The Spiritual Crises of Modernity: From Nominalism to Nihilism

The Spiritual Crises of Modernity: From Nominalism to Nihilism

A Maurin Academy course with Deacon Christopher May

7 pm CDT on Tuesdays October 08, 15, 22, 29

Reportedly, William Temple, who became the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1942, once asked his father, who was then the Archbishop: “Father, why don’t philosophers rule the world?” His father looked down at him and replied, “But they do rule the world — 200 years after they are dead.”

In this course, we will examine how certain rarified discussions among philosophers that took place in Europe about the year 1300 dramatically changed our concepts of God, of the human person, of the natural world, and of knowledge, and so set the stage for the subsequent development of the Modern experiment.

We’ll not speculate too much about “what to do” and “where do we go from here.” Rather we’ll try to recapture an appreciation of what we as a civilization lost when we took the deadly detour to Modernity. We’ll try to identify some of the unchallenged and unacknowledged assumptions that have brought us a world that seems so inimical to human flourishing. We can’t learn how to “make a world where it is easier to be good” until we know just what it is that we’ve already done to make a world where it seems so difficult to be good.

We’ll start by looking at late Medieval debates about what “is” is (without apology to Bill Clinton), then look at how this led to a redefinition of the nature of God and of the human person. Then on to the split between faith and reason, to our change in our ideas about nature and the world, to the increasing emphasis on the individual and on sovereignty, to the rise of science, and how the dominance of science led to the marginalization and privatization of morality. Finally we’ll examine how late modernity, with its neoliberal capitalism, is the cause of much spiritual distress and mental illness.

Class Schedule:

October 8: The Crisis of Being – Security is Lost

October 15: The Crisis of Meaning – Reality is Lost

October 22: The Crisis of Knowledge – Security is Sought

October 29: The Crisis of the Self – Community is Lost

Christopher May is a Catholic deacon in Pennsylvania, serving the poor, especially those who experience mental health challenges.