Reflecting Modernity

I’d like to thank Rick Garnett for his kind invitation to join the conversation at Mirror of Justice, and apologize for my tardiness in jumping into these stimulating conversations.  I have many excuses, but I think they are better left unpublished.  So, let me simply express my hope that blogging will become less unnatural for me – and therefore more frequently practiced – as time goes on. 

As many of you know, I am on leave from Ave Maria School of Law (where fellow MOJ-er, Richard Myers, is my colleague) and am currently an Associate Director at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture.  As Rob so graciously acknowledged, the Center just wrapped up what I will humbly describe as an exceptional conference, Modernity:Yearning for the Infinite.  In an address to the Doctrinal Commissions of the Bishops’ Conferences of Latin America at Guadalajara, Mexico in 1996, then Cardinal Ratzinger explored the now-familiar theme of the “dictatorship of relativism” – described by him as the central problem for the faith in modern times.  Cardinal Ratzinger’s reflective words in the final paragraph inspired the title of our conference: “In man there is an inextinguishable yearning for the infinite.  None of the answers attempted are sufficient.  Only the God himself who became finite in order to open our finiteness and lead us to the breadth of his infiniteness responds to the question of our being.”  Our aim was to bring together a large number of respected scholars representing all the main academic fields, from Catholic, non-Catholic, and secular institutions, to engage in a spirited discussion of the the intellectual epoch we have come to call modernity.  In doing so, we were able to host a number of distinguished scholars and Rob rightly mentioned the lectures of Alasdair MacIntyre, Steven Smith and Peter Griffiths as particular highlights of the weekend.

The Center’s annual fall conference is distinguished by its interdisciplinary format, as it provides scholars from a wide variety of disciplines the opportunity to meet one another, to engage one another in intellectual discussion and debate and to share collegial conversation over meals – surely a foretaste of the heavenly banquet!  But, one of the unique aspects of the Center’s annual fall conference is the number of papers and talks delivered by scholars of all sorts – not only distinguished professional academics – but also students (graduate, undergraduate and sometimes even high school students), members of religious communities, homemakers and even a practicing attorney!  In addition to the 15 invited speakers, we had over 100 papers delivered regarding the impact of modernity upon work in philosophy, theology, law, literature, the arts, as well as other fields of intellectual inquiry and endeavor. 

The interdisciplinary nature of the conference being properly lauded, there were a fair number of legal presentations.  I will briefly mention a few.  Bruce Frohnen, Kevin Lee and Nora O’Callaghan, all of Ave Maria School of Law, and MOJ-er, Rob Vischer, participated in a panel discussion entitled, “The Crisis of Modern Law and Legal Theory.”   Richard Stith, of Valparaiso Univ. School of Law, spoke about the politicization of judicial interpretation in “Realists, Madmen and the Death of Law.”  Lee Strang, of Ave Maria, spoke on “The Enlightenment, American Legal Thought, and the Unfulfilled Quest.  George Smith, my former colleague at The Catholic University of America, presented “Biotechnology, Spirituality, Modern Science and Law: Shaping or Testing the New Modernity? (or, The Curse of the Itching Ears).”  Finally, John Stinneford, Univ. of St. Thomas School of Law, presented "Criminal Punishment in America": Modernity's Role in Vindicating and Undermining Human Dignity."  Abstracts of all conference papers are available here, and videos of the invited lectures will be posted on our website in the new year.

And what did that practicing attorney talk about?  In “Modernity and Imagination,” Aaron Potter argued that, in modernity, man has lost the sense that imagination represents something that is real. Rather than escape reality, or reject imagination, he hopefully called for a renewed discipline of the human imagination, which “exercised aright can lead us back to reality.”  Well said, and - coming from the trenches of a modern law firm - truly reflective of this rich and diverse conference.