R.H. Benson wrote two mystical visions of the future. _The Dawn of All_ is an extremely romantic and improbable 1911 parable of a 1971 world mostly Catholic and at peace, ready for the Second Coming. _The Lord of the World_ came first, in 1907, and was a darker vision. A world of flying craft, major scientific advances, and comfort has become a place of materialist despair. Euthanasia is routine, for the desperately ill and the terminally bored. Oliver and Mabel Brand, a rising young couple, are the golden ones -- Oliver becomes a major political figure, but Mabel chooses the cool despairing end of legal euthanasia. Father Percy Franklin is one of the last Catholic priests in a world hostile to freedom, church, university, and history. Eventually elected the last Pope, he is restricted to the dusty forgotten village of Nazareth. Julian Felsenburgh is a charismatic American adventurer who means to and does become Lord of the World, anti-Christ. Details are less important than the very modern mood. Believing in progress as the only good, people are swept into any movement that promises it. The past is ruthlessly exterminated. The quest for one world government that begins with Esperanto ends with one world dictatorship.

This is an excellent edition of Benson's classic work. Unlike many other recent editions of Benson's books (Come Rack Come Rope, Oddsfish, etc.), this edition has not been abridged.
It is the story of the future world from a turn of the century vantage point. Protestantism has fizzled, the Mason's have triumphed, and Catholicism is on the defensive. The world has divided into three parties, and a silver tongued savior comes to save the day. Benson believed that armageddon would more likely result from smooth talking and twisted ideologies than from naked evil.
Although Benson may have over estimated the Masons and underestimated Protestants, he makes many surprisingly accurate predictions. The rhetoric used by the Bolshevists in Russia, the Nazi's in Germany, and the parties of the Spanish civil war was foreseen by Benson. The great white line Hitler painted around the Vatican and the Atomic bomb were also not beyond Benson's imagination.
Unfortunately, only a small audience will appreciate this book, but that audience should include all Catholics who take ideas and the modern threat seriously. This book helps explain the beauty of pre-Vatican II ceremonies without siding against the changes of Vatican II.

As an evangelical with strong Catholic sympathies, I was excited to discover "Lord of the World" for another twist on the "Left Behind" scenario. The author writes at the dawn of the twentieth century and hits a few predictions about our world dead-on. But better yet is the sense of gravity Benson conveys in the novel. You really feel the earth coming to a conclusion, the ultimate clash of faith in God versus faith in Man.

Maritain, the major neo-Thomist of the 20th century, has written a masterful tome on most epistemological accounts that is not only versed in "knowing that," and "knowing how," but also the knowledge derived from religious experience, mystical experience, and various other "degrees" of knowledge which, like a spider, are webbed together in a wonderful lattice of gemlike reflections. One will find all sorts of epistemological issues handled with care and illumination -- even ones modern analytic philosophy finds too "metaphysical," -- that most people encounter in the course of a lifetime. A delightful read and a great treasure for future reflection and meditation.

The work of a great mind

Out of the many books Jacques Maritain wrote, his Degrees of Knowledge can be considered as his Magnum Opus in the field of speculative philosophy. First published in 1932, it is his major work on the theory of knowledge, inspired by the philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas and the mystical works of St John of the Cross.

The whole purpose of the book is to make a synthesis between science, philosophy and theology. It has always been said that the vocation as a philosopher meant two things for Jacques Maritain: "the dignity of the human person and the restoration of the intellect". The first part of this project can be found in his works on social and political philosophy, like Integral Humanism and Man and State, etc. The other part led his philosophical activity gradually from his Bergsonian background to the critical realism of Thomas Aquinas.

The critical realism is to be found in the Degrees of knowledge which is Maritain's testimony of the second part of his philosopical vocation: the restoration of the intellect. Knowledge for Maritain contains two realms: natural and supernatural. The whole enterprise Maritain undertakes is to find an epistemology that embraces the full range of human knowledgde, from the simple knowledge of sense perception, to the supernatural knowledge, knowledge of the Divine essence.

The book is separated in two parts, a part about the degrees of natural knowledge and a part about the degrees of supranatural knowledge.

My intention is to represent the basic ideas of the book, I do not find myself able to criticize the book. Understanding what Maritain is trying to show, takes a lot of time, and I am still in the phase of understanding. This book deserves a honest and clear evauation, more than a simple good or bad label. The book contains more than 500 pages of text, in which a lot of very difficult material is presented. Let's be clear about it: The Degrees of Knowlegde is a very difficult book, and I think you need a decent philosophical training to understand it.

Degrees of rational knowledge

Let's look at the first part: the domain of natural knowledge. Natural knowledge is the domain of unaided reason, in which the intellect has as its formal object: being. Being is known by way of abstraction. Maritain dinstinguishes three degrees of abstraction. In the first degree of this process, the mind knows an object, which it disengages from the singular and contingent moment of sense perception, but is still in reference to the sensible. This first degree of abstraction belongs to physics and philosophy of nature. The second degree is the mathematical abstraction, in which the mind knows an object whose intelligibility no longer implies an intrinsic reference to the sensible, but to the imaginable. Finally, in the highest degree of intellectual vision, the metaphysical degree, the intelligibility is free from any intrinsic reference to the senses or imagination. This is the field of trans-sensible reality. The mind starts with knowledge from the sensible, and penetrates deeper and deeper in the mystery of reality by way of ascending towards objects of thought which both can be conceived and exist without matter, which is the domain of metaphysics. The three degrees are on a hierarchical line, in which the first participates in the third.

The kinds of knowledge which belong to the natural order are also called, the dianoetic knowledge: in which things are known in themselves; perinoetic knowledge, in which there is knowledge of essences by way of signs, or some measurable properties. And there is finally ananoetic knowledge, or knowledge by analogy. This is the domain of metaphysics in which the intellect ascends from sensible being to the knowledge of the first being, which is God. It is at the same time called: natural theology.

Also there is knowledge which belongs to the natural order, which is called knowledge by connaturality. This kind of knowledge is not by means of a concept, but knowledge by inclination. It can be found in moral knowledge, the work of the artist, and the knowledge we have of other persons. We are co-natured with our object.

Knowledge starts with sense perception, the intellect receives through the sense perception a concept, an intelligible similtude, on which the intellect makes a judgement. The concept is called a formal sign: that by which we know, a means by which we know the very nature of a thing. The thing exists and the formal object is grapsed by the intellect. The object has intentional being, the thing has natural being. The concept is a formal sign by which the intellect becomes the other as other. By way of the judgement, the intellect asserts the existence of the thing as an extramental being.

The judgement is an important aspect in the theory of knowledge. By way of the judgement we assert that our knowledge is not only about a phenomena, a mental thing, but by the judgement we confirm the existence of the extra-mental being, the correspondence of intellect and reality. Things can be known in themselves, the truth of knowledge consists in the conformity of the mind with the thing. Truth is possible but difficult for man to attain. It is therefore called critical realism.

So we can conclude that: Truth is the conformity of the mind with being. Knowledge is immersed in existence, given to us first by sense, sense attains the object as existing. Sense delivers existence to the intellect, it gives the intellect an intelligible treasure which sense does not know to be intelligible, and which the intellect knows as being.

The degrees of supra-rational knowledge

The second part of the book deals with supra-rational knowledge. It's about the knowledge of God. For Maritain, faith and reason are not conflicting. There is a great harmony between nature and grace. Again Maritain distinguishes in order to unite. There are three wisdoms. The first one belongs to the natural order, it is based on reason, the domain of metaphysics. It's the ananoetic knowledge, also called natural theology. Above the natural theology, stands the science of revealed mysteries, which is called theology. It is reason illuminated by faith. It's certitude is superior to metaphysics, because it has a divine origin. Then above all, there is the mystical wisdom or infused wisdom which consists in knowing the essentialy supernatural object of faith and theology, Deity as such, the expierence of God, in which we can know Him in His essence. Faith alone is not sufficient, it needs the gifts of the Holy Spirits and the theological virtues of faith and hope, infused moral virtues.

Some remarks

Like I said earlier, you need a decent philosophical training to understand the material presented. The book presupposes knowledge about the battle for the universal in the middle ages, the philosophy of Descartes, the tradition of idealism and logical positivism.

If you fancy yourself a philosopher, I would assume you are familiar with this work. A giant of a work, possibly Maritain's masterpiece. The Introduction alone is sweetness to the scholar....

How could any book of essays by today's leading philosophers and thinkers not be absolutely excellent--and this one is!

Ralph McInery (Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame) was the author of numerous works in philosophy, literature, and journalism whose clear, persistent, and creative defenses of natural theology and natural law helped to establish a dialogue between theists and non-theists, a dialogue that contributed to the moral and political renewal of American culture in general, and providing some of the philosophical foundations for Catholic theology in particular. Recovering Nature: Essays In Natural Philosophy, Ethics, and Metaphysics in Honor of Ralph McInery brings together essays by an impressive group of scholars that includes William Wallace, O.P.; Jude P. Dougherty; John Haldane; Thomas DeKonick; Alasdair MacIntrye; David Solomon; Daniel McInerny; Janet E. Smith; Michael Novak; Stanley Hauerwas; Laura Garcia; Alvin Plantinga; Alfred J. Freddoso; and David B. Burrell, C.S.C. Recovering Nature is an outstanding anthology of thought and a fitting tribute honoring a most distinguished scholar, educator, and theologian of the Catholic faith.

Professor McInerny's translation of this polemical work of Aquinas' is clear and readable. His interpretive notes provide extremely helpful elucidation of the original text. The book has been quite useful for me in my understanding of Aquinas' theory of the nature of the human intellect.

This is a great translation of Aquinas' comments on Aristotle's work titled, "Metaphysics." Ralph McInerny (Notre Dame University) wrote the preface and the work was translated by John P. Rowan. Both men are strong in their field of expertise and both are Thomists. The book is a phrase by phrase/paragraph by paragraph commentary written by Aquinas on Aristotle's actual work. In other words, Aquinas took what Aristotle espoused in his "Metaphysics" and discussed it in great detail. Aquinas was not shy about admitting what he disagreed and agreed with in Aristotle's philosophy. So not only is the reader of this addition getting the actual translated text of Aristotle's work, but also Aquinas' remarks. This is an incredible reference/resource work for those who are either studying Aristotle's "Metaphysics," the thoughts of Thomas Aquinas, or perhaps both. The book is 839 pages of solid text and very well organized so the reader knows the parts that are Aristotle's (which are all italicized) and Aquinas'(which are in plain type). This book, if for no other reason, at least helps the student of both philosophers gain a better understanding of each; since Aquinas is at his best when commenting about Aristotle's work and the actual text of Aristotle is present for the reader to digest. This paragraph from the back cover of the book well describes what the buyer and reader can expect from such a great work as this - "Thomas Aquinas finds the twelve books he comments on wonderful for their order, both overall and in the minutest detail. His reading is governed by what he takes to be the clear sense of the text, his interpretations keep close to what Aristotle actually said, his account is breathtaking in its acuity." Thus, this is a work that you will not want to miss, since, unfortunately, books of this nature have a short a shelf life.

The authors of the Notre Dame Sympsium in the summer of 1999 worked toward the goal of helping people understand and appreciate a profound document from the Holy Father in Rome.

Pope John Paul II introduces the 1998 encyclical "Fides et Ratio" with a question. He wonders whether philosophy makes people feel sick and queasy? The immediate answer is to say, Yes, philosophy does make people feel sick, because of a "widespread distrust of the human being's great capacity for knowledge" (paragraph no. 5).

The conclusion that philosophy makes us queasy receives support from the following induction. Try a simple test and read the following questions: "Who am I? Where have I come from and where am I going? Why is there evil? What is there after this life?" (no. 1).

Do these questions of John Paul II bring about feelings of sickness and light-headedbess? Are the questions heavy and confusing? Do they produce repulsive, clammy feelings in one's nervous system? If you are like some college students in philosophy class, then your anwer may be affirmative.

Philosophy and the above question should be attractive to us and should cause us to relax. "These are questions which we find in the sacred writings of Israel, as also in the Veda and the Avesta," writes John Paul. "We find them in the writing of Confucius and Lao-Tze, and in the preaching of Tirthankara and Buddha." These questions have been confidently addressed in every place and every time history. "They appear in the poetry of Homer and in the tragedies of Euripides and Sophocles, as they do in the philosophical writings of Plato and Aristotle."

Unfortunately, we do not find these questions at Disneyland or Las Vegas. Disneyland in Anaheim has 60 major rides among eight themed lands: Main Street, Tomorrowland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Adventureland, Critter Country, Mickey's Toontown and New Orleans Square. However, Philosophyland is excluded from the park. Las Vegas ignores the tough questions and provides "escapist fun" with colossal hotels and casinos: Excalibur, Luxor, New York-New York, Circus Circus, MGM Grand and Treasure Island. As the AAA Tour Book says, "Las Vegas became a city that thrived on illusion and fantasy" (California/Nevada 2000, p. 262). However, there is no Philosophy casino in Vegas.

After visiting Dineyland and Las Vegas a person might ask, "Where can I find answers to the tough questions on page 9 in the encyclical?" The Pope replies by saying that "the Church is no stranger to this journey of discovery" (no. 2). The Church is good place to investigate the philosophical questions, because the Church "received the gift of the ultimate truth about human life" from the Lord, and the Lord is "the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14: 6).

This is one of the best Father Dowling books ever. It is very good. The only one better than this one is Judas Priest.

The title refers to a former priest who, along with an ex-nun, has converted to a new "religion" of sexual liberation. The two host an outrageous TV show proclaiming their new gospel of hedonism. To complicate matters, their daughter has decided she wants to become a nun. This is wonderful satire, and Ralph McInerny's wit is even sharper than usual. All this, combined with ingenious plotting, makes "Judas Priest" a most enjoyable read.

The fatherly voice of professor Ralph McInerny may not inspire everyone to write, but it has provided much motivation to get me going.

Let's Write a Novel is a novel (pun fully intended) 12-cassette tape course and workbook by the author of the Father Dowling mysteries and the novel "The Red Hat". This series of lessons and accompanying workbook offers step-by-step instructions for writing a novel.

McInerny discusses plot, characters, and points of view using his own unpublished novel "The Prudence of the Flesh" which is included as well.

Writers will find his persistence either endearing or irritating as he urges them to complete their writing exercises and write along with him. McInerny is adamant that the writer must write a set number of pages each day.

Vandamere also sells McInerny's popular "Let's Write a Mystery" and "Let's Write Short Stories" tapes.

Ralph McInerny's brief but thoughtful introduction indicates that the contributors were "asked to write stories with a religious motif or background" and notes that many of the authors set their stories in the past. (Expect a few anachronisms, such as "kilometres", in these.) McInerny himself contributes a Father Dowling story, set in the present, as well as a novella under his pseudonym Monica Quill. While any anthology is inevitably a mixed bag, most readers will enjoy most of the stories in this volume, and will want to find more stories by some of the authors. The term "Catholic" in the title, incidentally, includes "Anglican" and "Episcopal". If you are attracted by the title, you are apt to enjoy the book.