The Way of Life: John Paul II and the Challenge of Liberal Modernity

Review

Holloway understands that if one is to speak to modern man about God, then he must begin by speaking to him about himself; but if one is to speak to him about himself, then he must begin, like John Paul II, with the fact that he is made in the image of God. The heart of liberal modernity is riven, because the fulfillment of its highest aspirations requires a view of the human being that its theories and its culture militate against. By explaining all of this, Holloway’s masterful book contributes to three necessary conversations — Christians with liberal modernists, Catholics with Protestants, and the present with the past. The chapter on the ambiguity of the American founding alone is worth the price of the book. –J. Budziszewski, University of Texas at Austin

In this excellent new book, Carson Holloway convincingly shows that the late Pope John Paul II was one of the most important political theorists and activists of the past century. In this well researched, carefully reasoned, and lucidly written study, Holloway explicates how John Paul II understood the true foundations of modern liberalism more profoundly than most liberal theorists have understood in theory what they have advocated in practice. In this lucid and insightful book, Carson Holloway brings political philosophy to bear on John Paul II’ s critique of liberal modernity. Holloway shows that the Polish Pope was neither a progressive; nor a reactionary but instead a proponent of true humanism rooted in the most august classical and Christian wisdom. This indefatigable defender of human liberty and dignity rejected the premises underlying ‘philosophical modernity’–materialism, hedonism, utilitarianism–precisely because they were incompatible with the truth about man –David Novak, J. Richard and Dororthy Shiff Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Toronto

In this lucid and insightful book, Carson Holloway brings political philosophy to bear on John Paul II’ s critique of liberal modernity. Holloway shows that the Polish Pope was neither a progressive; nor a reactionary but instead a proponent of true humanism rooted in the most august classical and Christian wisdom. This indefatigable defender of human liberty and dignity rejected the premises underlying ‘philosophical modernity’–materialism, hedonism, utilitarianism–precisely because they were incompatible with ‘the truth about man.’ –Daniel J. Mahoney, Professor of Political Science, Assumption College

Product Description

The passing of John Paul II provoked questions about the Pope, particularly in his relation to modernity. Was he opposed to the tenets of modernity, as some critics claimed? Or did he accommodate modernity in a way no Pope ever had, as his champions asserted? In The Way of Life, Carson Holloway examines the fundamental philosophers of modernity–from Hobbes to Toqueville–to suggest that John Paul II’s critique of modernity is intended not to reject, but to improve. Thus, claims Holloway, it is appropriate for liberal modernity to attend to the Pope’s thought, receiving it not as the attack of an enemy but as the criticism of a candid friend.