The public is invited to the Don Shula Spring Lecture titled “Anarchism, Catholicism, and Love” by Laurie Johnson on Thursday, April 3rd co-organized and co-funded by the Don Shula Chair in Philosophy, Institute of Catholic Studies, and Raymond and Eleanor Smiley Chair in Business Ethics. Special thanks to Nathan Jun, Paul Murphy, and Bernard Prusak for their efforts to help organize this event.
The two lines of reflection Fr. Pedro Arrupe emphasizes in his 1973 address— “to deepen our understanding of the idea of justice,” and “to determine the character and quality of the type of people we want to form”—are still highly relevant, especially for a mission oriented Jesuit institution like John Carroll. In this lecture, Dr. Johnson will help us continue these lines of reflections by asking the following questions: Christians aspire to love other people and come to their aid, but what is the best way to do those things? Is it through supporting the best political party and government programs? Is it primarily accomplished by supporting charitable aid through donating to their churches and aid organizations? Is it better to engage in direct action unmediated by either government or charitable organization?
Dr. Johnson will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each approach through the example of the Catholic Worker movement, its struggle to live in Christian solidarity through anarchic direct action, its fraught relationship with the Church, and with the US government. She will use themes from her latest book, The Gap in God’s Country to help us think more clearly about the choices we have when deciding how to love and help other people.
Laurie Johnson is Professor of Political Science and endowed Swogger Chair and Director of the Primary Texts Certificate at Kansas State University. She is the author of eight books and numerous book chapters and articles. Most of her work has involved developing a thorough understanding and critique of classical liberal theory, and includes works on Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Tocqueville. Building on that background to understand current ideological divisions, Ideological Possession and the Rise of the New Right: The Political Thought of Carl Jung, was published in 2019 by Routledge. Her latest book, The Gap in God’s Country: A Longer View on Our Culture Wars, was published in October, 2024 and addresses the Christian dimension of those divisions via a discussion of long term economic, technological and psychological trends. She also provides political philosophy and political theology content weekly on her Political Philosophy YouTube channel, currently with 24,000+ subscribers, and its associated podcast, associated with The Maurin Academy.
Info: 216.397.4375 (JCU Dept of Philosophy)
