Professor Emeritus of Political Science Alan Wolfe, former director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, has penned a book review for the New York Times of Religion and the Rise of Capitalism by Benjamin M. Friedman of Harvard University. Modern economics is highly mathematical, but Friedman shows in his new book that it had its origins in theology. For all its brilliance, writes Wolfe, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism is “mistitled; its overwhelming concentration is on only one religion, the Protestant one.” Read Wolfe’s complete book review.
Book review by Alan Wolfe
Gasson Lecture on Karl Jaspers
Boston College Gasson Professor Giovanni Pietro Basile, S.J., will present the Gasson Lecture on “Karl Jaspers: Philosophy of Existence as Event and Philosophia Perennis” on February 10 at 4:00 p.m Eastern Time. Professor Basile earned a doctorate in philosophy at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, and has taught at the Munich School of Philosophy and at the LMU Munich. Among his publications are two books – on Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason and on Kant’s Opus postumum – and several papers on Kant, Karl Jaspers, and Paul Ricœur. The Gasson Lecture will be presented in webinar format and pre-registration is required. Vice Provost and Canisius Professor of Theology James Keenan, S.J., will offer an introduction and Joseph Chair in Catholic Philosophy Dermot Moran will chair the event. Sponsors: Office of the Provost, Philosophy Department, and the Jesuit Institute.
Pedro Arrupe, S.J.
On the 30th anniversary of the death of Pedro Arrupe, S.J., the former superior general of the Society of Jesus, Jesuit Sources has released a long awaited English translation of his biography. Written by Pedro Miguel Lamet, Pedro Arrupe: Witness of the Twentieth Century, Prophet of the Twenty-First is based on extensive research Lamet conducted in Rome, Japan, and the Basque Country, as well as on interviews he did with Fr. Arrupe. Born in the industrial city of Bilbao, Pedro Arrupe (1907-1991) studied medicine in Madrid, but left medical school to join the Society of Jesus. During World War II he worked as a missionary in Japan, where he was accused of being a spy and imprisoned. He witnessed the explosion of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and he used his medical knowledge to attend to the victims. As Superior General, he became an agent of change in the Catholic Church of the 20th century. Many regard him as a prophet of the 21st century based on his vision regarding issues such as justice, globalization, the marginalization of women, and the plight of refugees, among other topics. This biography is a publication of IJS Studies–Research on Jesuits and the Society of Jesus, an imprint of Jesuit Sources, which is housed in the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies at Boston College.
Posted in Guest Authors
Tagged biography, Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, Jesuits
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Virtual book event for Shrayer
Professor of Russian, English, and Jewish Studies at Boston College Maxim D. Shrayer will read from and discuss his new book of interconnected poems, Of Politics and Pandemics: Songs of a Russian Immigrant, at a virtual book event organized by Belmont Books on February 11 at 7 p.m. Songs of a Russian Immigrant, which explores the impact of election-year politics and COVID-19 on American society, touches upon themes of despair, hope, love, and loss. An award-winning translingual author, scholar, and translator, Shrayer has more than 15 books to his name, including Leaving Russia: A Jewish Story, Yom Kippur in Amsterdam, and Voices of Jewish-Russian Literature. He will be joined at the book event by his daughter Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, a 7th-grader at the Driscoll School in Brookline, who will present her award-winning debut poetry collection Searching for Bow and Arrows, which explores the weight of one’s own personal, familial history as well as the history of politics and identity. Details and registration via Belmont Books.
Virtual book event for Allison Adair
Boston College will host a book launch to celebrate the publication of The Clearing, a collection of poetry by Associate Professor of the Practice of English Allison Adair. The virtual event, scheduled for February 11 at 7 p.m. Eastern time, will include a reading by Adair from her work, which won the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize. Following the reading will be a Q&A. Sponsor: BC English Department, with support from the Institute for the Liberal Arts. Registration for the event can be found at http://bit.ly/3sdL9EB.
Adam Smith’s insights on living a good life
Professor of Political Science Ryan Patrick Hanley discussed his book Our Great Purpose: Adam Smith on Living a Better Life (Princeton University Press, 2019) at a virtual event hosted by the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University. In his book, Hanley examines a side of Adam Smith beyond his role as the founder of modern economics. According to Hanley, Smith was also an uncommonly brilliant philosopher who was especially interested in the perennial question of how to live a good life, and in Our Great Purpose, Hanley provides an illuminating guide to Smith’s incomparable wisdom on topics ranging from happiness and moderation to love and friendship. Hanley’s author talk can be viewed via C-SPAN.
Immigrants and trauma
Immigrants face a dangerous mix of rising nationalism and xenophobia, alarming rates of displacement within and across nations, war, trafficking, terrorism, and deportation. Multiple traumas stem from these experiences and can be exacerbated by interpersonal violence and other forms of marginalization within communities. The new book Trauma and Racial Minority Immigrants: Turmoil, Uncertainty, and Resistance (American Psychological Association, 2021), edited by Lynch School of Education and Human Development Professor Pratyusha (Usha) Tummala-Narra, examines the lasting impact of trauma for racial minority immigrants in the U.S. and subsequent generations. Trauma and Racial Minority Immigrants explores both the stress and resilience of immigrant groups in the U.S., as well as clinical or community-based efforts to address the multiple traumas that affect immigrants and their children. Tummala-Narra, whose scholarship focuses on immigration, trauma, and cultural competence and psychoanalytic psychotherapy, also contributed a chapter to the volume titled “Interpersonal Violence and the Immigrant Context.” Trauma and Racial Minority Immigrants is intended to help practitioners deepen their understanding of the immigrant experience and develop professional skills to help heal traumatic stress faced by racial minority immigrants.
Candlemas Lecture with David Tracy
Internationally respected theologian David Tracy will give the Lowell Humanities Series’ Candlemas Lecture on February 3 at 7 p.m. on the topic of his upcoming book on God, based on his Gifford Lectures, “This Side of God.” His webinar presentation will be followed by a moderated discussion and audience Q&A. Fr. Tracy is the Andrew Thomas Greeley and Grace McNichols Greeley Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Catholic Studies and Professor of Theology and the Philosophy of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is also a member of the university’s John U. Nef Committee of Social Thought. His publications include The Analogical Imagination: Christian Theology and the Culture of Pluralism and On Naming the Present: Reflections on God, Hermeneutics, and Church. A two-volume collection of his essays from the 1980s to 2018 was published recently, titled Fragments: The Existential Situation of Our Time and Filaments: Theological Profiles. The BC event is co-sponsored by the Theology Department. Registration can be found at https://bccte.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_QP5Q5S6DQK-vXN1BJgsERA.
Posted in Guest Authors, Lowell Humanities Series
Tagged Catholic, Theology Department
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Follow the meter
Boston College Associate Professor of English Eric Weiskott challenges the divide between medieval and modern literature in his new book, Meter and Modernity in English Verse, 1350-1650 (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020). He argues that the traditional periodization of literature in modern scholarship distorts the meaning of meters as they appeared to early poets and readers. Meter and Modernity In English Verse examines the uses and misuses of three meters (alliterative meter, tetrameter, and pentameter) as markers of literary time. Exploring the work of William Langland, Geoffrey Chaucer, and others, Weiskott uses metrical history to renegotiate the trajectories of English literary history and advances a narrative of sociocultural change that runs parallel to metrical change, exploring the relationship between literary practice, social placement, and historical time. Weiskott also is author of the award-winning English Alliterative Verse: Poetic Tradition and Literary History. His current book project is Unheard Melodies: Apophatic Poetics in English Literature.
Posted in Boston College Authors
Tagged English Department, English literature, poetry
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Jesuit missionaries in the Pacific
Scars of Faith: Jesuit Letters from the Mariana Islands (1668-1684), the newest publication from the Institute of Jesuit Sources, presents a collection of primary sources related to Jesuit martyrdom in the Mariana Islands during the 17th century. Jesuit missionaries helping to spread Catholicism at the margins of the Spanish empire faced repression, persecution, and death. The primary sources in this volume are documents and letters, offered in their original languages and in English, from Jesuit missionaries such as Fr. Diego Luis de San Vitores, Fr. Luis de Medina, and Fr. Manuel de Solórzano y Escobar. These documents tell a gripping account of the Jesuits and their encounters with the people of the Mariana Islands, including the native Chamorro people. The volume was edited by Alexandre Coello de la Rosa (University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona) and David Atienza (University of Guam). Jesuit Sources, which specializes in preserving, maintaining, and expanding for scholars around the world important texts and studies in Jesuit history, spirituality, and pedagogy, is housed at the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies at Boston College.
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