Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.: Who Are You?

James V. Schall, S.J. (1928-2019), who served as a professor at Georgetown University for thirty-five years, was one of the most prolific Catholic writers in America. Among his many books are The Mind That Is Catholic, The Modern Age, Political Philosophy and Revelation: A Catholic Reading, Reasonable Pleasures, Docilitas: On Teaching and Being Taught, Catholicism and Intelligence, and, most recently, On Islam: A Chronological Record, 2002-2018.

Note: Today is the fifth anniversary of the death of our friend, priest, philosopher, and TCT contributor, Fr. James Schall, SJ. In tribute, we publish here one of his pieces from 2019, as well as a column by one of the many whom Fr. Jim inspired to take the risk of studying philosophy. Dr. Wood refers to three philosophers – the ancients Plato and Aristotle, and a contemporary, Msgr. Robert Sokolowski – all of whom Fr. Jim held in particular esteem. We remember him with the greatest affection, admiration, and gratitude. Requiescat in pace.

At least four famous, not-often-enough-repeated Aristotelian questions can be asked of any given thing when we try to figure out what and why it is. They are: 1) “What is it?” – a tree, a rabbit, a planet? 2) “Is it?” That is, does it exist rather than not exist? Does it stand outside of nothingness? 3) Who or what put it into motion or into being? 4) “Why is it in existence?” What is the reason for which it now exists?

Of human beings, we can add a further question: “Who are you?” That is, each of us has a particular, singular, unrepeatable existence unlike any other being that ever existed, but we are still human. Each human “what” is a “you.”

We have a formal cause, a material cause, an efficient cause, and a final cause. We see that these different causes are needed to explain something real about what we encounter in the things that are. …

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Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.: Who Are You?

The Unsinkable Saint Who Missed the Titanic, by Joseph Pronechen

Baltimore Archbishop Says Latin Mass Will Be Suppressed at All Parishes, FSSP Mass Will Continue, by Emily Mangiaracina

By Fr. James V. Schall, S.J, The Catholic Thing, April 17, 2024

Of human beings, we can add a further question: “Who are you?” That is, each of us has a particular, singular, unrepeatable existence unlike any other being that ever existed, but we are still human. Each human “what” is a “you.”

We have a formal cause, a material cause, an efficient cause, and a final cause. We see that these different causes are needed to explain something real about what we encounter in the things that are. …

Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.: Who Are You?

The Unsinkable Saint Who Missed the Titanic, by Joseph Pronechen

Baltimore Archbishop Says Latin Mass Will Be Suppressed at All Parishes, FSSP Mass Will Continue, by Emily Mangiaracina

By Fr. James V. Schall, S.J, The Catholic Thing, April 17, 2024

Of human beings, we can add a further question: “Who are you?” That is, each of us has a particular, singular, unrepeatable existence unlike any other being that ever existed, but we are still human. Each human “what” is a “you.”

We have a formal cause, a material cause, an efficient cause, and a final cause. We see that these different causes are needed to explain something real about what we encounter in the things that are. …

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