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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 9/27/07 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
October 17, 2004 Jean Peerenboom column: By Jean Peerenboom The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay religious studies teacher has
written "Defending Human Dignity: John Paul II and Political Realism"
(Brazos Press, $19.99).
It is a serious, scholarly look at the pope's philosophy and how it
developed. Jeffreys says he is a fan of the pope's, something that grew
as he worked on the book.
The author talks about political realism, consequentialism and John
Paul's "nuanced response to political realism." He writes, "For most of
his adult life, he has opposed ethics based on calculating consequences.
"As a young priest and later bishop of Krakow, he confronted both the
Nazi and Soviet regimes, two of the 20th century's most powerful totalitarian
governments, both of which repeatedly appealed to consequences to justify
their crimes. In plays and philosophical works, he subtly criticized the
Marxist materialism that played such a big part in Soviet reasoning.
"As pope in the 1980s, John Paul II attacked the utilitarian reasoning
justifying abortion, euthanasia and population control. Adopting the memorable
phrase, 'the culture of death,' he warned that crass appeals to consequences
undermine our modern concern for human rights."
In the 1990s, the pope criticized nationalism and the free-market system.
He condemned terrorists for using violence to correct social injustice.
"In each of these discussions, John Paul II has been an important voice
opposing consequentialist reasoning," Jeffreys writes.
But his opposition is not always negative. He also offered a compelling
ethical alternative grounded in the dignity of the person. "Developed
in conversation with modern philosophy, it rejects any attempt to dehumanize
human persons," he writes.
Paul Griffiths, of the University of Illinois at Chicago, says, "The
greatest strength of the book is that it sees the need to explain the
grounding of John Paul II's political project in his philosophical one,
and as a result gives the best account to date of John Paul II's use and
transformation of Max Scheler's thought. The book is worth its price for
that alone. But in addition, this unusually accomplished first book makes
dramatically clear what the thought of the present pope has to offer to
all Christians — a vision of how peace ought properly to be sought."
Another philosopher, the Rev. W. Norris Clarke of Fordham University,
adds, "Drawing on a thorough knowledge of John Paul II's philosophy, of
which he gives a fine initial exposition, and a wide reading in contemporary
political theory, the author shows the profound practical relevance of
the pope's central ideas on the dignity of the individual person, the
necessity of taking into account spiritual values and not just material
and economic ones in making political decisions and the guiding ideals
of a family of nations and a civilization based on concern for the common
human good rather than a competition of power centers."
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