Political Philosophy and Revelation

A collection of Fr. James Schall's recent essays, Political Philosophy and Revelation offers a learned, erudite, and coherent statement on the relationship between reason and revelation in the modern world. It addresses political philosophy in the context of an awareness of other humane and practical sciences, including history, literature, economics, theology, ethics and metaphysics.

Today, revelation and reason are often thought to be in opposition to each other. This book looks at arguments and evidence for a more consistent reading of our experience and thought, one that would include the revelational contributions and the philosophy and politics it inspires. This is done in accord with "the Catholic understanding of freedom and reason." To see these connections, Schall looks to the readings of Plato to illustrate how revelation addresses itself to reason.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

"These essays are a cause for celebration. For over fifty years, James Schall has been exploring the nature of political things in relation to the problem of reason and revelation. Whether he is reflecting on the fate of Socrates, diagnosing the ills of modernity, or simply wondering about the location of the best city, he never wavers in his pursuit of of the truth of what is. His work remains essential reading for all those who seek a liberal education. Besides, what's not to like about a book that includes Plato, Charlie Brown, Tolkein, Solzhenitsyn, and Benedict XVI?"

-William P. Haggerty, associate professor of philosophy, Gannon University and former editor of the Maritain Newsletter

"No one has thought more seriously about the relationship between the three "architectonic" sciences that are philosophy, political philosophy, and theology than Father James V. Schall. In crisp and learned essays he shows that philosophy and political philosophy are more themselves - more in touch with the nature of reality - because of the need to think about revelation. . . To read Schall is also to confront his engagement with St. Thomas, Plato, Aristotle, Chesterton, Leo Strauss, C.S. Lewis, and sundry other authors who become our interlocutors, too. This volume is an intellectual feast and a welcome antidote to the ideological subversion of reality."

-Daniel J. Mahoney, Augustine Chair in Distinguished Scholarship, Assumption College

"With this collection of essays, we are given the distillation of a lifetime's pondering on what it is to be a political animal that is somehow incomplete, a being that needs revelation to be truly happy. . . Schall, like the authors he admires, makes us take delight in truth. It is a gift of this teacher to show his readers that we should still be 'surprised by joy.' Schall lets us see that it is good to be a creature, especially if one is the rational creature that has the gift that is capax omnium."

-Dr. Susan Orr Traffas, Benedictine College

"This book is a collection of Schall's recent essays. . . It should be of interest to all learned Catholics, political theorists of almost any stripe, and anyone curious about the place of religion in the modern world."

-Richard Avramenko, associate professor of political science, University of Wisconsin-Madison