Call for Papers: Journal of Catholic Social Thought

[James Maule]

Posted on behalf of Mark Sargent, Dean of the Villanova University
School of Law

CALL FOR PAPERS

An Interdisciplinary Conference

THE LEGACY OF JOHN COURTNEY MURRAY FOR LAW AND POLITICS

Sponsored by the Journal of Catholic Social Thought and Villanova
University School of Law

Friday, September 16, 2005
Villanova University

The 2004 presidential election showed that the perpetual question of
the nature of the relationship between the Catholic Church and American
politics and law remains unresolved, and that interest in the question
is as great as ever. This question has always had many dimensions. It is
at once a problem in the political theory of liberal democracy, in the
law of Church and State and in the relationship of law and morality.  It
is also a problem of conscience for both ordinary Catholics and Catholic
politicians. In the 1950's and 1960's  John Courtney Murray, S.J.,
created a major synthesis that seemed to ease what were very sharp
tensions between the triumphal Church of mid-century and the claims of
liberal democracy. To what extent is Father Murray's resolution of the
tensions of that era useful for us today, after the culture wars of the
last forty years (particularly over abortion), the rise of the religious
right as a political force, the split between "right" and "left" in the
Church, the trend toward privatization of religion in American life, and
the increased difficulty of claiming, as did Murray, that "We Hold These
Truths"? These and related questions will be explored in an
interdisciplinary conference including legal academics, political
theorists, philosophers, theologians and others. Papers presented at the
conference will be considered for publication in the Journal of Catholic
Social Though in a special symposium issue. 

Please send paper proposals to Mark A. Sargent at
sargent at law.villanova.edu, or Villanova University School of Law, 299
North Spring Mill Road, Villanova, Pennsylvania  19085, by May 15, 2005.