to understand and rise above the crises of our times, and it was applied with a gingerly and accessible touch. Consequently, Fortin's writings are among the most lucid, perceptive, and enjoyable that one will ever read. Ever Ancient Ever New is the fourth and final volume of Ernest Fortin's collected essays, compiled and edited after his death by his archivist and student Michael Foley. While it echoes the themes of the earlier three volumes-showcasing the essays that made Fortin such an authority in his field-Ever Ancient Ever New also includes articles never before published as well as articles on topics not represented in the earlier collections. Ever Ancient Ever New is indispensable for anyone wishing to continue their education in the wit and wisdom of Ernest Fortin or to begin learning from him for the first time.

Author Biography

Michael P. Foley is assistant professor of patristics in the Great Texts Program at Baylor University

Table of Contents

Foreword: The Propaedeutic Theology of Ernest L. Fortin	p. xi
About this Volume	p. xxix
Acknowledgments	p. xxxi
The Early Church and the Wisdom of the Greeks
The Rebirth of Patristic Studies	p. 3
The Church Fathers and the Transmission of the Christian Message	p. 13
The Nature of the Christian Message	p. 31
The "Rhetoric" of the Church Fathers	p. 47
Saint Augustine and the Neoplatonic Doctrine of the Soul: Letter 137.11	p. 59
The City of God	p. 71
Philosophical Culture in the Middle Ages
Translatio Studii	p. 85
Thomas Aquinas as a Political Thinker	p. 93
Dante and Averroism	p. 103
Biblical Faith and Modern Philosophy
The New Moral Theology: Genesis and Present State	p. 113
Christianity and the Enlightenment: A Foreword	p. 131
The Enlightenment and the Church: The Changing Configurations	p. 137
A Tocquevillian Perspective on Religion and the American Regime	p. 147
Humanae Vitae's Silver Jubilee: Twenty-Five Years Later	p. 163
Men of Letters: The Little-Known Correspondence Between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin	p. 167
Catholic Education: Its Past and its Future
Why I Am Not a Thomist	p. 175
Philosophy and Democratic Education	p. 183
The New Catholic College	p. 189
An Academic Approach to the Teaching of Theology	p. 199
Moral Values	p. 205
Ecumenical Dialogue
The Anguish of Unity: A Roman Catholic Perspective	p. 211
The Ecumenical Venture	p. 217
Holiness of the Church and Ministerial Holiness	p. 229
Christian Mission and Spirituality: Roman Catholics and Methodists in Dialogue	p. 237
Ecumenism-Where Do We Go from Here?	p. 245
Selected Responses and Remarks
Public Theology: A Response to Max Stackhouse	p. 253
Religious Consciousness: A Response to Robert Bellah	p. 261
The Enlightenment and Freedom: Critical Remarks on Ernest van den Haag's "The Desolation of Reality"	p. 267
Religion and the American Regime	p. 273
Comment on Hughes Regarding the Strauss-Voegelin Correspondence	p. 277
Aristotle and the Sociobiologists: An Old Controversy Revived	p. 281
Selected Reviews
Augustine and the Limits of Politics	p. 289
The Philosophy of the Church Fathers	p. 292
Emergence of the Christian Tradition	p. 297
The Crisis of Political Understanding	p. 300
The Political Thought of William of Ockham	p. 301
Justice, Peace, and Human Rights	p. 303
Facetiae Fortinianae: The Wit of Ernest Fortin
Pep Rallies	p. 311
Epilogue: An Intellectual Autobiography	p. 319
Bibliography of Fortin's Works	p. 329
Index	p. 343
About the Author	p. 353
About the Editor	p. 354
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