Thursday, October 13, 2005

Eugene McCarraher



Academic Homepage

His Dissertation

Joel Garver turned me onto a great article through his post "mccarraher on the enchantments of mammon." For those that would like to read the entire article (33 pages), contact me via email. It's a dense read (McCarraher is no light-weight), but it's very, very good. Ontologically speaking, it goes straight to the heart of the very serious problems with capitalism in response to the whole Neocon argument in favor of it. The above mentioned article is a must-read.

Another article related to this topic is as follows:
Mammon's Deady Grin: The New Gospel of Wealth and the Old Gospel of Life

tNP - Christian Intellectuals, Embedded and Otherwise

Professor scorns Novak's reversal of views - controversy over views on capitalism between Michael Novak and Eugene MaCarraher

FTs - Controversial Engagements by Michael Novak
On March 19, 1998, the young social historian Eugene McCarraher delivered a portion of his doctoral thesis as a lecture at the Cushwa Center of the University of Notre Dame. His subject was Michael Novak, "The Technopolitan Catholic." Though the lecture was highly critical of Novak’s work...
Catholic social teaching and the American experience - McCarraher, Novak, & others (bad printer-friendly link)

Commonweal - You Catholic? Here’s how to vote by Mary Jo Bane, Eugene McCarraher, & George Weigel

Commonweal - Theology at the barricades. This article is a great overview of the major thinkers in the Radical Orthodoxy camp.

Commonweal - 'The Long Loneliness' at 50

Is It Worth Paying to Cut to the Head of the Line? Locke squares off against Aquinas in the fast lane.

Restore All Things in Thomas? American Catholic intellectuals in the Progressive era

Eugene McCarraher, "'An Industrial Marcus Aurelius': Corporate Humanism, Management Theory, and Social Selfhood, 1908-1956"

History and the Revolution...

Marxists for Christ

In These Times Archives

Syllabus for American Religious History - a great resource for authors and books to read...

Older related posts include the following:

SMILE WHEN YOU SAY 'LAITY'

Read below, this quote should put a smile on all of my Neocon friends :-)
I take it on socialist and Catholic principles of ‘solidarity’ that we should reduce in every way we can the ability of the wealthy both to control and degrade the non-wealthy — in this case by visibly asserting their ability to exempt themselves from rules and conventions — and to erode the sense of commonality which is essential to any flourishing democracy. - Eugene McCarraher, history professor, Villanova University, on new ways in which the wealthy can pay to avoid lines

5 comments:

ben said...

Thank you for posting these resources. McCarraher is new to me as well. I especially enjoyed "Mammon's Deadly Grin: The New Gospel of Wealth and the Old Gospel of Life".

The "money quote" there that will engender a strong reaction from your Whig/Thomist readership is:

"Capitalism, I sumbit to you, is the political economy of the culture of death, and the business corporation is its bogus ecclesial vehicle."

He is hard on Novak. To say that Novak's theology is "the baptismal font in which a lot of dirty money was laundered" is a harsh criticism. However, if one truly beleives that the mdern corporation is the agent of the antichrist offering up oblations to Mammon, Such criticism could be understood as admonishing the sinner--a work of mercy.

Fr. D.L. Jones said...

Dr. McCarraher just wrote me and thanked me for the post, but it is I who must thank him for his thought!

I agree with Stephen that it probably will not cause a conversion for Novak even though miracles are possible. What McCarraher's thought does very well though is to point to the errors of the Whig Thomist's beliefs, especially in regards to capitalism. It really hits the nail on the head.

Christopher Blosser said...

That's the question: "is the modern corporation the agent of the antichrist offering up oblations to Mammon"? -- The work of Fr. Sirico and Michael Novak will not cause a conversion for Stephen, even though miracles are possible.

Fr. D.L. Jones said...

One could add the names of Drs. David L. Schindler, Tracey Rowland, Stanley Hauerwas, and many other greatly respected Catholic and non-Catholic thinkers to Stephen & Dr. Eugene McCarraher. In my humble opinion as I stated above, ontologically speaking the Augustinian Thomists are more precise and true on this topic than the Whigs (Sirico, Novak & party).

Eric Lee said...

Although I haven't read it, you could add Steve Long and his Divine Economy: Theology and the Market to that list. A glance at the Table of Contents shows that there is some serious dialogue (and I'm sure critiques of) with Novakian thought concerning the market.

I think Long was actually a student of Hauerwas at Duke, so, I guess that makes sense! :)

Peace,

Eric