The Disintegrating Conscience And The Decline Of Modernity

Author : Steven D. Smith
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780268206918
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.10/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Disintegrating Conscience and the Decline of Modernity written by Steven D. Smith and published by . This book was released on 2023-10-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book considers how the modern concept of "conscience" turns the historic commitment on its head, in a way that underlies the decadence of modern society. Steven D. Smith's books are always anticipated with great interest by scholars, jurists, and citizens who see his work on foundational questions surrounding law and religion as shaping the debate in profound ways. Now, in The Disintegrating Conscience and the Decline of Modernity, Smith takes as his starting point Jacques Barzun's provocative assertion that "the modern era" is coming to an end. Smith considers the question of decline by focusing on a single theme--conscience--that has been central to much of what has happened in Western politics, law, and religion over the past half-millennium. Rather than attempting to follow that theme step-by-step through five hundred years, the book adopts an episodic and dramatic approach by focusing on three main figures and particularly portentous episodes: first, Thomas More's execution for his conscientious refusal to take an oath mandated by Henry VIII; second, James Madison's contribution to Virginia law in removing the proposed requirement of religious toleration in favor of freedom of conscience; and, third, William Brennan's pledge to separate his religious faith from his performance as a Supreme Court justice. These three episodes, Smith suggests, reflect in microcosm decisive turning points at which Western civilization changed from what it had been in premodern times to what it is today. A commitment to conscience, Smith argues, has been a central and in some ways defining feature of modern Western civilization, and yet in a crucial sense conscience in the time of Brennan and today has come to mean almost the opposite of what it meant to Thomas More. By scrutinizing these men and episodes, the book seeks to illuminate subtle but transformative changes in the commitment to conscience--changes that helped to bring Thomas More's world to an end and that may also be contributing to the disintegration of (per Barzun) "the modern era."

Author : Steven D. Smith
Publisher : University of Notre Dame Pess
ISBN 13 : 0268206902
Total Pages : 215 pages
Book Rating : 4.01/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Disintegrating Conscience and the Decline of Modernity written by Steven D. Smith and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2023-10-15 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book considers how the modern concept of “conscience” turns the historic commitment on its head, in a way that underlies the decadence of modern society. Steven D. Smith’s books are always anticipated with great interest by scholars, jurists, and citizens who see his work on foundational questions surrounding law and religion as shaping the debate in profound ways. Now, in The Disintegrating Conscience and the Decline of Modernity, Smith takes as his starting point Jacques Barzun’s provocative assertion that “the modern era” is coming to an end. Smith considers the question of decline by focusing on a single theme—conscience—that has been central to much of what has happened in Western politics, law, and religion over the past half-millennium. Rather than attempting to follow that theme step-by-step through five hundred years, the book adopts an episodic and dramatic approach by focusing on three main figures and particularly portentous episodes: first, Thomas More’s execution for his conscientious refusal to take an oath mandated by Henry VIII; second, James Madison’s contribution to Virginia law in removing the proposed requirement of religious toleration in favor of freedom of conscience; and, third, William Brennan’s pledge to separate his religious faith from his performance as a Supreme Court justice. These three episodes, Smith suggests, reflect in microcosm decisive turning points at which Western civilization changed from what it had been in premodern times to what it is today. A commitment to conscience, Smith argues, has been a central and in some ways defining feature of modern Western civilization, and yet in a crucial sense conscience in the time of Brennan and today has come to mean almost the opposite of what it meant to Thomas More. By scrutinizing these men and episodes, the book seeks to illuminate subtle but transformative changes in the commitment to conscience—changes that helped to bring Thomas More’s world to an end and that may also be contributing to the disintegration of (per Barzun) “the modern era.”

Author : Brian Tabb
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.48/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Themelios, Volume 49, Issue 1 written by Brian Tabb and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2024-05-03 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Themelios is an international, evangelical, peer-reviewed theological journal that expounds and defends the historic Christian faith. Themelios is published three times a year online at The Gospel Coalition (http://thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/) and in print by Wipf and Stock. Its primary audience is theological students and pastors, though scholars read it as well. Themelios began in 1975 and was operated by RTSF/UCCF in the UK, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008. The editorial team draws participants from across the globe as editors, essayists, and reviewers. General Editor: Brian Tabb, Bethlehem College and Seminary Contributing Editor: D. A. Carson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Consulting Editor: Michael J. Ovey, Oak Hill Theological College Administrator: Andrew David Naselli, Bethlehem College and Seminary Book Review Editors: Jerry Hwang, Singapore Bible College; Alan Thompson, Sydney Missionary & Bible College; Nathan A. Finn, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; Hans Madueme, Covenant College; Dane Ortlund, Crossway; Jason Sexton, Golden Gate Baptist Seminary Editorial Board: Gerald Bray, Beeson Divinity School Lee Gatiss, Wales Evangelical School of Theology Paul Helseth, University of Northwestern, St. Paul Paul House, Beeson Divinity School Ken Magnuson, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Jonathan Pennington, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary James Robson, Wycliffe Hall Mark D. Thompson, Moore Theological College Paul Williamson, Moore Theological College Stephen Witmer, Pepperell Christian Fellowship Robert Yarbrough, Covenant Seminary

Author : John Witte, Jr.
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019760675X
Total Pages : 921 pages
Book Rating : 4.59/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Christianity and Law written by John Witte, Jr. and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023 with total page 921 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume tells the story of the interaction between Christianity and law-historically and today, in the traditional heartlands of Christianity and around the globe. Sixty new chapters by leading scholars provide authoritative and accessible accounts of foundational Christian teachings on law and legal thought over the past two millennia; the current interaction and contestation of law and Christianity on all continents; how Christianity shaped and was shaped by core public, private, penal, and procedural laws; various old and new forms of Christian canon law, natural law theory, and religious freedom norms; Christian teachings on fundamental principles of law and legal order; and Christian contributions to controversial legal issues. Together, the chapters make clear that Christianity and law have had a perennial and permanent influence on each other over time and across cultures, albeit with varying levels of intensity and effectiveness. This volume defines "Christianity" broadly to include Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox traditions and various denominations and schools of thought within them. It draws on Christian ideas and institutions, norms and practices, texts and titans to tell the story of Christianity's engagement with the world of law over the past two millennia. The volume also defines "law" broadly as the normative order of justice, power, and freedom. The chapters address natural laws of conscience, reason, and the Bible and positive laws enacted by states, churches, and voluntary associations. Several chapters focus on Christian engagement with specific types of law: canon law, family law, education law, constitutional law, criminal law, procedural law, and laws governing labor, tax, contracts, torts, property, and beyond. Other chapters take up cutting edge legal issues of racial justice, environmental care, migration, euthanasia, and (bio)technology as well as fundamental legal principles of liberty, dignity, equality, justice, equity, judgment, and solidarity.

Author : Steven D. Smith
Publisher : University of Notre Dame Pess
ISBN 13 : 0268201196
Total Pages : 349 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Fictions, Lies, and the Authority of Law written by Steven D. Smith and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2021-09-15 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fictions, Lies, and the Authority of Law discusses legal, political, and cultural difficulties that arise from the crisis of authority in the modern world. Is there any connection linking some of the maladies of modern life—“cancel culture,” the climate of mendacity in public and academic life, fierce conflicts over the Constitution, disputes over presidential authority? Fictions, Lies, and the Authority of Law argues that these diverse problems are all a consequence of what Hannah Arendt described as the disappearance of authority in the modern world. In this perceptive study, Steven D. Smith offers a diagnosis explaining how authority today is based in pervasive fictions and how this situation can amount to, as Arendt put it, “the loss of the groundwork of the world.” Fictions, Lies, and the Authority of Law considers a variety of problems posed by the paradoxical ubiquity and absence of authority in the modern world. Some of these problems are jurisprudential or philosophical in character; others are more practical and lawyerly—problems of presidential powers and statutory and constitutional interpretation; still others might be called existential. Smith’s use of fictions as his purchase for thinking about authority has the potential to bring together the descriptive and the normative and to think about authority as a useful hypothesis that helps us to make sense of the empirical world. This strikingly original book shows that theoretical issues of authority have important practical implications for the kinds of everyday issues confronted by judges, lawyers, and other members of society. The book is aimed at scholars and students of law, political science, and philosophy, but many of the topics it addresses will be of interest to politically engaged citizens.

Author : Ross Douthat
Publisher : Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1476785252
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.57/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Decadent Society written by Ross Douthat and published by Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2021-03-16 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times columnist and bestselling author of Bad Religion, a “clever and stimulating” (The New York Times Book Review) portrait of how our turbulent age is defined by dark forces seemingly beyond our control. The era of the coronavirus has tested America, and our leaders and institutions have conspicuously failed. That failure shouldn’t be surprising: Beneath social-media frenzy and reality-television politics, our era’s deep truths are elite incompetence, cultural exhaustion, and the flight from reality into fantasy. Casting a cold eye on these trends, The Decadent Society explains what happens when a powerful society ceases advancing—how the combination of wealth and technological proficiency with economic stagnation, political stalemate, and demographic decline creates a unique civilizational crisis. Ranging from the futility of our ideological debates to the repetitions of our pop culture, from the decline of sex and childbearing to the escapism of drug use, Ross Douthat argues that our age is defined by disappointment—by the feeling that all the frontiers are closed, that the paths forward lead only to the grave. Correcting both optimism and despair, Douthat provides an enlightening explanation of how we got here, how long our frustrations might last, and how, in renaissance or catastrophe, our decadence might ultimately end.

Author : Roger D. Masters
Publisher : University of Notre Dame Pess
ISBN 13 : 0268160112
Total Pages : 477 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Machiavelli, Leonardo, and the Science of Power written by Roger D. Masters and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2016-10-14 with total page 477 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, Niccolò Machiavelli's works have been viewed primarily with historical interest as analysis of the tactics used by immoral political officials. Roger D. Masters, a leading expert in the relationship between modern natural sciences and politics, argues boldly in this book that Machiavelli should be reconsidered as a major philosopher whose thought makes the wisdom of antiquity accessible to the modern (and post-modern) condition, and whose understanding of human nature is superior to that of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, or Mill. Central to Masters's claim is his discovery, based on previously untranslated documents, that Machiavelli knew and worked with Leonardo da Vinci between 1502-1507. An interdisciplinary tour de force, Machiavelli, Leonardo, and the Science of Power will challenge, perplex, and ultimately delight readers with its evocative story of the relationship between Machiavelli and da Vinci, their crucial roles in the emergence of modernity, and the vast implications this holds for contemporary life and society.

Author : Oswald Spengler
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 9780195066340
Total Pages : 500 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Decline of the West written by Oswald Spengler and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1991 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spengler's work describes how we have entered into a centuries-long "world-historical" phase comparable to late antiquity, and his controversial ideas spark debate over the meaning of historiography.

Author : Steven D. Smith
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780674050877
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Disenchantment of Secular Discourse written by Steven D. Smith and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2010-06 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book presses us to look harder at closely held beliefs and to question deeply rooted premises and commitments with which we are perhaps too comfortable."---Richard W Garnett Noire Dame Law School --

Author : J. Budziszewski
Publisher : Spence Publishing Company
ISBN 13 : 9781890626167
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Revenge of Conscience written by J. Budziszewski and published by Spence Publishing Company. This book was released on 1999 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A depraved conscience is the most destructive force in political life. J. Budziszewski incisively demonstrates that modern ideologies all deny the fallen nature that is the source of the three great problems of public life; we do wrong, our thinking about the wrong we do is clouded, and our efforts to rectify that wrong are themselves deformed by sin. Blinded to this truth about ourselves, we habitually suppress our conscience until it is corrupted and, taking its revenge, leads us to cultural calamity. Describing the political effects of Original Sin, Dr. Budziszewski shows how man's suppression of his knowledge of right and wrong corrupts his conscience and accelerates social collapse. The depraved conscience grasps at the illusion of "moral neutrality", the absurd notion that men can live together without a shared understanding of how things are. The revenge of conscience is horrifically manifest today in abortion, euthanasia, and suicide, evils brought about by the pollution of good impulses such as pity, prudence, honor, and love. The way out of this confusion, he concludes, is a return to Christianity, whose troubling memory men now suppress along with their knowledge of natural law.