Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture

Preface Readers are aware that Logos identifies itself as an interdisciplinary journal exploring Catholic thought and culture. We should note that the interdisciplinary character of the journal does not reflect mere eclecticism or wide-ranging curiosity, but emerges directly from die fundamental nature of die Catholic intellectual tradition itself. That tradition encompasses and illuminates all dimensions of human culture. Our purpose is to seek that illumination wherever we can find it. This issue of Logos demonstrates some of die ways in which the Catholic intellectual tradition responds to fundamental questions concerning the human situation. What is die role of reason in contemporary moral and cultural life? asks Archbishop Joseph M. Zyzinski, and Russell Pannier in a different article goes on to ask about the role of reason in die process of making decisions.To what extent should Christians participate in civic life? ask Gerard B. Wegemer and Eric Reitan in separate articles, each offering different approaches to diis question. The economic sphere of public life is explored by Ernest S. Pierucci, Michael J. Naughton, and S. A. Cortright, who ask how the Catholic concept of property alters our understanding of the nature of the business corporation. Is diere a Catholic view of language that overcomes the ethical problems logos 2:4 fall 1999 logos inherent in the language of advertising? asks Raymond N. MacKenzie. Eduardo J. Echeverría, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, and Corrine L. Patton each ask about the Catholic view of the human person, Echeverría in an effort to show how the Catholic intellectual tradition overcomes the problems of modern individualism, FoxGenovese and Patton in an examination of the Catholic response to feminism.The articles taken together suggest that Catholic thought brings essential questions into focus and offers rich sources of illumination in response to such questions. We offer readers a set of pieces on Catiiolicism and feminism. In "Catholic and Feminist: Can One Be Both?," Elizabeth FoxGenovese observes that in answering this question everything depends upon the meaning ascribed to the words 'Catiiolicism' and 'feminism'. She suggests that Pope John Paul's reminders of the importance of women's special responsibility to children invite us "to formulate a Catholic understanding of feminism's mostgenerous goals."And she concludes tiiat"a Catholic feminism mustbe flexible and capacious enough to encompass human and divine love and all of the constraints and rewards that both afford." In "Catholic and Feminist: We Are Called to Be Both," Corrine L. Patton agrees with Fox-Genovese about the importance of defining 'Catholicism' and 'feminism', but offers alternative definitions of these terms. She suggests that Fox-Genovese has focused too exclusively on Mary, and taken too limited a view of the role of women. Patton writes: "If we must be essentialists, then let us accept the full play of images God has provided us for understanding ourselves, our relationship to God, and our relationships to each other."Elizabeth Fox-Genovese replies in "Response to Corrine L. Patton." Archbishop Joseph M. Zycinski in a profound reading of John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio, argues that the Catholic intellectual tradition is today the foremost defender of the value and significance of reason within contemporary culture. Archbishop Zycinski considers three different strands of contemporary culture that PREFACE reduce or eliminate the role of reason: fundamentalism, postmodernism , and pragmatism.The title of the article points to the crucial role to be played by a contemporary dialogue between faith and culture: "Catholicism in the Dialogue with Contemporary Culture accordingto Fides etRatio." Human freedom and human dignity must be defended by nurturing respect for the rational element of culture, and this article highlights important areas where this dialogue must take place in contemporary culture. Gerard B.Wegemer takes up another fundamental question concerning Christians and the broader communities in which they live: "Why Would a Christian Participate in Civic Life? The Case of Thomas More."The question might be seen as an implied criticism of the "other-worldly" character of Christians who find the ultimate foundation of their lives beyond the realm of the here and now. Wegemer shows how in both action and word Thomas More responded to this criticism by demonstrating that Christians understand civic duty...