Liberal Protestantism without Protestantism

After World War II universities often added religious programs. But these seldom touched the heart of the enterprise. Mainstream American Protestants typically saw religion as an add-on, in contrast to John Henry Newman’s Catholic Idea of a University with theology and philosophy at the center. Nathan Pusey’s efforts to strengthen religion at Harvard illustrate the problem. Will Herberg and John Courtney Murray each pointed out the limits of generalized American religion. Religion departments acted as a palliative. But especially in the 1960s legitimate concerns for pluralism and diversity undermined specifically Protestant teachings in favor of a generalized ethic, as illustrated by Harvey Cox in The Secular City. Mainline Protestant campus ministries declined rapidly in the later 1960s. By the 1970s and 1980s ideals of inclusiveness displaced any specifically Protestant heritage. Some see a “cultural triumph of liberal Protestantism,” but the laudable inclusive ideals by themselves also bring cultural fragmentation.

John Courtney Murray

This chapter offers an insight on the intellectual relationship between Reinhold Niebuhr and John Courtney Murray, SJ. Newly discovered archival documents highlight their roles as consultants to the Basic Issues Program of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions (CSDI), established in 1957. The activities of the programme were based on debates pertaining to topics including religious pluralism, civic unity, and natural law. Niebuhr and Murray had the opportunity to present their perspectives on the United States religious landscape and the issues raised by ecumenical and social relations between the Protestant majority and the Catholic minority. What emerges from their confrontation is not a search for conciliation, but rather a representation of Reinhold Niebuhr’s understanding of pre-conciliar Catholic theology and John Courtney Murray’s effort to contribute to the acknowledgement of Catholics within American history and society.

Introduction

This chapter focuses on how Roman Catholics became prominent players in conservative circles and provides an understanding on the affinity and tension between national and Roman Catholic traditions and ideals. It describes John F. Kennedy's kind of Roman Catholicism, which Americans and the press found acceptable. It also mentions John Courtney Murray, who was considered a potential breakthrough for Roman Catholicism that harmonizes church teaching with national ideals, unlike Kennedy whose electoral victory was an example of religious indifference. The chapter talks about Pope Leo XIII's 1899 condemnation of Americanism or adjustment of the church to freedom, democracy, and popular sovereignty as Roman Catholics were still laboring under papal opposition to modernity in the 1950s. It refers to John T. Noonan, Jr., who authored important books about the church's evolving moral theology.

It's About Liberty

While there are legitimate concerns about the sweeping character of Deneen’s indictment of liberalism’s anthropology and political theory and its impact on American society—in particular, his tendency to make the story of creation and instantiation of liberalism simpler than it actually is, to reduce the Constitution to a simple expression of liberal political philosophy, and not be specific about the actual accomplishments of liberalism—his overarching argument about liberalism and its trajectory is ultimately convincing, as is his critique of its understanding of liberty. The historical experience of American Catholics and the thought of two of its leading thinkers—Orestes Brownson and John Courtney Murray—support Deneen’s argument that a false understanding of liberty has been part of our American culture and provide guidance as to how a true understanding might be articulated and instantiated.

Encouraging Coreligionists in the Academy

Furfey pursued an intellectual apostolate according to which he advanced social justice in theory and practice through his scholarship and correspondence. In the mid-1930’s Furfey concentrated on developing and articulating a specifically Catholic response to social problems. He revised his objective, concentrating on developing a Catholic technique and corresponding foundational Catholic motivation to address social problems. Furfey advanced and defended his position in print, writing several books and many articles on the topic, and through voluminous correspondence with leading Catholic intellectuals in the United States. Il Poverello House and Fides House represented his and his colleagues’ attempt to develop a social reform technique that was both thoroughly Catholic and rigorously scientific. He received support and cooperation from his colleagues at CUA and in the broader Catholic community. A rift emerged at his home institution. Mary Elizabeth Walsh most prominently supported and advanced supernatural sociology while Gladys Sellew wavered, expressing distress and dissatisfaction with respect to the meaning and application of supernatural sociology. The chapter also considers the challenges to Furfey’s theological society levelled by Raymond McGowan, Wilfred Parsons, and John Courtney Murray.