Modernity And Religion

Ralph McInerny (1929-2010) was Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies and director emeritus of the Jacques Maritain Center, University of Notre Dame. He was the author of numerous works in philosophy, literature, fiction, and journalism, including The Very Rich Hours of Jacques Maritain, A First Glance at St. Thomas Aquinas, and Characters in Search of Their Author, all published by the University of Notre Dame Press.

The essays in Modernity and Religion comprise the reflections of eight seminal thinkers on various aspects of the problems of modern thought and its attitude toward religion. The effort to free intellectual pursuits from the influence of religion was a hallmark of the modern world. However, despite the many blessings and advances of the modern age - many of which were initially opposed by the Church - the assumption that humans can prosper when their relation to God has been broken has been disproved in a myriad of ways in recent decades. Thus, rethinking the roots of modernity has become imperative and reexamining the modern attitude toward religious belief provides the most radical critique. By concentrating on the supposed chasms between modern thought and the assumptions of Christianity the contributors do much more than show that modernity has failed by its own standards; they also demonstrate that there are truths about humans and their relations to others and to God that are necessary components of any epoch, past or present.