On Thursday, March 17, in Washington, First Things Magazine will host a lecture, “The Social Vision of Leo XIII,” by Russell Hittinger. Those interested can RSVP here. Here’s a description:
Despite some great successes, especially during the post-war era, the picture eventually turned cloudy for the threefold model of human social life. First, what Pope John Paul II called the “anthropological crisis” deeply eroded confidence in a normative account of institutions. Beginning with marriage and family, the three necessary societies began to be seen as merely optional elements of individual lifestyle—choices and contracts reducible to personal preference or global economics.
Whereas the problem for the better part of two centuries was how to reduce the rivalry and conflict between the three necessary societies, today the main issue is a human sociability set free from normative institutions. We have entered a time perplexities—a time of doubt and suspicion about social order that transcends private exchanges and distributions. We are in the fluidly “prophetic” era of Pope Francis. What does this mean for human society in its three basic institutions? Can peace still be made between them?
Russell Hittinger, Warren Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Tulsa, will take up these questions in a public lecture held at The Catholic University of America on Thursday, March 9th, 2017. The event is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a reception with refreshments.