John Peter Kenney

Saint Augustine by garry wills penguin books, 152 pages, $19.95 Augustinophobia, the fear and loathing of Augustine, is a long-standing malady. The condition has never been confined only to the secular despisers of Christianity. Indeed, in this century, symptoms have been observed among . . . . Continue Reading »

The Dying of the Light: The Disengagement of Colleges and Universities from Their Christian Churches By James Tunstead Burtchaell Eerdmans. 888 pp. $45 When I entered Bowdoin in the autumn of 1970, I came as a Catholic student to what I thought was a Congregationalist college. I recall sitting at . . . . Continue Reading »

Contending with Modernity: Catholic Higher Education in the Twentieth Century By Philip Gleason Oxford University Press, 434 pages, $35 We Catholics are united in the faith, but infinitely disunited in almost everything else,” said John Lancaster Spalding, Bishop of Peoria, around the turn of . . . . Continue Reading »

The Roman Catholic Church called it a sin. The American Medical Association described it as unethical. C. Everett Koop, the former Surgeon General, said it was dangerous to society’s health. But Oregonians, enhancing their reputations as Western mavericks, have apparently ignored the advice of . . . . Continue Reading »