The Political Problem of Religious Pluralism
Kozinski, Thaddeus J.
(2012-07-10) Lexington Books. Kindle Edition.
"There is no reason MacIntyre’s political prescription should not include a large-scale, Thomistic-Catholic constituted state analogous to the political order of medieval Christendom but fit for and attainable by citizens in modern nation-states." (p. 237).
I am sure that quote would give most non Catholics the creeps and get me classed as some kind of chauvinist, but it is the only one I'm proffering from a hard working book which studies three greats: Rawls, Maritain and MacIntyre, plus a goodly number of other respectable thinkers looking at political order and pluralism. Don't expect much more out of me, because it is the one and only book of this genre which I have ever read. Nonetheless, it has my recommendation.
Much of what I have been reading lately faces the issue of pluralism and strategies for accommodating it, but badly. As applied, the notion of religious liberty is really one of those accommodations to a liberalism which finds no acceptable model in Kozinski's study. Kozinski expresses the hope that MacIntyre may still have enough life and hope in him to think through the necessary revisions of his better-than-most but still-wanting thesis. If Hilaire Belloc were around I'm guessing he'd applaud the idea of rediscovering the political order of medieval Christendom for today. Kozinski might even be able to convince him that it is thinkable or doable at the level of nation state.
If you start reading and thinking in this vein, you soon come to the realization that the traditionalist position within the Church is far from some kind of monarchist nostalgia. Maybe it's time for one tiny calendar adjustment to put Christ the King Sunday back where it was and take on our world. This time, instead of engaging the "militant Protestantism" of the day, we can face office against a "militant secularism" which knows neither truth nor value because it denies the Lamb upon His Throne. [As you may have guessed, I'm still pining for Constantine and the positive fruits from such a rule.]
Much of what I have been reading lately faces the issue of pluralism and strategies for accommodating it, but badly. As applied, the notion of religious liberty is really one of those accommodations to a liberalism which finds no acceptable model in Kozinski's study. Kozinski expresses the hope that MacIntyre may still have enough life and hope in him to think through the necessary revisions of his better-than-most but still-wanting thesis. If Hilaire Belloc were around I'm guessing he'd applaud the idea of rediscovering the political order of medieval Christendom for today. Kozinski might even be able to convince him that it is thinkable or doable at the level of nation state.
If you start reading and thinking in this vein, you soon come to the realization that the traditionalist position within the Church is far from some kind of monarchist nostalgia. Maybe it's time for one tiny calendar adjustment to put Christ the King Sunday back where it was and take on our world. This time, instead of engaging the "militant Protestantism" of the day, we can face office against a "militant secularism" which knows neither truth nor value because it denies the Lamb upon His Throne. [As you may have guessed, I'm still pining for Constantine and the positive fruits from such a rule.]
PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI
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