On the Dignity of Society: Catholic Social Teaching and Natural Law

In this collection of essays, Francis Russell Hittinger shows that Catholic social teaching is not only an articulate defense of the dignity of the human person, but perhaps more fundamentally an elucidation of the dignity of society. Indeed, Hittinger enables us to see that one cannot properly defend the dignity of the person without also showing the dignity of societies in which human persons - as naturally familial, political, and ecclesial animals - seek their own perfection in communion with others. Hittinger has been a renowned scholar of Catholic social doctrine for some time now, and the essays presented here are the fruit of his mature thinking on the topic over the course of many years. As each chapter shows, Hittinger's historically important body of work on Catholic moral and social philosophy and theology is rooted in natural law theory and Thomistic philosophy, but also animated by St. Augustine's thought and thus consistently sensitive to historical contexts and arenas for moral and theological disputation. These magisterial essays therefore integrate historical studies of the development of Catholic social teaching with systematic exposition of the theological coherence of that tradition, while also articulating the essential role of philosophy and natural law within both.

The volume is divided into three parts. The first part is comprised of six essays on Catholic social teaching, the second part is made up of six essays on natural law and its role in social doctrine, and the third part includes two essays discussing the first principles of the Church's teaching on social issues. This collection will no doubt become a standard in the field of scholarship on Catholic social teaching.

Author: Russell Hittinger
Publisher: Catholic University of America Press
Published: 11/22/2024
Pages: 490
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.70lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780813238517

About the Author
F. Russell Hittinger is Warren Chair of Catholic Studies and Research Professor of Law at the University of Tulsa. Scott Roninger is associate professor of philosophy at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. Mary Ann Glendon is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a former United States Ambassador to the Holy See