It Begins With Theology

An extraordinary new book by George Weigel, "Faith, Reason and the War Against Jihadism: A Call to Action" is required reading for those who are concerned about the encounter of Catholicism with Islam, and wish to gain deeper knowledge about Islam’s role within the public policies that have grown from the essential theological roots of human affairs.

Weigel (December 2007) frames his book around three headings (Understanding the Enemy, Rethinking Realism, Deserving Victory) and fifteen lessons:

“Lesson 1: The great human questions, including the great questions of public life, are ultimately theological.

“How men and women think about God—or don’t think about God—has a great deal to do with how they envision the just society, and how they determine the appropriate means by which to build that society. This means taking theology seriously—which includes taking seriously others’ concepts of God’s nature and purposes, and their commitments to the beliefs arising from those concepts—as well as the theologies that have shaped the civilization of the West. If we have not learned this over the past five years, one wonders if we have learned anything.

“Yet that very question—what have we learned?—arises every time a commentator or politician or statesman uses “theology” as a synonym for “superstition” or “theological” as a contempt-riddled substitute for “mindless.” Such glib (and truly mindless) usages must stop; they are an impediment to clear thinking about our situation. And our situation is too urgent for muddleheadedness arising from prejudice.” (New York; Doubleday, p. 13)