Bøger af Adrian Reimers

​​One of the most studied and critiqued documents of the papal magisterium is largely spoken of with regards to moral theology and the refutation of modern error. Yet Adrian Reimers points out that, as affirmed by this encyclical, the moral life is itself a realm of love and freedom, a place of intimacy with the Creator as much as interaction with others. Reimers is eager to show that the Encyclical is more innovative than it looks, just as morality is not just about the correction of error. It is not content to defend the traditional positions; it traces the paths of a profound renewal in the presentation of Catholic morality. "We would gladly say that it performs a kind of discreet revolution in the conception of Christian morality, affecting the very bases that support it." The publication of Veritatis Splendor met with vigorous opposition and even rejection within the Catholic theological community. But in Veritatis Splendor John Paul II addresses these contemporary conceptions, including dissention, coming to grips with the roots of the modern errors that have resulted in the loss of transcendence. However, the scope of Veritatis Splendor is far broader than evil and judgment of sin. The pope addresses such issues as conscience, intrinsically evil acts, and the theory of fundamental freedom. Inevitably, these discussions revolve around how to conceive the nature of the human act and the conception of natural law. This present work examines this encyclical against the backdrop of the philosophers with whom Karol Wojtyla engaged in his own philosophical project. Of central concern to Wojtyla throughout his career were the nature and prerogatives of the human person. Among his most frequent modern interlocutors were David Hume, Immanuel Kant, the utilitarian school, and Max Scheler. The program of Wojtyla's philosophical corpus is to present an alternative account of the human person to that which has marked the post-Enlightenment world. Having shared in the sufferings of his native Poland under the Nazi occupation and then as a scholar working in Communist Poland, Wojtyla was keenly aware of the forms of materialism which formed the environment of his own life and work. He offers not only his own analyses but also provides a model for engaging with the contemporary culture. Veritatis Splendor is a timeless examination of human, personal acts that challenges the post-modern conception of morality, love, and freedom. Reimers reorients this presentation for contemporary readers and invites readers who may have missed this foundational treatment to incorporate it into the questions and issues of our own times.

Does the human being really have a soul? Is the idea of 'soul' a matter of religious faith? If science cannot detect the soul, how can reasonable people speak of it? The Soul of the Person is a contemporary account of the metaphysical basis for the transcendence of the human person. In being directed toward truth, beauty, and goodness, the human person transcends the physical order and reveals himself as a spiritual, as well as a material, being. The metaphysical principle for this transcendence is what we call the soul. In this book, Adrian Reimers presents a rereading and interpretation of Thomas Aquinas's account of human nature. The book's argument is based principally on two modern thinkers: Charles Sanders Peirce and his theory of habit and sign, and Karol Wojtyla and his notion of the transcendence of the acting person. According to Reimers, the person is constantly in the process of self-realization, which occurs through the rational adoption and development of habits. "Rationality" is not a purely mental phenomenon; rather, it imbues our entire being. The human person forms his behavior--habits--rationally according to his ideals of what is truly good, even if that vision of the good is flawed, incomplete, or unacknowledged. This development of habits directed toward values is the root of the person's consciousness of self. Furthermore, the values by which one forms his life define the self that he more clearly becomes as a person. The rational principle by which he develops these habits is called the soul. The text concludes with an explanation of the immortality of the soul. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Adrian J. Reimers is adjunct assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author An Analysis of the Concepts of Self-Fulfillment and Self-Realization in the Thought of Karol Wojtyla, Pope John Paul