Culture | Life Issues | Literature | Political Thought
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
6:00 pm EDT - 7:00 pm EDT
Live Streamed
This is a book about hope in the midst of a polarized culture. Camosy begins with a hopeful starting point in the midst of a crumbling US political culture: two of every three Americans constitute an exhausted majority who reject right/left polarization and are open to alternative viewpoints. Especially at this time of realignment, we have been given a unique moment to put aside the frothy, angsty political debates and think harder about our deepest values.
A Consistent Life Ethic, especially one which embraces Pope Francis’ challenge to resist throwaway culture, has the capacity to unite people who for the last several decades imagined themselves in a polarized culture war.
On issues ranging from hook-up culture, reproductive technology, abortion, euthanasia, poverty, immigration, treatment of animals, and mass incarceration, this book articulates a new moral vision in which a culture of encounter and hospitality replaces a consumer culture in which the most vulnerable get used and discarded as so much trash. At bottom, Camosy offers readers a golden opportunity to dialogue about what kinds of values should serve as the foundation for a new political culture.
Book signing and reception to follow the lecture.
Camosy diagnoses America’s current ills better than anyone and offers the most compelling and hopeful way forward of anybody I’ve read. Unlike a lot of pro-life activists, he doesn’t shy away from the most difficult moral issues of our time. Indeed, he embraces them, even as he dismantles modern America’s “throwaway culture.” I don t always agree with Charlie on everything, but if you’re looking for a coherent argument and compassionate worldview delivered by someone with the credentials to reach a sophisticated and cynical world this is the only book of its kind.
Matt Lewis
Senior Columnist at the Daily Beast and CNN Political Commentator
This book is a must read, deep dive for anyone with questions about the sanctity and dignity of human life in contemporary society. Conservatives and liberals alike will cheer and loathe various chapters with equal fervor, once again making Professor Camosy impossible to pigeonhole as a partisan of any stripe. Agree or disagree, this work is an important contribution to the national conversation about a consistent life ethic.
Kelly M. Rosati
CEO of KMR Consulting and former VP of Advocacy for Children at Focus on the Family
Camosy has written a unique, deeply thoughtful book that merits the consideration of anyone who wishes to understand a Catholic approach to the intrinsic value and dignity of every human life. Though I may not agree with all of his conclusions, his arguments are well worth engaging
Alexandra DeSanctis
National Review Staff Writer
Charles C. Camosy is Associate Professor of Theological and Social Ethics at Fordham University.
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