Integralism and the Common Good: Selected Essays from The Josias (Volume 1: Family, City, and State)

Wisdom, in the full sense, is a matter of knowing something that is not subject to political deliberation, that is, the First Principle and Last End of all things. It includes understanding the order of all things from that Principle and to that End—an order that we, as human beings, ought to reflect and embody in our own actions and in our common life in society. The political implications of this truth have been obscured in the modern era by the errors of liberalism, which, granting human reason a false supremacy, makes of man's own deliberation the only measure of the good, even its originator. The result is that every society comes to be seen and treated as a conventional, contractual, artificial, collective egoism.

The authors whose writings appear in this volume—most of them first published at The Josias—share the conviction that there is urgent need to combat the errors of liberalism, both in the world and in the Catholic Church itself—for men cannot be truly happy unless their lives are integrated into the greater order that emanates from God. To overcome modern errors, a "broadening of reason" is necessary: we must draw upon the deepest sources of philosophical and theological wisdom, upon the deepest insights of human reason reflecting on the whole breadth of human experience, and upon the supernatural light of Divine Revelation.

This first volume of essays treats the main questions of practical philosophy: the principles of human action and the common goods of natural human communities, ranging from the smallest and most fundamental (the household) to the greatest and most encompassing (the political community). The second volume will be devoted to the relations of those natural communities to the supernatural Kingdom established by Christ.

ABOUT THE EDITORS:

EDMUND WALDSTEIN, O.Cist. is a monk of the Cistercian Abbey of Stift Heiligenkreuz in Austria, lecturer in moral theology at the Abbey's theological college, and parish priest of Gaaden and Sulz. Born in Italy and raised in the United States and Austria, he studied at Thomas Aquinas College in California, the Hochschule Benedikt XVI in Heiligenkreuz, and the University of Vienna, where he was promoted Doctor of Theology in 2019. His research has focused on eudemonism, the common good, Catholic integralism, and theological readings of literary fiction.

PETER A. KWASNIEWSKI is a former professor of theology, philosophy, music, and art history, a composer of sacred choral music, and author and speaker on topics concerning Catholic Tradition. He has written or edited fourteen books, including, most recently, The Ecstasy of Love in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas (Emmaus Academic, 2021) and Are Canonizations Infallible? (Arouca, 2021).