Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Foreword
Chapter 2 Prologue
Chapter 3 1. The Triumph of Christianity
Chapter 4 2. Beowulf (521-800?)
Chapter 5 3. Moses Maimonides (1135 - 1204)
Chapter 6 4. Thomas Aquinas ( 1224 - 1274)
Chapter 7 5. Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321)
Chapter 8 6. Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 - 1375)
Chapter 9 7. Geoffrey Chaucer (1340 - 1400)
Chapter 10 8. Thomas More (1478 - 1535)
Chapter 11 9. Martin Luther (1483 - 1548)
Chapter 12 10. Michel Eÿquem de Montaigne (1533 - 1592)
Chapter 13 11. Christopher Marlowe (1564 - 1593)
Chapter 14 12. Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662)
Chapter 15 13. Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
Chapter 16 14. Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809)
Chapter 17 15. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860)
Chapter 18 16. Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882)
Chapter 19 17. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)
Chapter 20 18. The Modern Greek Character and Islam
Chapter 21 19. A Memo to Prostestants
Chapter 22 20. Public Funds and Church-sponsored Schools
Chapter 23 21. Reason versus Revelation Reconsidered
Chapter 24 22. Morality and the Law of Abortion
Chapter 25 23. Animal Sacrifices and the Sacrifice of Morality
Chapter 26 24. On Physician-assisted Suicide
Chapter 27 25. Mortality and Happiness
Chapter 28 26. The Case for Israel
Chapter 29 Epilogue
Chapter 30 Appendices: Further Thoughts on the Moral Challenges of Our Time
Chapter 31 A. European Jews, Their "Christian" Neighbors, and the Holocaust (2000)
Chapter 32 B. On the Right to Live as a Beggar: Reflections by Moonlight (2001-2002)
Chapter 33 C. On Knowing Oneself: Projections and Introspection (2003)
Chapter 34 D. On Facts and Theories: Lessons for Law Students from Ptolemy's Astronomy (2004)
Chapter 35 E. Christmas Stories (2004)
Chapter 36 F. Still Another Look at Taoism (2005)
Chapter 37 G. On the Apparent Knowability of the Good (2005)
Chapter 38 H. On Properly Knowing Oneself (2006)
Chapter 39 I. Come, All Ye Faithful: St. John Chrysostom and the Meaning of Christmas (2006)
Chapter 40 J. An Academic Autobiography, by Way of St. Thomas and St. Ignatius (2008)
Chapter 41 K. Struggles for the Soul of Christendom (2008)
Chapter 42 L. On Truly Knowing What One is Trying to Do: The Mystery of Evil (2008)
Chapter 43 M. Glimpses of Leo Strauss, Jacob Klein, and St. John's College (2009)

About the Author

George Anastaplo, author of numerous books, teaches at the University of Chicago, Loyola University, and Dominican University.

Reviews

George Anastaplo clearly knows what is "in" these parts of the Christian heritage, and he wants to teach others. But he knows he cannot succeed, even among intellectually high-powered college and post-graduate and "Great Books" readers who enliven his natural habitats, unless he gets their curiosity roused. Instead of using PowerPoint or a megaphone…he insinuates his way into the consciousness and consciences…of those who claim the Christian heritage and would push what they think are its values on others.
*Martin E. Marty, from the foreword*

George Anastaplo is the master of the unexpected question that throws a new light on whatever work or topic is being discussed. The essays Anastaplo brings together in this work are certainly unexpected and surprising, but the reader will discover things that he did not notice; he will learn of a mode of reading that he will seldom if ever encounter elsewhere; and he will be led to insights that could not otherwise be evoked. The essays range from literary works (Beowulf, Dante, Chaucer), to philosophic themes (Aquinas on natural law), to reflections on such issues as publicly funded church schools, animal sacrifices, abortion laws, and the relation of the First Amendment of the U. S. Constitution to reason and revelation, and much more.
*Leo Paul S. de Alvarez, University of Dallas*

In essays on topics from Dante to Darwin, this work by George Anastaplo, returns to Judaism and to Greek antiquity in an attempt to understand both the roots and consequences of a Christian Heritage that the author presents as being also the American Heritage. Readers of these intriguing reflections will enjoy a rare combination of wide learning and a sportive, playful mind.
*Christopher Colmo, Dominican University*