originally published 5/1/1999

Donald McCullough, theologian and author of Say Please, Say Thank you: The Respect We Owe One Another, discusses his insights into the increasingly coarse nature of society and the theological foundations for courtesy. McCullough thinks that the world is becoming more and more coarse as life becomes more intense and the world more populated and as the American lifestyle increases in busyness. The desire to be dramatic in a coarse age requires further corrosion of civility as greater shock value is needed to make a dramatic point. McCullough sees the civil and courteous life as a result of the worship of God. This life is one of reverence for God and knowledge that all men and women are his children. God’s care for all humanity comes to a climax in the incarnation of Christ, where the Church sees the Creator in the Savior of the world.

12 minutes

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