Making Sense of Society
Catholic Essays on the Human Person, the Social Order, Government and Faith
by Jeffrey A. Mirus Ph.D.
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Book Description
Collected essays from 2007 through 2012 on such things as the purpose of government, including its size and scope; the interaction among culture, social life, politics and religion; the role of the Church in the social order; the relationship between what are commonly called the “life” issues and the “social” issues; the somewhat odd set of social prejudices which characterize the modern secular West; the threat of Statism; the principles of Catholic social teaching, such as subsidiarity, solidarity and the universal destination of goods; the role of natural law; and an analysis of complex specific issues such as immigration, pro-life strategy, and moral voting. Jeffrey A. Mirus is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org, as well as a co-founder of Christendom College. He has been a Catholic apologist and commentator on Catholic affairs for over forty years.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- The High Cost of Political Civility
- Politics 101: Belonging to Nature's God
- Secularism, Acculturation and Creeping Totalitarianism
- Now and Tomorrow: The Universal Destination of Goods
- God and Mammon: Catholic Support for Abortion
- The Bishops, Justice, Health Care and Social Change
- A Simple Guide to Faith, Culture and Public Life
- Splitting social and life issues? Can't do it.
- Eliminating Left and Right: An Economic First Step
- Family Size, Social Development, Selfishness and Love
- Society and Marriage: Quid pro Quo
- The First Principle of Catholic Social Concern
- The Importance of Community
- Surprised by Subsidiarity
- Immigration Reform
- The Corrosive Society
- A Catholic Attitude toward Government
- Virtue: A Democratic Problem
- When Bishops Look Too Often to the State
- Politics 101: Principles First
- Subsidiarity and Solidarity are Inseparable
- Socio-Economics from the Outside
- Get Ready to Pay Twice if You Want Change
- Budgetary Reform: Opportunity Knocks
- The Question of Government Size and Scope
- What is the Purpose of Government?
- Government, Natural Law, and the Modern State
- Toward a Realistic View of Society
- The Immigration Paradox: Blindness is Forbidden
- The Sovereignty Myth: On the Limits of Political Authority
- Immigration: The Contested Principle
- Catholic Action for Social Change
- Democracies: What They Don’t Do Well
- US Defense Spending and Cultural Imperialism
- War of the Drones
- Governing Politics
- Conflating Politics and Charity: A Mistake We All Make?
- Intermediary Institutions Represent, Preserve and Shape a Robust Culture
- Practical Economics: How Things Work, Why There is Room for Morality, Where to Go from Here
- In the Face of the State: The Church Too Is a Res Publica, a Public Thing
- Why Religion and the Church Are the Ultimate Public Things
- The Dangers of Voting Your Heart: An Intrinsically Moral Guide
- How Much Does Politics Matter?
- Government and the Limits of Human Law
- Coercion vs. Tolerance: The Real Crisis in Public Life
- New Rules of Engagement: Christ instead of the Modern State
- The End of Pro-Life Politics
- To Emphasize Politics or Not: The Sequel
- The Natural Law Is Not Enough
