Philosophy
50 Questions on the Natural Law: What It is and Why We Need It
This book presents the teachings of the Catholic Church in her role as arbiter of the applications of the natural law on issues involving the right to live, bioethics, the family and the economy. Charles Rice has produced a firmly grounded and accessible handbook which touches on the most important topics regarding natural law that will benefit readers of all backgrounds.
- Please log in to review this product
Abolition of Man
In many ways C. S. Lewis predicted the future. "He foresaw the rise of trends we're currently experiencing: ethical emotivism, the sometimes unquestioned authority of science, and the increasing use of technology by states to control their populations." -The Gospel Coalition, Joseph A. Kohm Jr.
The Abolition of Man discusses why we shouldn't always listen to only reason and cut out our emotions. Lewis argues that reason without emotion there is not a reality. He debunks arguments that the purist form of reason is instinct, that benevolent actions will be found through pursuing science, and that science will be the best moral compass for mankind to follow. Lewis proves that moral absolutes do exist and they are universal throughout all of time.
This is a book for C. S. Lewis fans and anyone who wants to better understand traditional moral virtues and how they impact your life. Lewis said, "If nothing is self-evident then nothing can be proved." There must be self-evident truths that can be applied everywhere. The book brings together a series of lectures on education that Lewis delivered over three nights at the University of Durham.
- Please log in to review this product
Answering the New Atheism: Dismantling Dawkins' Case Against God
- Please log in to review this product
Art of Living
A book of everyday ethics by a man whom Pope St. John Paul II called "one of the great ethicists of the twentieth century," The Art of Living is Dietrich von Hildebrand's essential guide to the moral life.
In just over one hundred pages, Dietrich von Hildebrand, with his wife Alice, presents a distinctive view of the virtuous life that begins with reverence, "the mother of all virtues," and includes chapters on "Faithfulness," "Goodness," "Hope," "The Human Heart," and many others.
The essays that make up this book began as a popular series of radio lectures in 1930s Germany, and their conversational tone comes through in this new edition, which maintains Alice von Hildebrand's original translation, and updates this beloved work for a new generation of readers.
The Art of Living promises to provide clarity, hope, and fresh insights for those seeking to live life more fully, faithfully, and beautifully.
Editorial Reviews
"The author is true to his title. Hildebrand writes about virtue with an artist's flair. He shows us the moral life as it is -- and so we can see the overwhelming appeal of every virtue, every value. It is the art of living virtuously that makes love possible and leads us to friendship and communion - with God and neighbor. A better life, the life we want, begins in these luminous pages."
-- Scott Hahn, bestselling author of over forty titles, including The Lamb's Supper and Reasons to Believe.
"The essays in Dietrich von Hildebrand's The Art of Living are a sublime treasury, filled with light and truth. Whoever longs to live fully and truly will do well to discover and cherish this golden book."
-- Eric Metaxas, New York Times Bestselling author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
"The primacy of moral virtue has never had a more passionate, insightful--and bracing-- champion in the modern era than Dietrich von Hildebrand. Men and women of all faiths should celebrate the reissue of this inspired volume."
-- Rabbi Mark Gottlieb, Senior Director, The Tikvah Fund
- Please log in to review this product
Atonement and the Death of Christ: An Exegetical, Historical, and Philosophical Exploration
Through his death on the cross, Christ atoned for sin and so reconciled people to God. New Testament authors drew upon a range of metaphors and motifs to describe this salvific act, and down through history Christian thinkers have tried to articulate various theories to explain the atonement. While Christ's sacrifice serves as a central tenet of the Christian faith, the mechanism of atonement--exactly how Christ effects our salvation--remains controversial and ambiguous to many Christians.
In Atonement and the Death of Christ, William Lane Craig conducts an interdisciplinary investigation of this crucial Christian doctrine, drawing upon Old and New Testament studies, historical theology, and analytic philosophy. The study unfolds in three discrete parts: Craig first explores the biblical basis of atonement and unfolds the wide variety of motifs used to characterize this doctrine. Craig then highlights some of the principal alternative theories of the atonement offered by great Christian thinkers of the premodern era. Lastly, Craig's exploration delves into a constructive and innovative engagement with philosophy of law, which allows an understanding of atonement that moves beyond mystery and into the coherent mechanism of penal substitution.
Along the way, Craig enters into conversation with contemporary systematic theories of atonement as he seeks to establish a position that is scripturally faithful and philosophically sound. The result is a multifaceted perspective that upholds the suffering of Christ as a substitutionary, representational, and redemptive act that satisfies divine justice. In addition, this carefully reasoned approach addresses the rich tapestry of Old Testament imagery upon which the first Christians drew to explain how the sinless Christ saved his people from the guilt of their sins.
- Please log in to review this product
Best Things in Life: A Contemporary Socrates Looks at Power, Pleasure, Truth
What are the best things in life?
Questions like that may boggle your mind. But they don't boggle Socrates. The indomitable old Greek brings his unending questions to Desperate State University. With him come the same mind-opening and spirit-stretching challenge that disrupted ancient Athens.
In twelve short, Socratic dialogues Peter Kreeft explodes contemporary values like success, power and pleasure. And he bursts the modern bubbles of agnosticism and subjectivism. He leaves you richer, wiser and more able to discern what the best things in life actually are.
- Please log in to review this product
Christian Moral Life: Directions for the Journey to Happiness
To take a journey, travelers must know where they are, where they are going, and how to get there. Moral theology examines the same three truths. The Christian Moral Life is a handbook for moral theology that uses the theme of a journey to explain its key ethical concepts. First, humans begin with their creation in the image of God. Secondly, the goal of the journey is explained as a loving union with God, to achieve a share in his eternal happiness. Third and finally, the majority of the book examines how to attain this goal. Within the journey motif, the book covers the moral principles essential for attaining true happiness. Based on an examination of the moral methodology in the bible, the book discusses the importance of participating in divine nature through grace in order to attain eternal happiness. It further notes the role of law, virtue, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit in guiding and transforming humans into friends of God, who participate in his happiness. Following this section on moral theology in general, the book analyzes the individual virtues to give more concrete guidance. The entire project builds upon the insights of great Christian thinkers, such as Thomas Aquinas, Thérèse of Lisieux, and John Paul II, to uncover the moral wisdom in scripture and to show people how to be truly happy both in this life and the next. This book will be of great interest to undergraduate students of moral theology, priests and seminarians, parents and teachers seeking to raise and to form happy children, and anyone interested in discovering the meaning of true happiness.
- Please log in to review this product
City of God
- Please log in to review this product
Consolation of Philosophy (Revised)
- Please log in to review this product
Eternity in the Midst of Time
Can time be our friend? At first glance the question seems ridiculous, because the apparent scarcity of time is a constant source of stress in our busy lives. There are not enough hours in the day, we say as we collapse late at night. Deep down we know that we cannot go on like this.
Father Stinnisen's book dares us to see time with new eyes. The insight that eternity is written in the depths of our hearts helps us to live in time in a way that leads us deeper into God's joy. We are like children in a land of fairy tales where everything is exciting and exploration never ends.We therefore should rejoice that everything around us is great and mysterious and that we can live in eternal wonder.
His intention is not to explain what time is and thus take away its mystery. Instead, his aim is to show us how to see time from different perspectives and to discover how rich and multifaceted it is. Above all, he demonstrates how we can make use of the tremendous possibilities that time offers to us.
- Please log in to review this product
Evidential Power of Beauty
This book relates these developments to nature, music, academe and our unquenchable human thirst for unending beauty, truth and ecstasy, a thirst quenched only at the summit of contemplative prayer here below, and in the consummation of the beatific vision hereafter.
- Please log in to review this product
Finding Happiness in a Complex World: Rules from Aristotle and Aquinas
Why, since happiness is so universally sought after, are so many people so miserable? The answer can be found by unpacking the wisdom of two of history's intellectual giants who set out to answer the question that has confounded man from time immemorial: What makes us happy?
Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas existed sixteen centuries apart, yet each reached similar understandings about what makes a person happy and what makes him miserable. In these enlightening pages, Dr. Charles Nemeth synthesizes the judgments of history's two greatest thinkers to present for you a life plan that inevitably leads to a happy human existence, whatever your ethnicity, religion, or citizenship.
You will explore what it means to be happy and will come to understand the limitations of happiness. You'll learn how to live in accordance with your basic nature so that your inclinations will not conflict with that which makes you flourish. And you'll calibrate your compass so that you will be able to navigate your way into a state of life that makes you truly happy.
Moreover, you'll discover why happiness is obtained through action and not mere desire and why wealth and fame do not -- and cannot -- buy happiness. You'll also learn why the body, despite providing avenues for sensory and intellectual pleasure, is incapable of providing true happiness.
Strikingly, none of the suggestions in this book have ever been shown to be flawed. These timeless recommendations for a happy life never go out of favor and never change. Instead, they remain a constant, permanent, universal set of criteria on how to achieve a happy existence.
You'll also learn:
- The benefits of moderation, sensibility, and equilibrium
- The source of ultimate happiness and the means to attain it
- The formula for fostering contentment -- what to strive for and what to avoid
- The essence of true goodness, happiness, and beauty
- Human excellence and different levels of happiness
With this Rosetta stone of a book, you will find solutions to fortify your soul and bring you peace. You will be equipped with a new sense of direction, hope, and healing that will guide you closer to lasting happiness.
Why, since happiness is so universally sought after, are so many people so miserable? The answer can be found by unpacking the wisdom of two of history's intellectual giants who set out to answer the question that has confounded man from time immemorial: What makes us happy?
Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas existed sixteen centuries apart, yet each reached similar understandings about what makes a person happy and what makes him miserable. In these enlightening pages, Dr. Charles Nemeth synthesizes the judgments of history's two greatest thinkers to present for you a life plan that inevitably leads to a happy human existence, whatever your ethnicity, religion, or citizenship.
You will explore what it means to be happy and will come to understand the limitations of happiness. You'll learn how to live in accordance with your basic nature so that your inclinations will not conflict with that which makes you flourish. And you'll calibrate your compass so that you will be able to
- Please log in to review this product
Gravity & Grace
- Please log in to review this product
In Defense of Nature: The Catholic Unity of Environmental, Economic, and Moral Ecology
- Please log in to review this product
Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods
"Fr. Sertillanges's teachings are as timeless as any truths which describe the genuine nature of things. . . . This book is highly recommended not only for intellectuals, but also for students and those discerning their vocation in life."--New Oxford Review
"[This] is above all a practical book. It discusses with a wealth of illustration and insight such subjects as the organization of the intellectual worker's time, materials, and his life; the integration of knowledge and the relation of one's specialty to general knowledge; the choice and use of reading; the discipline of memory; the taking of notes, their classification and use; and the preparation and organization of the final production."--The Sign
- Please log in to review this product
Leisure: The Basis of Culture
Leisure is an attitude of the mind and a condition of the soul that fosters a capacity to perceive the reality of the world. Pieper shows that the Greeks and medieval Europeans, understood the great value and importance of leisure. He also points out that religion can be born only in leisure -- a leisure that allows time for the contemplation of the nature of God. Leisure has been, and always will be, the first foundation of any culture.
Pieper maintains that our bourgeois world of total labor has vanquished leisure, and issues a startling warning: Unless we regain the art of silence and insight, the ability for non-activity, unless we substitute true leisure for our hectic amusements, we will destroy our culture -- and ourselves.
- Please log in to review this product
Nature of Love
- Please log in to review this product
Paths of Evil: Conspiracies, Plots, and Secret Societies
Conspiracies and secret societies exist because man, wounded by Original Sin, is inclined to evil and his social nature leads him to unite with other men in carrying out evil plans. With typical precision, historian Roberto de Mattei navigates us through this gloomy labyrinth of evil amid congiure, conspiracies, and plots -- terms often used as synonyms but which, through their semantic and conceptual differences, can each assist us in understanding better the hidden dimension of the history of the past five centuries.
While the Italian term congiure indicates secret agreements limited to a few people and aimed at killing a sovereign or a political leader, often in the context of a power struggle, conspiracies are projects with a much broader scope that seek to overthrow the constituted order. The golden age of congiure and political assassinations runs from the poisons of the Renaissance to the 1700s. Then, with the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, an age opened in which the traditional congiure was bolstered by the development of conspiracies of an ideological and political character.
The plot, on the other hand, is an elusive, hidden agglomerate of which neither the identity of the protagonists nor the concrete operative means are revealed. Professor de Mattei posits that the contemporary plotting spirit we see today -- from the Aquarius conspiracy, to the Great Reset, to the virus pandemic -- has nothing to do with the study of anti-Christian secret societies, which has always been part of historiography and Catholic apologetics but, in fact, plays into the hands of those intent on the psychological, intellectual, and moral destabilization of the West. In these fascinating pages, you will discover:
Ultimately, you will find how to differentiate between true and false plots and to discern how some conspiracies lead to heresy and insidiously attempt to destroy Christianity. By reading this book, you will be equipping yourself to challenge and overcome the dark errors of our times.
- Please log in to review this product
Politics of Heaven and Hell: Christian Themes from Classical, Medieval, and Modern Political Philosophy
The Politics of Heaven and Hell makes an invaluable contribution to the understanding of classical, medieval, and modern political philosophy, while explaining the profound problem with modernity.
Christianity freed men from the overwhelming burden of ever thinking that their salvation will ultimately come from the political order, writes Fr. James Schall, S.J. Modernity, on the other hand, is a perversion of Christianity, which tries to achieve man's salvation in this world. It does this by politicizing everything, which results in the absolute state: The distance from the City of God to the Leviathan is not at all far once the City of God is relocated on earth.
The best defense against this tyranny is the adequate description of the highest things, of what is beyond politics. Both reason and revelation are needed for this work, and they are eloquently and ably set forth in this book.
- Please log in to review this product
Real Philosophy for Real People: Tools for Truthful Living
A great philosopher once observed, "Philosophers let theories get in the way of what they and everybody else know." A lot of ink has been spilt in order to obscure what we really can't not know about reality, humanity and morality.
In the midst of a culture permeated by philosophies that seek to redefine the universally available meaning of what it is to be human, Fr. Robert McTeigue says it is more important than ever to be equipped with reliable philosophical tools that help us to see clearly the implications of our stated moral claims; that enable us to detect moral and logical error; and that keep us grounded in the love of truth.
You will find such tools in these pages that explore what it means to be human with metaphysical, anthropological, and ethical dimensions.But this book does more than offer tools for seeing and understanding. It is a refutation of philosophies which prize love of theory over love of truth; a rebuke of any metaphysics that cannot account for itself; a refutation of anthropologies which are unworthy of the human person; and a refutation of ethical systems which reduce the great dignity and destiny of the human person.
Most importantly, this book is a prescription for an alternative: it is a real philosophy for real people, wherein the best of classical philosophy finds its fulfillment, expressed in a contemporary idiom that is accessible to the layman and plausible to the scholar. It offers a catalog of errors with their refutations, and a map for living a truly human life. It is a portable error-detector, while providing a basis for knowing and presenting the truth.
- Please log in to review this product
Refutation of Moral Relativism
In his typical unique writing style, Peter Kreeft lets an attractive, honest, and funny relativist interview a "Muslim fundamentalist" absolutist so as not to stack the dice personally for absolutism. In an engaging series of personal interviews, every conceivable argument the "sassy Black feminist" reporter Libby gives against absolutism is simply and clearly refuted, and none of the many arguments for moral absolutism is refuted.
- Please log in to review this product
Rethinking the Enlightenment: Faith in the Age of Reason
- Please log in to review this product
Roots of a Christian Civilization: First Principles of a Just and Ordered Society
Abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage, and socialized medicine are all rampant today, and more and more receive the blessing of the civil law — even in countries traditionally considered to be Catholic. In these incisive pages, Fr. Brian Mullady, O.P., answers the question: Should law implement morality or not? He provides you with a compendium of accessible answers to a range of questions on spiritual and moral theology.
In part 1, you will come to understand the nature of society and principles of the social order as they apply to the three basic human societies: the family, the state, and the Church. Additionally, you will find the basis for the Church’s teachings and how they relate to real-life scenarios.
In part 2, you will see the Catholic vision of how the most basic human societies — the family and the state — must pursue their goals. Drawing from Scripture and Tradition, early philosophers and the saints, Fr. Mullady reveals the one good that is at the root of all social order. He also breaks open:
The twofold aspect of human nature and the three levels of action
Four ways in which people should rule in a society, according to St. Thomas Aquinas
Ten principles for the Christian idea of social order
The real meaning of social participation (Do you know it?)
The proper relationship between authority and conscience — both in the Church and in civil society
The five rights and duties that the Church teaches in the economic order
Fr. Mullady further explains the dangers of both liberal capitalism and Marxism. You will also learn about the uniqueness of the individual because of the spiritual soul and how society must be governed by virtues such as prudence, justice, and charity. Above all, you will find out how to live your life in Christ, regardless of your vocation, to attain personal fulfillment.
- Please log in to review this product
Soul's Upward Yearning: Clues to Our Transcendent Nature from Experience and Reason
Since the early twentieth century, scientific materialism has so undermined our belief in the human capacity for transcendence that many people find it difficult to believe in God and the human soul. The materialist perspective has not only cast its spell on the natural sciences, psychology, philosophy, and literature, it has also enthralled popular culture, which offers very little to encourage the "soul's upward yearning".
There are many signs of the widespread loss of confidence in our ability to soar upward, and these have been noted by thinkers as diverse as Carl Jung (psychiatrist), Mircea Eliade (historian of religion), Gabriel Marcel (philosopher), and authors C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Their observations were validated by a 2004 study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry that linked the absence of religion with a marked increase in suicide, meaninglessness, substance abuse, separation from family members, and other psychological problems.
Thus, the loss of transcendence is negatively affecting an entire society. It is stealing from countless individuals their sense of happiness, dignity, ideals, virtues, and destiny.Ironically, the evidence for transcendence is greater today than in any other period in history. The problem is, this evidence has not been compiled and made widely available--a challenge Father Spitzer aspires to meet with this book.
Father Spitzer's work provides a bright light in the midst of the darkness by presenting traditional and contemporary evidence for God and a transphysical soul from several major sources. It shows that we are transcendent beings with souls capable of surviving bodily death; that we are self-reflective beings aware of and able to strive toward perfect truth, love, goodness, and beauty; that we have the dignity of being created in the very image of God. If we underestimate these truths, we undervalue one another, underlive our lives, and underachieve our destiny.
- Please log in to review this product
Sources of Christian Ethics: Tranlated from the Third Edition
- Please log in to review this product
The Greatest Philosopher Who Ever Lived
In 2019, Peter Kreeft published Socrates' Children, a four-volume series on the hundred greatest philosophers of all time, spanning from ancient Greece to contemporary Germany. But he made a terrible mistake: he somehow left out women, and with this, he overlooked the greatest mind of them all.
He forgot her—a mysterious housewife from a desert village—because he had forgotten what "philosophy" means. "Philosophy is not the cultivation of cleverness," Kreeft explains, "or the sophistications of scholarship, or the analysis of analysis, or the refutation of refutations, or the deconstruction of deconstructions." No, "philosophy is a romance, a love affair—the love of wisdom."
This book is a one-of-a-kind study on Mary of Nazareth, the mother of Jesus. If Jesus Christ is wisdom incarnate, and if Mary loved Him more than anyone else ever did, then it holds that Mary is the greatest philosopher, the greatest wisdom-lover. With precision and humor, Kreeft not only unpacks the thought and spirit of Mary as we know her through Scripture and Church doctrine, but offers a heartfelt crash course in the basics of philosophy—methodology, epistemology, logic, metaphysics, cosmology, ethics, politics, aesthetics, and more—all through the lens of the Mother of God.
Fans of Kreeft will find here another fine example of his characteristic freshness, creativity, depth, and readability. But above all, those who are curious about the mother of Jesus, whether they are new to Christian faith or simply hoping to discover it anew, will likely find themselves swept up in the tide of Mary's wise love for God.
- Please log in to review this product
Three Philosophies of Life: Ecclesiastes - Life as Vanity, Job - Life as Suffering, Song of Songs - Life as Love
- Please log in to review this product
Wager on Death
Blaise Pascal reflected that humanity is obsessed with divertissement, that is, diversions. By embracing noise and pleasure, we avoid thinking about anything that may be associated with aging, dying, or our final end. But what if our determination to avoid these thoughts means that we are consigning ourselves to living an aimless life? Best-selling author Vittorio Messori invites you to explore this and other aspects of Pascal's Wager in a compelling, conversational way.
In these soul-stirring pages, you will find that death isn't simply an individual concern but a collective one. Society's continual advancements in technology and rising political hostilities make the possibility of nuclear apocalypse and other mass extinction events ever more real. Modern culture, however, seems fascinated with death only in entertainment. For death in reality, it relies on euphemisms and escapism rather than direct, honest engagement with the problems of sin, suffering, and grief.
Through thought-provoking examples from history, entertainment, psychology, and culture, you will learn ways in which society's treatment of death is impacting education, careers, mental health, and daily living. You will also discover:
- How death is viewed in light of ideologies from the Enlightenment to Marxism to existentialism
- The connection between radical liberalism and individualism, which lead to a culture of death
- Why the burden of proof lies with those who deny the afterlife
- How the challenge to consider religion is really about human dignity, self-respect, and duty
- How Christian belief is unique from other religions and its denominational differences
- What the Bible says about the afterlife, beginning with the Old Testament
You will also learn ways to restore hope and will see how silence can be a gift and why Messori believes that humor is a virtue. In addition, you will see why the Church's worldview helps to bring meaning and value to every human life, why death is triumphing in modernity, and how you can help turn the tide by choosing life -- now and in the world to come.
- Please log in to review this product
What Would Socrates Say?: An Introduction to Philosophy by the Socratic Method
- Please log in to review this product
Who Am I to Judge?: Responding to Relativism with Logic and Love
"Don't be so judgmental!"
"Why are Christians so intolerant?"
"Why can't we just coexist?"
In an age in which preference has replaced morality, many people find it difficult to speak the truth, afraid of the reactions they will receive if they say something is right or wrong. Using engaging stories and personal experience, Edward Sri helps us understand the classical view of morality and equips us to engage relativism, appealing to both the head and the heart. Learn how Catholic morality is all about love, why making a judgment is not judging a person's soul, and why, in the words of Pope Francis, "relativism wounds people." Topics include:
- Real Freedom, Real Love
- Sharing truth with compassion
- Why "I disagree" doesn't mean "I hate you"
- Please log in to review this product