Various

Suicide Wesley J. Smith gives no reasons for his lamentations concerning the increasing frequency of euthanasia and assisted suicide (“Medicinal Murder,” May). Catholics realize that the suffering we endure should be offered with Christ’s in atonement for our sins and the sins of others. We, . . . . Continue Reading »

The Promise of Christian Humanism: Thomas Aquinas on Hope by Dominic F. Doyle Crossroad, 248 pages, $34.95 Dominic F. Doyle offers a creative defense of the Christian humanism of Gaudium et Spes , which seeks to blend two ideas that critics such as the liberal theologian Gordon Kaufman have not . . . . Continue Reading »

Auctoritas Patrum?: The Reception of the Church Fathers in Puritanism by Ann-Stephane Schäfer Peter Lang, 449 pages, $109.95 It is well known that the New England Puritan divines took great pride in their libraries. John Winthrop was reported to have one thousand volumes, and the Mather . . . . Continue Reading »

Divine Action Ross McCullough dissects the God-of-the-gaps objection (“God and the Gaps,” April), which for too long has functioned as a smear rather than a serious argument at the border between science and theology. It’s unfortunate that we have to be reminded that no (orthodox) Christian . . . . Continue Reading »

Fighting Eugenics In “My Brittle Bones” (March), Philip C. Burcham makes the excellent point that decisions related to genetic illnesses are not medical decisions; they are social decisions. Recently our local community witnessed, via a carefully manipulated media campaign, the suicide of a . . . . Continue Reading »

Menachem Begin: A Life by Avi Shilon translated by Danielle Zilberberg and Yoram Sharett Yale, 584 pages, $40 The early decades of Israeli politics were dominated by Labor Zionists, mainly secular Ashkenazis (Jews from central and eastern Europe) whose goal was to create a New Jew based upon a . . . . Continue Reading »

The One Thomas More by Travis Curtright CUA, 231 pages, $64.95 Pius XII went from being a “righteous Gentile” to an anti-Semite. The “man for all seasons,” we’ve recently learned, is really a “hater.” He had an admirable start, as an urbane, witty reformer, the author of humanist . . . . Continue Reading »

Elect Voters At the outset of his thoughtful “The Evangelical Voter” (February), John G. West complains that the Romney campaign did not do more to cultivate Evangelical support while it did establish “outreach groups” for Catholics and Jews. But this was pure show—a not-too-vigorous . . . . Continue Reading »

Roe’s Legacy While Jon Shields’ provocative piece (“Roe’s Pro-Life Legacy,” January) credits the Supreme Court decision with mobilizing the pro-life side to begin “changing the hearts and minds” of those on the pro-choice side, I believe he understates the power of the supporters of . . . . Continue Reading »

Nicholas of Cusa: A Companion to His Life and His Times by Morimichi Watanabe edited by Gerald Christianson and Thomas M. Izbicki Ashgate, 426 pages, $134.95 Early twentieth-century Kantian Ernst Cassirer once dubbed Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464) “the first modern philosopher,” and . . . . Continue Reading »