Content & Context
The Books & Culture Weblog
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WEEKLY DIGEST
- The Catholic priesthood has a generation gap, but it's not the divide between a rigid old guard and progressive young blood, says Andrew Greeley in the current Atlantic Monthly. "A generation of conservative young priests is on the rise in the U.S. Church," he writes. "These are newly ordained men who seem in many ways intent on restoring the pre-Vatican II Church, and who, reversing the classic generational roles, define themselves in direct opposition to the liberal priests who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s." Young priests are only about two thirds as likely as older ones to support the marriage of priests and the ordination of women. The danger, Greeley suggests, is that the views of this new wave of priests will only deepen the divide between the clergy and the more open-minded laity. Full story
- The first two objections to considering Jane Austen as a public theologian are that "she does not seem much interested in things public, and she does not seem much interested in things theological," writes Peter Leithart in his forthcoming book Miniatures and Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen, excerpted in the current First Things. But an exploration of one of Austen's least popular novels, Mansfield Park, reveals Austen's efforts to trace "insidious individualism precisely to the marginalization of the Church in the life of England, the failure of clergy to be the makers of English manners, and the consequent intrusion of other forces as the makers of manners," Leithart says. Austen even hit some Augustinian notes while reflecting on memory and self-awareness. Full story While some of his suggested theological themes seem overextended, Leithart has something to reveal about Austen's work even to her avid readers.
- If we can call Jane Austen a theologian, can we call Charlie Brown an existentialist? Certainly, says Nathan Radke in Philosophy Now. It's not just Lucy's pop psych stand or Linus' futile vigil for the Great Pumpkin; Peanuts consistently asked questions about angst and existence. "Like the existential human in a world of silent or absent deities, Schulz's characters exist in a world of silent or absent adult authority," Radke says. "The children of Peanuts are left to their own devices, to try and understand the world they have found themselves thrust into." Full story It may be more of a stretch to tie Sarte to Charles Shulz than to connect Augustine and Austen, but Radke finds a compelling common thread of dour musings throughout the comic strip. If only he'd taken on the more light-hearted pontificating of the more ironically named comic strip Calvin and Hobbes.
- From existentialism to extinction: At ten feet and half a ton, the manatee is one of the most gentle and unassuming creatures to be involved in a fierce political fight over preservation. The mammal has been an endangered species ever since the first such list in 1967, but no one knows for sure how many are left. "Both sides have seized on that uncertainty to advance their cause," says Craig Pittman in Smithsonian magazine. "Manatee advocates say the creatures are barely holding their own and may be in peril, while many boaters, anglers and developers argue that the population has recently rebounded and is not in fact endangered." Pittman travels to Florida to visit the manatees' environment and see if things are getting better or worse. Summary and PDF of article
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