Ever Ancient, Ever New

Ruminations on the City, the Soul, and the Church

By (author) Ernest L. Fortin Edited by Michael P. Foley

Not available to order

Publication date:

07 October 2007

Length of book:

388 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780742579170

More than any other thinker in the twentieth century, Ernest L. Fortin, A.A. (1923-2002) resuscitated the study of political philosophy for Catholic theology. Fortin's interests and accomplishments were vast, ranging from the Church Fathers, to Dante and Aquinas, to modern rights, American democracy, and Catholic social justice. His dispassionate scholarly heft was animated by a pressing drive to understand and rise above the crises of our times, and it was applied with a gingerly and accessible touch. Consequently, Fortin's writings are among the most lucid, perceptive, and enjoyable that one will ever read. Ever Ancient Ever New is the fourth and final volume of Ernest Fortin's collected essays, compiled and edited after his death by his archivist and student Michael Foley. While it echoes the themes of the earlier three volumes-showcasing the essays that made Fortin such an authority in his field-Ever Ancient Ever New also includes articles never before published as well as articles on topics not represented in the earlier collections. Ever Ancient Ever New is indispensable for anyone wishing to continue their education in the wit and wisdom of Ernest Fortin or to begin learning from him for the first time.
The first three volumes of Ernest Fortin's works are fundamental contributions to the problem of modernity. In his analysis of rights, Catholic social thought, the state, and general questions of justice, Fortin has penetrated to the core of the misplacedideologies and enthusiasms that have appeared in religious circles. The welcome fourth volume of Fortin's works again covers the vast range that a political philosopher-theologian must cover to make the whole intelligible. Fortin's essays are a direct challenge to, and redirection of, the major trends in political philosophy in the modern era. Few writing in intellectual circles today have Fortin's breadth of interest and profundity of analysis; his grasp of the classics and of modern theory is incomparable. Fortin is one of the few thinkers who take everything into consideration-experience, history, philosophy, revelation, the tradition of reason. His is a remarkable example of an active philosophic mind at work which knows that the pursuit of truth isboth difficult and exhilarating. Fortin's works are not to be missed.