James V. Schall

James V. Schall, SJ
Born James Vincent Schall
(1928-01-20) January 20, 1928
Pocahontas, Iowa
Occupation Academic
Known for Philosopher, author, professor, priest

James Vincent Schall, S.J. (born January 20, 1928) is an American Jesuit Roman Catholic priest, teacher, writer, and philosopher. He was, most recently, Professor of Political Philosophy in the Department of Government at Georgetown University. He retired from teaching in December 2012, giving his final lecture on December 7, 2012, at Georgetown;[1] it was entitled "The Final Gladness," and was sponsored by the Tocqueville Forum.[2] Of his many publications his book Another Sort of Learning ("a reflection on different aspects of lifelong learning")[3] has been hailed as exceptional.[3]

Biography

Born in Pocahontas, Iowa, and educated in local public schools, he graduated from Knoxville (Iowa) High School in 1945.

After time in the U.S. Army (1946–47), he joined the Society of Jesus (California Province) in 1948, and then attended Santa Clara University in California. He earned an MA in Philosophy from Gonzaga University in 1955.[4] He earned a PhD in Political Theory from Georgetown University in 1960, and was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1963. In 1964, he earned an M.A. in Sacred Theology from Santa Clara University.

Fr. Schall was a member of the faculty of the Institute of Social Sciences, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, from 1964–77, and a member of the Government Department, University of San Francisco, from 1968–77. Among the sources for Schall's lectures were Christian Scripture, Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, G.K. Chesterton, and Pope Benedict XVI.[3]

Before retiring, he had been a member of the Government Department at Georgetown University since 1977. In 1993, 2004 and 2010, Fr. Schall was presented the Edward B. Bunn, SJ, Award for Faculty Excellence by the senior class in the College of Arts and Sciences at Georgetown University.[5]

Schall retired from his position at Georgetown in December 2012 and moved into the Jesuit retirement home in Los Gatos, California (on the same property as the location of his old novitiate) where he continues to write books and articles for publications and websites.[3] He also continues to give presentations to small groups on request.[3]

Schall served as a member of the Pontifical Commission on Justice and Peace, in Rome from 1977-82. He was also a member of the National Council of the Humanities, and a member of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1984-90.[4]

A prolific writer, he has written more than 30 books and edited or co-edited 8 others. By July 2002, his website listed his authorship of 356 essays, 148 book reviews, and 660 columns, including his monthly column, "Sense and Nonsense," for the Catholic journal Crisis, and his columns in Gilbert! magazine, the Saint Austin Review, and the University Bookman.[6]

Fr. Schall is an expert on the thought of G. K. Chesterton; he has edited two volumes of Chesterton's collected works and written his own volume of essays on the famous Catholic convert.

Schall has been a vigorous supporter of Benedict XVI's critique of western culture which categorizes it as a "dictatorship of relativism".[3] Schall taught that Catholicism is where "Revelation is addressed to reason" and stated that "We are living in a time where the logic of disorder is at work, rejecting systematically the logic of being a human being."[3] Schall stated that the societal re-examination of the definition of the family "is not just an accident," but is the culture "rejecting heavenly answers and replacing them with human answers. A will is leading you, and it says there is something wrong with being human. That goes back to the whole drama of the Fall. C.S. Lewis says the ultimate sin, the ultimate disorder, is to say what is good is bad, what is bad is good."[3] A reporter summed up his statements as "If we [in society] reject the intelligibility and goodness of creation, will we still be able to hear God’s voice calling us to our supernatural end?"[3]

Medical issues

Schall survived a few major illnesses, including one that resulted in the loss of function in one of his eyes. In the summer of 2010 he had a cancerous jawbone and its attached teeth removed and replaced with bone taken from his leg.[7]

Books, Pamphlets and Edited Books by Fr. Schall (partial listing)

Books:

Pamphlets:

Edited with Introduction:

References

  1. ↑ http://government.georgetown.edu/337406.html
  2. ↑ http://christopherblosser.blogspot.com/2012/12/fr-schalls-last-lecture-final-gladness.html
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Joan Frawley Desmond (August 8, 2013). "Georgetown's Father James Schall Has Retired — or Has He?". National Catholic Register.
  4. 1 2 "James V. Schall, S.J. Professor". Georgetown University. Retrieved 2014-07-11.
  5. ↑ Bunn Faculty Excellence Award at GU accessed 2010-12-03.
  6. ↑ Bibliography from Schall GU website accessed 2010-12-03.
  7. ↑ George Weigel (July 18, 2010). "In Praise of Father Schall".

External links

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