The Search for an American Public Theology: The Contribution of John Courtney Murray

By Robert W. McElroy

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809130513
• ISBN13: 9780809130511
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Paulist Pr
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

The Search for an American Public Theology

This has absolutely got to be the best book I've ever read as to explaining how America and the West got into the situation it is in today. Robert W.McElroy does an excellent job of distilling Murray's thought. Murray explains developments from the Middle Ages to the present, showing how America and the West lost the consensus based on the shared belief in natural law. Without this shared belief in self-evident truths there is no basis for argument and compromise. Today we have a culture which believes everything is relative and no truths are self evident and so, as Murray feared, our society is hopelessly divided with no basis for morality. Alasdair MacIntyre arrives at similar conclusions, apparently without any influence from the earlier thought of John Courtney Murray, in his book "After Virtue" (Third Edition).

Religious Liberty and Natural Law

I cannot recommend this book more highly to those interested in church/state relations, especially from a Catholic perspective. John Courtney Murray had a profound influence on the notion of Religious Liberty found in Dignitatis Humanae and in other documents of Vatican II. This work, by Robert W. McElroy, gives a very methodical, broad, and clear review of Murray's social philosophy. It is the only work, to date, that encompasses Murray's whole vision, and explains for the layman some of the more difficult notions of the Natural Law. Since Murray published few books, and wrote articles primarily for periodicals, this overview is invaluable. Do not expect to find a liberal or conservative slant, here. Murray's work seems to find a remarkable middle-way that is neither diluted nor duplicitous.