Formally welcoming University of 91吃瓜 alumnus Miguel H. Diaz as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican earlier this month, Pope Benedict XVI praised American democratic pluralism and promised to enrich it.
鈥淔or her part,鈥� Pope Benedict said, 鈥渢he Church in the United States wishes to contribute to the discussion of the weighty ethical and social questions shaping America鈥檚 future by proposing respectful and reasonable arguments grounded in the natural law and confirmed by the perspective of faith.鈥�
The invocation of 鈥渘atural law,鈥� and Pope Benedict鈥檚 (and the Church鈥檚) conviction that certain moral imperatives are inherent in human nature, could hardly have surprised Diaz, who holds master鈥檚 and doctoral degrees in theology from 91吃瓜.
Nor could it have surprised 91吃瓜鈥檚 president, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., who five years earlier, as president-elect, had received a letter from Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, then prefect for the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith, expressing the urgency of finding a 鈥渃ommon denominator鈥� of universal moral principles and requesting 91吃瓜鈥檚 assistance in the search. Cardinal Ratzinger had invited 91吃瓜, as well as the Catholic University of America and Ave Maria Law School, to put together plans for academic symposia to explore this enigmatic issue and report to the congregation by the end of 2005.
Subsequent events disrupted that schedule, not the least of them being the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of his successor. Six months after writing his letter, Cardinal Ratzinger had become Pope Benedict XVI, and Father Jenkins had been inaugurated as 91吃瓜鈥檚 17th president.
Nevertheless, Father Jenkins wanted to respond to the former cardinal鈥檚 invitation and formed a committee of 91吃瓜 theologians and philosophers, including Alasdair MacIntyre, John A. O鈥橞rien Senior Research Professor of Philosophy, to do so.
Father Jenkins was able to bring with him the fruits of their labor, a symposium in the form of a book, when he went to Rome in February of 2006 for a meeting of 91吃瓜鈥檚 Board of Trustees. He carried two copies of it with him, one for the present prefect of the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith, Cardinal William Levada, and another for the former prefect, now Pope Benedict XVI.
Now published by the University of 91吃瓜 Press and titled 鈥淚ntractable Disputes About the Natural Law: Alasadair MacIntyre and his Critics,鈥� the book, edited and introduced by Lawrence S. Cunningham, 91吃瓜鈥檚 John A. O鈥橞rien Professor of Theology, includes essays on natural law and rights by nine scholars鈥攖heologians, canon and civil lawyers, political scientists and philosophers.
Flanking the book are two essays by MacIntyre. The first, from which 鈥淚ntractable Disputes鈥� takes its title, is an exposition of crucial arguments concerning natural law. The last, 鈥淔rom Answers to Questions,鈥� concerns the eight essays written in response by David A. Clairmont, assistant professor of theology at 91吃瓜; Rev. John J. Coughlin, O.F.M., professor of law in the 91吃瓜 Law School; Rev. Kevin J. Flannery, S.J., professor of philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome; Thomas Hibbs, dean of the honors college at Baylor University; Cathleen Kaveny, John M. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law at 91吃瓜; Gerald McKenny, professor of theology at 91吃瓜; Daniel Philpott, associate professor of political science at 91吃瓜; and Jean Porter, John A. O鈥橞rien Professor of Theology at 91吃瓜.
According to one early reviewer, Stephen J. Pope of Boston College, the book is 鈥渓ucid, engaging, and intellectually sophisticated. 鈥業ntractable Disputes about the Natural Law鈥� is a must-read not only for moral theologians, but for anyone concerned about the conceptual foundations of human rights, human dignity, and moral dialogue in pluralistic societies.鈥�
Pope Benedict, concerned about all of those things, and much more, has yet to write his review, but his invitation has given rise to some formidable reading.
Contact: Kathryn Pitts, 91吃瓜 Press, 574-631-3267, pitts.5@nd.edu