The Age of Secularization & Pope Francis and the Caring Society

The Age of Secularization.  By Augusto Del Noce, translated by Carlo Lancellotti, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2017.

Pope Francis and the Caring Society.  Edited by Robert M. Whaples, Independent Institute, 2017.

The Age of Secularization and Pope Francis and the Caring Societyare both collections of essays that discuss major issues and problems affecting society.  The Age of Secularizationis one man’s analysis on what abandonment of religion and the Christian worldview has done to European society.  Pope Francis and the Caring Societyis an anthology written by several different scholars who attempt to address various problems facing the world, and how they think that the current pontiff is handling these issues, and what advice they would offer in order to make the planet a better place.

Augusto Del Noce has been dubbed one of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century by many pundits, though he is almost unknown in America at present.  An Italian scholar, Del Noce’s work is only recently being translated into English.  He was known for analyzing the political philosophies of Marxism and Fascism, as well as the socio-political consequences of atheism.  As a believer and a critic of modernity, Del Noce’s brought a fresh and analytic perspective to some important issues and trends. 

In the introduction to The Age of Secularization, the editor and translator Carlo Lancellottiwrites:

“First-time readers should keep in mind Del Noce’s habit of thinking in-history and through-history vis-à-vis his distinctive writing style.  He constantly goes back and forth in a dialectic process between historical situations and philosophical concepts, establishing feep and often surprising connections in a vast gallery of authors and ideas.  Organizationally, his preferred format is the essay, and almost all of his books are essay collections.  More than a stylistic preference, this is also a reflection of his fundamental disposition: philosophical questions arise for him inresponse to historical experience, and come as what he calls problems.  His typical procedure is to start from a “problem” (e.g., the rise of Fascism, or the affluent society, or the student movement), then identify its philosophical core, reconstruct its origins and development, and extrapolate it to its logical conclusions (often with remarkable predictive power).  Consequently, his writings are as varied, “discrete,” and apparently haphazard as history itself.  All of these characteristics are well exemplified by The Age of Secularization, which collects Del Noce’s reflections about the cultural changes of the 1960’s.”

The Age of Secularizationcontains essays such as “The Student Protests and Values,” “Tradition and Innovation,” “Technological Civilization and Christianity,” “The Dialogue between the Church and Modern Culture,” “The Political Predicament of Catholics,” and “On Catholic Progressivism.” Nearly all of them address a similar theme– what role do faithful Christians play in a secular society that is increasingly hostile to religion?   In the first part, the titular “The Age of Secularization,” Del Noce writes:

“Truly secularism has never been in a worse position, in the sense of being incapable of generating new ideals.  When it tries, it can only anoint contradictorily as “new value” what by nature is unaxiological,(what cannot be the foundation of values directly, even though it takes value through mediation): namely, science in its connection with technology, and primitiveness or vitality.  It can only re-propose two utopias, which ran through the whole modern age after being already present at its beginning.  But in the past they could bear a semblance of validity because they were associated with other values.  Today, on the contrary, they manifest themselves in a pure state, and the result is the peculiar combination of the greatest perfection of means with the greatest confusion about goals, which Einstein already regarded as the defining characteristic of our age many years ago.”

Del Noce’s essays are not easy reading, but they are rewarding and thought-provoking.  Dense but clever, Del Noce’s work will provide a refreshing view of our current culture and political systems and attitudes, though the reader will get what the reader puts into reading them.  The more one knows about modern and classical history and politics and philosophy, the richer one’s understanding of The Age of Secularizationwill be.

In comparison, Pope Francis and the Caring Societyaddresses various social, economic, and political issues that the authors wish use as a means of comparing their work to the comparable policies advocated by the current pope.  It should be noted that most of the criticisms are not directly aimed at theological matters, but rather at issues like widespread Argentinian attitudes towards capitalism, and controversies in environmental science.  

The essays in this book include Andrew M. Yuengert’s “Pope Francis, His Predecessors, and the Markey,” Gabriel X. Martinez’s “Uneven Playing Fields: Markets and Oligarchy,” A.M.C. Waterman’s “Pope Francis on the Environmental Crisis,” and Allan C. Carlson’s “The Family Economics of Pope Francis.”

In the introduction, Michael Novak writes:

“This marvelous book,Pope Francis and the Caring Society, is much needed and could not have come at a better time. Completed in response to Pope Francis’s invitation in Laudato si’to a dialogue on the economy, the environment, and charity, the book shares his commitment to Judeo-Christian teachings and institutions. In the process, the book’s authors are seeking constructively to engage and educate civic and business leaders and the general public to understand the legacy and meaning of the natural law, moral and economic principles of liberty, personal responsibility, enterprise, civic virtue, family and community, and the rule of law. 

The education of each pope begins anew when he is elected to office. For he is no longer a member of one nation only, but now of a universal community. He must learn, for example, about economics as practiced in other parts of the world besides his own. Notably, Pope John Paul II spent his youth under Nazism and then Communism and was not familiar with how life was lived under other economic and political systems. It took him a while to develop a universal vision in these arenas. Most of the Italian popes before him had similar experiences. Likewise, it would be odd if Pope Francis were not now expanding his own view of political and economic affairs.”

Most readers will find a lot of controversial opinions in both of these books, but as stated earlier, both books provide some thought-provoking explorations into the role that faith and Catholic doctrines can and ought to play in contemporary social policy.  Whatever one’s personal opinions on these matters, it is important to explore the nature of how we and others come by our worldviews and attitudes towards the systems that guide the globe, and to ask whyand howvarious ideas gain and keep popularity and currency.