ENDEAVOUR FORUM NEWSLETTER No. 131, SEPTEMBER 2008

 

 

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BOOKSHELF

 

“God And Caesar”: Selected Essays on Religion, Politics and Society BOOKSHELF

by Cardinal George Pell.

Edited by M.A. Casey. 189 pages.

Published 2007 by Connor Court Publishing P/L., Bacchus  Marsh, Victoria,  Australia.

RRP  $29.95. 

Reviewed by Dr. Joe Santamaria, OAM.

This volume of selected essays is both timely and impressive. Each contribution  originated as a lecture or an address given to a particular  society or at a conference in various parts of the world. They were given over a period of 10 years  commencing in 1997 and reveal the extraordinary erudition of a senior dignitary of the Catholic Church. He is unabashed by his religious  allegiance  and his identity within our modern Western society. In Australia, he is universally known as a spirited defender of the Catholic Faith and a powerful voice in modern day public controversies, over a variety of interrelated political,  social , philosophical and theological  issues. 

One needs to know some of his background and the milestones of his career as well as the social and cultural context of western society. Born in Ballarat in 1941, he was educated by the Christian Brothers and later in Rome, where he was ordained a Catholic priest for the Diocese  of Ballarat in 1966. He holds degrees in Theology and Education, has been a scholar at Oxford  and Cambridge Universities and has a Ph. D. from Oxford in Church History. He has therefore  considerable experience in academia, both on religious subjects and in the secular  world. In Australia, he has advanced rapidly in the Church's bureaucracy and in the hierarchy, from a director  of Catholic education to the Vice-Chancellor of a University, and from a Victorian  assistant Bishop to the  Archbishop of Sydney. He was elevated to the College of Cardinals in  2003 by Pope John Paul II, a position that is close to the sources of Catholic magisterial authority.

He brings to his role as the Cardinal  Archbishop of Sydney an enormous range of expertise and experience in the lay world, in Episcopal duties and as a member of the Vatican Curia. He is widely sought after as an eminent scholar  and guest lecturer  to address audiences in Australia  and other parts of the world. This is reflected in the wide range of issues discussed in this book and the diversity of the audiences addressed over the years. 

The book is edited by his personal secretary, Dr. Michael Casey. Following  a short foreword and introduction,  its contents are grouped into two main sections: 1. Catholicism  and Democracy; and 2. Faith, Reason and Life. In section 1, Cardinal Pell explores the role of the Church in modern secular society founded on democratic principles that evolved over several centuries but which  assumed a particular  urgency following the totalitarian  disasters of the 20th century.  He outlines the necessity for the Church to become involved in the public debates and lobbies that shape public policy and legislative processes that in the end will determine the nature of our national  culture , its system of developing behavioural norms and values, as well as its concepts of good and evil, what is beauty and ultimately what is truth and what is freedom. He also tackles the vexed question of human rights and sounds a warning about the legitimacy of some claims that he labels the "pseudo-rights of modernity." In this regard, the chapter on Catholicism and Democracy is worthy of special study.  

These discussions naturally lead into the topics covered in section  2. He approaches these subjects by implicitly asking questions that go beyond the ambience of scientific   methodology.  The first essay sets the tone - God, Evolution and Consilience . "Surely what we require is a dialectic of science with art, ethics, the social sciences, and religion. Without this we risk a very adult science with very adolescent ethics, and this is something we cannot afford with new scientific breakthroughs in genetics and related fields announced every day."  His Eminence  alludes to such questions as the nature of Man, his/her  beginning and end, their ponderings, their sense of good and evil, their sense of transcendence, their wonder about creation or evolution, their ability to reason, their sense of guilt and even of redemption, their drive to ask complex questions of why, what, and when things are what they are and where is Man going. 

This all opens up the fields of philosophy, religion, science,  history and the question of the  existence of God. Cardinal Pell covers these issues in several essays and expands into the concept of Divine revelation and the responsibilities  of those who are empowered to transmit these messages.

A welcome feature of this book is found in the footnotes of each essay. They reveal the breadth of his  sources  which  go far beyond the expected range of one who has the busy schedule of a metropolitan Archbishop. Moreover one discovers some of the richness  to be found in the works of many contemporary Catholic  writers as well as in the works of Pope John Paul II and the present Pope, Benedict XVI. The bibliography is very comprehensive and is well supported by the index.

This publication is an excellent  exposition of the famous words of Christ Himself - "to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." It adds the dimension of the commission that Christ entrusted to his disciples to engage the world in the message that He had imparted to them. It is written  in a lucid style and for an audience far wider than the ones addressed when each essay was presented. Highly recommended. 

Dr. Joe Santamaria, FRACP, FAFPHM, MMed,  received the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for work in Community Medicine in  Alcoholism, Drug Addiction & Road Safety. He is  Foundation Chairman, St. Vincent’s Bioethics Centre; Member,  Pontifical Academy for Life;  Foundation President, Family Council of Victoria; Past National Chairman, Australian Family Association; & Past National Chairman,  Thomas More Centre.  He is married with 5 children and 16 grandchildren.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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