Christian Wisdom Meets Modernity

Kenneth Oakes is a postdoctoral fellow in the Philosophy Department at the University of Notre Dame, USA. Alongside Francesca Aran Murphy and Balazs M. Mezei he is one of the editors of the 'Illuminating Modernity' series.

Modern thinkers know they are modern. It is a self-conscious age that, having despised and then forgotten the past, struggles to understand itself. "What...am I to make of the world into which I was born? How else can I make sense of that complacent love of moral squalor, that luxuriant banality, that is the singly spiritual achievement of our age?" asks the nineteenth century French poet Charles Baudelaire via the pen of David Bentley Hart. Deploying a perennial Christian wisdom, these essays provide brilliant insight into modernity's allure and indigence, offering a genuine alternative to the banality of a postmodernity.

• Introduction1. Why Kierkegaard is the Culmination of the Modern Philosophical Revolution, David Walsh, the Catholic University of America, USA2. Charles Baudelaire: From Within the Veil, David Bentley Hart, St Louis University, USA3. Martin Heidegger and Christian Wisdom, Cyril O’Regan, University of Notre Dame, USA4. Romano Guardini: Liturgy, Style, Church, Patrick Gorevan, St Patrick's College, Maynooth5. Erich Przywara and the Analogia Entis: A Genealogical Diagnosis and Metaphysical Critique of Modernity, John Betz, University of Notre Dame, USA6. Karl Barth and Modernity, with Special Reference to Nietzsche, Kenneth Oakes, University of Notre Dame, USA7. ‘Sœur Thérèse, meet Prof. Dr. Husserl’: On Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Theological Phenomenology, Peter Casarella, University of Notre Dame, USA8. Karol Wojtyla’s Aims and Methodology, Adrian Reimers, University of Notre Dame, USA9. The Grace of Being: Ferdinand Ulrich and the Task of a Faithful Metaphysics in the Face of Modernity, D. C. Schindler, The Catholic University of America, USA10. Christology and the Nihil: the Wisdom of Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle and the Catholic Encounter with Modernity, Aaron Riches, Instituto de Teologia, Granada11. Imaginative Conversion, Mátyás Szalay, Instituto de Teologia, Granada12. Renewing Christian Philosophy: An Outline, Balázs M. Mezei, Pazmany Peter Catholic University, HungaryBibliographyIndex