The Neoconservatives and the Pope: Misreading John Paul II in George Weigel's Biographies

With the recent release of his autobiographical narrative of the composition of the papal biography, Witness to Hope, prominent Catholic neoconservative George Weigel has invited a reexamination of the presentation of John Paul II to the world by Catholic neoconservatives. In his biographies, George Weigel crafts an often misleading portrait of Pope John Paul II as the pope of American liberalism and neoconservativism. Ironically, at the same time, the story of Weigel's biographies contains the story of the rise and fall of the Catholic neoconservative movement in America.     

Re-thinking Solidarity as a Principle of Catholic Social Teaching: Going Beyond Gaudium et spes and the Social Encyclicals of John Paul II

Abstract

The tradition of official Catholic Social Teaching, which emerged within the context of the European social question, has since expanded to incorporate developmental issues of the Two-Thirds World. This is shown in the social encyclicals of Pope John XXIII, but more significantly in the Vatican II Pastoral Constitution, Gaudium et spes, and the social documents of Popes Paul VI and John Paul II. In these writings, the principle of solidarity is a significant feature—both for discussions of the European social question, and in engaging with the problems of poverty and underdevelopment in the Two-Thirds World. This paper accepts that the principle of solidarity occupies a central position in Catholic social thought. It argues, however, that the ever-increasing poverty, exploitation and despair in the Two-Thirds World challenges our ethical and theological conceptualizations of solidarity. This paper intends to examine the use of the solidarity principle both in Gaudium et spes and in the social encyclicals of John Paul II. It will also raise the question whether their formulations and insights are adequate in confronting the ever-expanding challenges of international poverty and underdevelopment.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article: Hagen Schulze, States, Nations and Nationalism: From the Middle Ages to the Present. P. M. Kitromilides, Enlightenment, Nationalism, Orthodoxy: Studies in the Culture and Political Thought of South-Eastern Europe Richard Caplan and John Feffer (eds.), Europe's New Nationalism: States and Minorities in Conflict. Tom Garvin, 1922: The Birth of Irish Democracy. Michael Billig, Banal Nationalism. Anssi Paasi, Territories, Boundaries and Consciousness: The Changing Geographies of the Finnish-Russian Border. Stanley G. Payne, A History of Fascism 1914–1945. Hubertus F. Jahn, Patriotic Culture in Russia During World War I. Paul B. Rich, Prospero's Return? Historical Essays on Race, Culture and British Society. Stephen Haseler, The English Tribe: Identity, Nation and Europe. Timothy D. Sisk, Power-Sharing and International Mediation in Ethnic Conflicts. Stephanie Lawson, Tradition versus Democracy in the South Pacific. Kate Darian-Smith, Liz Gunner and Sarah Nuttall (eds.), Text, Theory, Space: Land, Literature, and History in South Africa and Australia.     

High altitude adaptation

Paul T. Baker, ed. The Biology of High Altitude Peoples. International Biological Programme II. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1978. xii ‐ 357. $39.50     

Compassionate Protector of America: The Symbolism of Old Hickory in a Jackson Woman's Mind

Serving as America's only female newspaper editor during the election of 1832, Anne Royall became possibly the first public “Jackson Woman” by supporting the chief executive's bid for re-election in her sheet titled Paul Pry. A closer look at Royall's recollections from her travels in Alabama from 1818 to 1822 shows her to be a blooming “Jackson Woman” developing before the Jackson party was even conceived. In 1828, Royall's Black Books produced a scathing indictment of American society. Both the Adams and Jackson campaigns actively recruited her for their mud-slinging contest but she declined. Three years later Royall started printing Paul Pry. The Black Books and Paul Pry gave Royall a public voice, and she was not afraid to use it. Between 1818 and 1832, Anne Royall went from being a Jackson admirer to being a public Jackson woman.     

Review

Grundriss der Germanischen Philologie, hrsg. von H. Paul. Vol. II, Part II, Section 6: Uebersicht über die aus mündlicher Ueberiieferung geschöpften Sammlungen der Volkspocsie (a) Skandinavische Volkspoesic, von A. Lundell. By A. Nutt.     

Review - H. B. Clarke,M. N Mhaonaigh,R. Ó Floinn (eds.): Ireland and Scandinavia in the Early Viking Age

Magdalena Midgley: The First Farmers of the North European Plain. Edinburgh University Press, 1992. XVI + 550 pp. 132 figs. ISBN 0 7486 0348 4.

Julian Thomas: Rethinking the Neolithic. (New Studies in Archaeology). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1991. xvi + 212 pp. 60 figures. ISBN 0–521–40377–4 (hardback).

Stuart J. Fiedel: Prehistory of the Americas. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1992. 400pp. ISBN 0–521–41532–2—ISBN 0–521–42544–1 (pbk.).

Timothy Earle (ed.): Chiefdoms: Power, Economy and Ideology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1991. 34 pp. ISBN 0–521–40190–9.

J?rgen Steen Jensen, Kirsten Bendixen, Niels‐Knud Liebgott and Fritze Lindahl, with the cooperation of Keld Grinder‐Hansen and Gert Posselt: Danmarks middelalderlige skattefund c.1050‐C.1550/Denmark's medieval treasure‐hoards C.1050‐C.1550, I‐II. Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskab, Copenhagen, 1992. ISBN 87–87483–23–2.     

REVIEWS OF BOOKS

Book reviewed in this article: The Impeachment of Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, in 1386 in the Context of the Reign of Richard II. By J.S. Roskell. Property and Politics: Essays in Later Medieval English History. Edited by A.J. Pollard. Henry VII. By Roger Lockyer. Lancastrians and Yorkists: The Wars of the Roses. By David R. Cook. The Reign of Mary I. By Robert Tittler. All the Queen's Men: Power and Politics in Mary Stewart's Scotland. By Gordon Donaldson. Lordship to Patronage: Scotland 1603–1745. By Rosalind Mitchison. The House of Lords 1603–1649: Structure, Procedure and the Nature of Its Business. By Elizabeth Read Foster. Stuart Royal Proclamations. Volume II: Proclamations of King Charles I 1625–1646. Edited by James F. Larkin. The Making of a Ruling Class: The Glamorgan Gentry 1640–1790. By Philip Jenkins. Two Diaries of the Long Parliament. Edited by Maija Jansson. Party and Management in Parliament 1660–1784. Edited by Clyve Jones. A Handlist of British Parliamentary Poll Books. Edited by John Sims. The Correspondence of the Dukes of Richmond and Newcastle 1724–1750. Edited by Timothy J. McCann. Soame Jenyns. By Ronald Rompkey. British Parliamentary Parties 1742–1832: From the Fall of Walpole to the First Reform Act. By B.W. Hill. The Younger Pitt: The Reluctant Transition. By John Ehrman. The British Political Tradition. By W.H. Greenleaf. Victorian Radicalism: The Middle-Class Experience 1830–1914. By Paul Adelman. Crosses on the Ballot: Patterns of British Voter Alignment since 1885. By Kenneth D. Wald. Lloyd George: Backbencher. By W.R.P. George. Liberalism and the Rise of Labour 1890–1918. By Keith Laybourn and Jack Reynolds. Neville Chamberlain. Volume One: Pioneering and Reform 1869–1929.By David Dilks. Wars and Welfare: Britain 1914–1945. By Max Beloff. The Legend of Red Clydeside. By Iain McLean. Finest Hour: Winston S. Churchill 1939–41. By Martin Gilbert. Civil Liberties in Britain during the Second World War: A Political Study. By Neil Stammers.     

The uses and abuses of ‘secular religion’: Jules Monnerot's path from communism to fascism

From starting his intellectual career as a surrealist, communist and co-founder of the Collège de Sociologie in 1937, Jules Monnerot (1911–95) ended it as a candidate for the Front National in 1989. In this article I offer an explanation for the unexpected trajectory of this thinker whose work is little known in the English-speaking world. Without overlooking the idea that the infamous College encouraged such tendencies, I argue that the notion of ‘secular religion’, as Monnerot developed it in his Sociology of Communism (1949), goes some way to explain his gradual radicalization from Cold Warrior to fascist, a path that otherwise seems unlikely for a French intellectual after World War II. In order to emphasize the unusualness of Monnerot's case, I contrast it with that of his erstwhile collaborator, Georges Bataille. I show that accusations of fascism often levelled against Bataille should be more accurately directed at Monnerot, indeed that the fascism inherent within the College of Sociology was brought out not by Bataille but by Monnerot. Monnerot's case is unsettling first because his definition of ‘secular religion’ contributed to his pro-fascist stance; and second, because it forces us to rethink what is meant by ‘philosophy after Auschwitz.’ This term usually brings to mind scholars such as T.W. Adorno, Emil Fackenheim or Emmanuel Levinas. Monnerot provides a rare example of a thinker whose fascism only developed after the Holocaust, a shocking response that demands the attention of all those interested in the relationship between religion and politics.     

Book reviews

Thomas Dublin and Kathryn Kish Sklar, eds., ‘Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1830–1930,’ http://vvomhist.Binghamton.edu.

Leonard L. Richards, The Slave Power: The Free North and Southern Domination, 1780‐1860 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000). Pp.xii + 228. $39.95 (hardback); $19.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 8071 2537 7; 0 8071 2600 4.

Timothy S. Huebner, The Southern Judicial Tradition: Southern Judges and Sectional Distinctiveness, 1790–1890 (Athens: University of Georgia Press), 1999. Pp. xiii 4‐ 263. $45.00 (hardback). ISBN 0 252 0634 0.

Glenn C. Altschuler and Stuart M. Blumin, Rude Republic: Americans and their Politics in the Nineteenth Century (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000). Pp.xii + 316. $35.00 (hardback). ISBN 0 6910 0130 8.

Joseph G. Dawson III, Doniphan's Epic March: The 1st Missouri Volunteers in the Mexican War (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1999). Pp. xii + 325. $35.00 (hardback). ISBN 0 7006 0956.

Julie Roy Jeffrey, The Great Silent Army of Abolitionism: Ordinary Women in the Antislavery Movement (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998). $45.00 (hardback); $18.95 (paperback). Pp.xii + 311. ISBN 0 8078 2436 4; 0 8078 4741 0.

Paul Goodman, Of One Blood: Abolitionism and the Origins of Racial Equality (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1998). Pp.xxi + 303. $35.00 (hardback). ISBN 0 5202 0794 7.

Mark E. Neely Jr, Southern Rights: Political Prisoners and the Myth of Confederate Constitutionalism (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1999). Pp.vii + 212. $35.00 (hardback). ISBN 0 8139 1894 4.

John C. Willis, Forgotten Time: The Yazoo‐Mississippi Delta after the Civil War (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000). Pp. xiv + 239. $55.00 (hardback); $19.50 (paperback). ISBN 0 8139 1971 1; 0 8139 1982 7.     

Political science,the state and Marx

Nicos Poulantzas, Political Power and Social Classes (translated by Timothy O'Hagan), New Left Books & Sheed and Ward, London, 1973, pp. 367, $15.25.     

Troubling Confessions: Roman Catholicism and ‘The Homosexual Question’

Abstract

Current scholarship on human rights and torture largely ignores places and scenes where extra-judicial violence is routinely practiced. That is, framed within a secular discourse, the agency of religious bodies in the systemic infringement of ‘rights’ is never considered. This paper explores one question with two parts: What are the conditions in church governance (Christian) in which systematic violation of human ‘rights’ is the norm, and in which the production of behaviors very much like torture is made possible, even necessary? Why do such behaviors go unnoticed, or, when they are observed, are they discounted? Using the crisis of homosexual presence within contemporary Roman Catholicism I shall argue that pressure for ‘confessional’ purity produces behaviors and activities within lines of authority that mimic torture. The essay examines documented policies, ecclesiastical directives and procedures concerning the management and treatment of persons (mostly homosexuals and women) during the second half of the papacy of John Paul II (1986-2001).     

Histories of anthropology

Timothy H. H. Thoresen, ed. Toward A Science of Man: Essays in the History of Anthropology. The Hague and Paris: Mouton Publishers, 1975. Distributed in North America by Aldine Publishing Company, vii + 232 pp. Biographical notes and indices. $14.95.     

Archaeology and Nationalism: Excavating the Foundations of Identity

Margarita Diaz-Andreu and Timothy C. Champion Nationalism and Archeology in Europe. P. Graves-Brown, S. Jones, C. Gamble (eds.) Cultural Identity and Archaeology: the Construction of European Communities. P. Kohl, C. Fawcett (eds.) Nationalism, Politics and the Practice of Archaeology.     

Mexican anthropologists in Postrevolutionary Mexico

Cynthia Hewitt de Alcántara. Boundaries and Paradigms: The Anthropological Study of Rural Life in Postrevolutionary Mexico. Leiden Development Studies No. 4; 1982. 355 pp. (price not given) to be republished by Routledge and Kegan Paul).     

The uses and abuses of ‘secular religion’: Jules Monnerot's path from communism to fascism

From starting his intellectual career as a surrealist, communist and co-founder of the Collège de Sociologie in 1937, Jules Monnerot (1911–95) ended it as a candidate for the Front National in 1989.In this article I offer an explanation for the unexpected trajectory of this thinker whose work is little known in the English-speaking world. Without overlooking the idea that the infamous College encouraged such tendencies, I argue that the notion of ‘secular religion’, as Monnerot developed it in his Sociology of Communism (1949), goes some way to explain his gradual radicalization from Cold Warrior to fascist, a path that otherwise seems unlikely for a French intellectual after World War II. In order to emphasize the unusualness of Monnerot's case, I contrast it with that of his erstwhile collaborator, Georges Bataille. I show that accusations of fascism often levelled against Bataille should be more accurately directed at Monnerot, indeed that the fascism inherent within the College of Sociology was brought out not by Bataille but by Monnerot. Monnerot's case is unsettling first because his definition of ‘secular religion’ contributed to his pro-fascist stance; and second, because it forces us tore think what is meant by ‘philosophy after Auschwitz.’ This term usually brings to mind scholars such as T.W. Adorno, Emil Fackenheimor Emmanuel Levinas. Monnerot provides a rare example of a thinker whose fascism only developed after the Holocaust, a shocking response that demands the attention of all those interested in the relationship between religion and politics.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article: Paul James, Nation Formation: Towards a Theory of Abstract Community. Joep Leerssen, Remembrance and Imagination. Patterns in the Historical and Literary Representation of Ireland in the Nineteenth Century. Susan Paul Pattie, Faith in History: Armenians Rebuilding Community. C. C. Barfoot (ed.), Beyond Pug's Tour: National and Ethnic Stereotyping in Theory and Literary Practice. Thomas J. Biersteker and Cynthia Weber (eds.), State Sovereignty as Social Construct Michel Wieviorka (ed.), Une société fragmentée? Le multiculturalisme en débat. Gérard Noiriel, The French Melting Pot: Immigration, Citizenship, and National Identity. David Westerlund (ed.), Questioning the Secular State: The Worldwide Resurgence of Religion in Politics. Philip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government. John R. Lampe, Yugoslavia as History: Twice There Was a Country. Paul R. Brass, Theft of an Idol: Text and Context in the Representation of Collective Violence. K. E. Schulze, M. Stokes and C. Campbell (eds.), Nationalism, Nationalities and Diasporas: Identities and Rights in the Middle East. Dusan Kecmanovic, The Mass Psychology of Ethnonationalism.     

REVIEWS

A Time for Building. By Paul Hasluck. Melbourne University Press, 1976. Price: $A15.50. Pp. i-xii, 1–452. ISBN 0 522 84091 4.     

FSLIC'S DOWNFALL

Paul Zane Pilzer with Robert Deitz. 1889. Other People's Money: The Inside Story of the S&L Mess Stephen Pizzo, Mary Fricker, and Paul Muolo. 1989. Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings asnd Loans Edward J. Kane. 1989. The S&L Insurance Mess: How Did It Happen? R. Dan Brumbaugh, Jr. 1988. Thrifts Under Siege: Restoring Order to Amercan Banking     

A Unique Project of Mission: Forty Years on,a Personal Memoire

Fifty years ago, Call to the North was conceived against the background of sectarian terrorism. This was a unique occasion when all the traditional Christian churches of the North of England were engaged in unitedly presenting the Christian faith to the general population. The exercise was led by the Anglican Archbishop of York together with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool and Dr John Marsh representing the Free Churches.

The objectives of the exercise, the methods employed, the problems encountered and its eventual outcome in 1973 are outlined, together with an account of the Roman Catholic Archbishop’s strategy of seeking Pope Paul VI’s support to help his traditional dioceses come to terms with the new Vatican thinking of Pope John XXIII and Vatican II.

The account concludes with a reflection on the historic outcome of this unique exercise.