13 July 2007

Book Log 2007 #27: Catholic Matters by Richard John Neuhaus

After reading all these books where the Templars come back to life or something, I figured I'd try some actual religion after seeing this title a few times at the library. Neuhaus is a convert to Catholic practice, and has that conservatism/orthodoxy that is said to mark converts. Or at least it seems that way, as I didn't actually finish this book, which lays out his thoughts as to how to reinvigorate the church.

Or at least I think that's what he was doing. It's circticiously written, and for every interesting story about conversion or reflection on being a Catholic in America, there's a lot of theological talk which didn't quite connect. From what I did read I think Neuhaus would very much be in favor of the retrenching against Vatican II that seems to be underway. So in a way I'm glad I didn't finish it.

Not recommended, but it may be more accessible to people with a better grasp of Catholic thought and theology than me (not that that would take much).

1 comment:

Anthony said...

How correct is my guess that you didn't know who Neuhaus was before you picked up that book? I'm fairly familiar with him and he's probably not what I would recommend.

If you wanted a more liberal-yet-not-abandoning-the-church Catholic perspective, one possibility would be the sociologist, priest, and sometimes novelist Andrew Greeley. If your library has a selection of his non-fiction work. . .I've read too much of his stuff to remember which one would be best for you to read, but you should be able to figure it out which ones contain ideas for fixing the Church.

 Book Log Extra: New York Times 100 Best Books of the 21st Century The New York Times  took a break from trying to get Joe Biden to drop out...