George Weigel

Witness to Hope is the authoritative biography of one of the singular figures -- some might argue the singular figure -- of our time. With unprecedented cooperation from John Paul II and the people who knew and worked with him throughout his life, George Weigel offers a groundbreaking portrait of the Pope as a man, a thinker, and a leader whose religious convictions defined a new approach to world politics -- and changed the course of history. As even his critics concede, John Paul II occupied a unique place on the world stage and put down intellectual markers that no one could ignore or avoid as humanity entered a new millennium fraught with possibility and danger. The Pope was a man of prodigious energy who played a crucial yet insufficiently explored role in some of the most momentous events of our time, including the collapse of European communism, the quest for peace in the Middle East, and the democratic transformation of Latin America. This updated edition of Witness to Hope explains how this "man from a far country" did all of that, and much more -- and what both his accomplishments and the unfinished business of his pontificate mean for the future of the Church and the world.

In Catholicism and the Renewal of American Democracy, George Weigel clearly describes the erosion of the center in the American democracy and the disjointed and divisive politics of our contemporary situation. Throughout the book, one finds a hope that, despite the apparent decline of American democracy, the time is right for Catholicism to be viewed as a source of insight, virtue, and leadership. Weigel is faithful to his religious tradition, yet he is willing to see in the present chaos an opportunity for the constructive transformation of both the Catholic tradition and American democracy. He urges believers to seize this "Catholic moment55 and take an active role in society. -- From (Oct. 11, 2014).

Pope Leo XIII's 18891 encyclical "Rerum novarum" launched a century of reflection and argument on the Catholic Church's vision of the just society and international order. The centenary of this encyclical provides an opportunity to review the contributions the Church has made to the ongoing public debate over the pursuit of peace, freedom, security and prosperity. It is a lso a fitting time to assess the Church's ability to guide both its followers and the wider public on a host of contemporary issues. This collection of essays offers the views of ten commentators on the key documents of the Church's modern social doctrine. It also features a foreword by a renowned theologian, Richard John Neuhaus, and an ecumenical afterword by the Very Reverend Leonid Kishkovsky, president of the National Council of Churches.

How can an authoritative church avoid authoritarianism? How can a hierarchied church defend religious freedom and support the democratic revolution in world politics? George Weigel's exploration of these issues of the modern Catholic debate over freedom touches concerns far beyond Catholic circles. Essays on issues in the modern Catholic debate over freedom; includes the issues of authoritarianism/and authoritative church; the dialgue with modern science and the humanities/ancient religious tradition; a hierarchical church/religious freedom and democratic revolution in world politics; the war/peace debate; religious freedom as the first human right; and the religious argument over the American economy.

Mark A. Noll, Max L. Stackhouse, and George Weigel set the stage for an interdenominational conversation by exploring the current social-ethical situation in America from the evangelical Protestant, ecumenical Protestant, and Roman Catholic points of view. Other contributors - Carl E. Braaten, Jean Bethke Elshtain, J. Bryan Hehir, Christa R. Klein, Michael Novak, and Glenn Tinder - tackle some of the most controversial questions involving religion and public life today. Such as: the state of high and popular cultures; the meaning and boundaries of human freedom; abortion; war, peace, and the "new world order"; and poverty and economic development here and abroad. Among the seventeen respondents to the major essays are Alberto R. Coll, Mary Ann Glendon, Russell Hittinger, John P. Langan, S.J., George Lindbeck, Paul E. Sigmund, and William H. Willimon. Richard John Neuhaus closes the conversation by exploring the question, Can atheists be. Good citizens?

A powerful new interpretation of Catholicism's dramatic encounter with modernity, by one of America's leading intellectuals Throughout much of the nineteenth century, both secular and Catholic leaders assumed that the Church and the modern world were locked in a battle to the death. The triumph of modernity would not only finish the Church as a consequential player in world history; it would also lead to the death of religious conviction. But today, the Catholic Church is far more vital and consequential than it was 150 years ago. Ironically, in confronting modernity, the Catholic Church rediscovered its evangelical essence. In the process, Catholicism developed intellectual tools capable of rescuing the imperiled modern project. A richly rendered, deeply learned, and powerfully argued account of two centuries of profound change in the church and the world, The Irony of Modern Catholic History reveals how Catholicism offers twenty-first century essential truths for our survival and flourishing.

A concise catechism of the Catholic faith, with specific reference made to common objections of nonbelievers, by papal biographer Weigel (Witness to Hope, 1999, etc.). Weigel’s approach is unusual insofar as it proceeds from ten (often highly skeptical) queries (e.g., “Does Belief in God Demean Us?”), meant to reflect prevailing contemporary views, which the author addresses in the course of portraying the outlines of Catholic belief. The influence of Pope John Paul’s thinking on Weigel is evident from the start: He quotes the pope extensively, and he makes use of the pope’s distinctive terminology (the result of his philosophical training as a phenomenologist) throughout. The result, in consequence, shares many of the same strengths and weaknesses that keen-eyed observers have credited to the Holy Father himself: original, bold, and erudite, but also frequently obscure, highly analogical, and sometimes downright eccentric in its meaning. And, also like the current papacy, the author is wont to straddle the fence a good deal—arguing, for example, that the exclusion of women from Holy Orders does not entail a repudiation of postwar feminism and that the (vehemently antidemocratic) political doctrines of modern popes were not contradicted by the Second Vatican Council’s endorsement of religious freedom. But this is a refreshing account all the same, forthright in its unwillingness to gloss over controversial questions and highly original in its reliance on literary works (e.g., the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, the novels of Evelyn Waugh) to illustrate moral or philosophical arguments. In its contrast of the “brave new world” of modern technological man to the “better world” of the Church, it is very much a continuation of the underlying theme of Weigel’s biography of John Paul II. A bit too reverent to withstand scrutiny, this will find a welcome audience among believers but is unlikely to bring many others into their ranks.

George Weigel's bestselling biography of Pope John Paul II, Witness to Hope, set the standard by which all portraits of the modern papacy are now measured. With God's Choice, he gives us an extraordinary chronicle of the rise of Pope Benedict XVI as well as an unflinching view of the Catholic Church at the dawn of a new era.When John Paul II lapsed into illness for the last time, people flocked from all over the world to pray outside his apartment. He had become a father figure to millions in a world bereft of strong paternal examples, and those millions now felt orphaned. After more than twenty-six years of John Paul II's guidance, the Catholic Church is entering a new age, with its bedrock traditions intact but with pressing questions to address in a rapidly changing world. Beginning with the story of John Paul's final months, God's Choice offers a remarkable inside account of the conclave that produced Benedict XVI as the next pope, drawing on George Weigel's unrivaled access to this complex event.Weigel also incisively surveys the current state of the Church around the world: its thriving populations in Africa, Latin America, and parts of the post-communist world; its collapse in western Europe; its continued struggles in Asia; and the vibrancy of many aspects of Catholic life in the United States, even as the Church in America struggles to overcome its recent experience of scandal.Reflecting on John Paul II's greatness, drawing on firsthand interviews to paint an intimate portrait of the new Pope, and boldly assessing the Church's current condition, God's Choice is an invaluable book for anyone seeking to understand the Catholic future and the larger human future the Church will help to shape.

Can the EU make the world safe for democracy? Not if it continues to deny its Christian roots, says Weigel (The Truth of Catholicism, 2001, etc.). Weigel’s pithy polemic boldly assesses contemporary Europe. In his view, it’s in peril. Its traditional populations are shrinking, and millions of Muslims are immigrating to western Europe; within 30 or so years, the majority of teenagers in the Netherlands will be Muslim. The EU is bent on pedaling “soft power” instead of military might, diplomacy instead of coercion—all well and good if it works, but hawkish Weigel suspects that it won’t. What is the essence of the problem? It can been seen in the new EU constitution, which claims that European civilization grew from the soil of ancient Greece and the Enlightenment, making no mention of Christianity. Indeed, during the 2004 debate over the constitution, when lobbyists (including the pope) urged the EU to acknowledge Europe’s Christian heritage, a Swedish member of the constitutional convention thought these lobbyists were joking, and many other commentators worried that mention of Christianity’s role in shaping European mores might “exclude” non-Christians. (On that argument, Weigel wryly notes that the mention of the Enlightenment “excludes” postmodernists.) The author argues that this thin secularism, an agreement among Europeans to be officially neutral on matters of worldview, religion, and morality, will fail the very things the EU claims it wants to safeguard and promote: democracy and human freedom. It’s quite a provocative stance, but Weigel sprinkles his own conservative Catholicism so readily throughout the text that readers who might have been persuaded by the contours of his argument may well dismiss him as a right-wing nut. For example, admitting that America too has problems, he confines his list thereof to abortion, gay marriage, political correctness at universities, “courts usurping the prerogatives of legislatures,” and the like. No mention of, say, environmental degradation or unchecked consumerism. Sure to be much discussed—and possibly to be remarkably influential.

The curtain is rising on the Evangelical Catholicism of the third millennium. The Gospel-centered Evangelical Catholicism of the future will send all the people of the Church into mission territory every day, and Weigel proposes a deepening of faith-based and mission-driven Catholic reform that touches every facet of Catholic life. Mediocrity is not an option, and all Catholics, no matter what their station in life, are called to live the evangelical vocation into which they were baptized: without compromise, but with the joy, courage, and confidence that comes from living this side of the Resurrection.