Books in Brief: John Courtney Murray and the Dilemma of Religious Toleration

John Courtney Murray and the Dilemma of Religious Toleration, by Keith J. Pavlischek (Thomas Jefferson University Press, 161 pp., $58.50 hardcover, $22.50 softcover)

According to the author, a dilemma of religious toleration has arisen, because we no longer share rational grounds on which to agree on the common good for human life. Thus we have turned from the Moral Esperanto (Jeffrey Stout) of universal moral principles to modus vivendi, an approach based upon political neutrality in regard to religious belief and practice. But this attempt to accommodate diverse moral interests and find points of possible convergence of support for religious institutions has been found problematic. Pavlischek, a Presbyterian scholar, finds an unresolved tension between these approaches to religious toleration at the heart of John Courtney Murray’s work, which accounts for his appeal to both progressive and neo-conservative Catholics. He places Murray’s thinking in dialogue with a variety of Catholic, Protestant, and secular theorists, including MacIntyre, Hauerwas, and Rawls. His two conclusions, that Murray’s position is basically ambiguous and the issue basically insoluble, will not satisfy everyone, but will provide an important tool for further reflection.

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Deal W. Hudson

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John Courtney Murray and the Dilemma of Religious Toleration, by Keith J. Pavlischek (Thomas Jefferson University Press, 161 pp., $58.50 hardcover, $22.50 softcover)

According to the author, a dilemma of religious toleration has arisen, because we no longer share rational grounds on which to agree on the common good for human life. Thus we have turned from the Moral Esperanto (Jeffrey Stout) of universal moral principles to modus vivendi, an approach based upon political neutrality in regard to religious belief and practice. But this attempt to accommodate diverse moral interests and find points of possible convergence of support for religious institutions has been found problematic. Pavlischek, a Presbyterian scholar, finds an unresolved tension between these approaches to religious toleration at the heart of John Courtney Murray’s work, which accounts for his appeal to both progressive and neo-conservative Catholics. He places Murray’s thinking in dialogue with a variety of Catholic, Protestant, and secular theorists, including MacIntyre, Hauerwas, and Rawls. His two conclusions, that Murray’s position is basically ambiguous and the issue basically insoluble, will not satisfy everyone, but will provide an important tool for further reflection.