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In defense of “society”

released 5/16/2025

The development in 19th-century Catholic social thought of the idea of society as a spiritual and cultural reality is one of the themes in this Feature with Dr. Russell Hittinger. In addition to the contribution of Pope Leo XIII and the revival of Thomistic thought within Catholic social teaching, Hittinger discusses the significance of marital notions to society, the limits of the idea of social contract, the effect of an increasing proportion of Muslims on European social thought, and how modern democracies have abandoned the project of understanding public life in moral terms.

This Feature was originally released as a Mars Hill Audio Conversation.

67 minutes

PREVIEW

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Related reading and listening

  • A brief for “prophetic Thomism” — David Decosimo on assuming a charitable posture toward pagan virtue
  • Privacy and a right to kill —
    FROM VOL. 60
    Russell Hittinger explains the legal history behind the “right to privacy” and how it was used in landmark cases involving abortion and physician-assisted suicide. (33 minutes)
  • Mars Hill Audio Journal, Volume 133 — FEATURED GUESTS: Darío Fernández-Morera, Francis Oakley, Oliver O’Donovan, Thomas Storck, John Safranek, Brian Brock, and George Marsden
  • Mars Hill Audio Journal, Volume 81 — FEATURED GUESTS: Nigel Cameron, Joel James Shuman, Brian Volck, Russell Hittinger, Mark Noll, and Stephen Miller
  • Russell Hittinger on Church, State, and Catholic Social Teaching — Dr. Russell Hittinger discusses the development in 19th-century Catholic social thought of the idea of society as a spiritual and cultural reality. (60 minutes)
Tags: Catholic social teachingHittinger, RussellPope Leo XIIIThomism

Our latest Friday Feature:

Catholic social teaching



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Books being discussed:

Brady Stiller, Your Life Is a Story: G. K. Chesterton and the Paradox of Freedom

Tiffany Schubert, Jane Austen’s Romantic Medievalism: Courtly Love and Happy Endings

Joonas Sildre, Between Two Sounds: Arvo Pärt’s Journey to His Musical Language


Lecturers to hear:

Anthony Bradley on polarization

Makoto Fujimura on creation care

Andrew Willard Jones on a humane world

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Since 1993 — with the help of hundreds of interviewees — we’ve been exploring the complex factors that have given modern Western culture its distinctive (and often disturbing) character. We also try to describe what cultural life — its practices, beliefs, and artifacts — might look like if it was the product of thoughtful Christian imaginations. We hope our growing treasury of conversations and commentary provides resources for faithfulness in an often perplexing moment.

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