Richard John Neuhaus
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Richard John Neuhaus (born May 21, 1936) is a prominent Catholic priest and writer born in Canada and living in the United States, where he is a naturalized citizen. He is the founder and editor of the monthly journal First Things and the author of several books, including The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America (1984), The Catholic Moment: The Paradox of the Church in the Postmodern World (1987), and Catholic Matters: Confusion, Controversy, and the Splendor of Truth (2006).
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[edit] Biography
Born in Pembroke, Ontario, Neuhaus was one of eight children, and his father was a Lutheran minister. As his father was earlier, he was ordained a minister around 1960, later serving as pastor of a poor congregation in a minority area of Brooklyn in New York City.[1] He was active in liberal politics until Roe v. Wade was handed down. He is the originator of "Neuhaus's Law",[2] which states that "Where orthodoxy is optional, orthodoxy will sooner or later be proscribed".
In 1984, Neuhaus established the Center for Religion and Society as part of the Rockford Institute, which also publishes Chronicles. He and the center were "forcibly evicted" from the Institute in 1989 under disputed circumstances. Neuhas wrote in 2003 that:[3]
- I became increasingly uneasy with what was understandably viewed as the racist and anti-Semitic tones of Chronicles under the direction of [Thomas] Fleming, its then new editor. I was preparing to break the connection with Rockford and go independent when one rainy Friday morning Rockford executives showed up, fired the entire staff, put us out on the street, and changed the office locks. We could have done without the melodrama, but every May 5 we have a gala staff luncheon to celebrate the occasion.
In 1990, Neuhaus founded First Things, a journal published by the Institute on Religion and Public Life, as an ecumenical journal "whose purpose is to advance a religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society."[4]
Neuhaus supported the mainline (ELCA) wing of American Lutheranism before converting to Catholicism on September 8, 1990.[5] A year later, he was ordained a priest by John Cardinal O'Connor. He was a commentator for the Catholic television network EWTN during the funeral of Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI.
He promotes ecumenical dialogue and social conservatism. Along with Charles Colson, he edited Evangelicals and Catholics Together: Toward a Common Mission (1995; ISBN 0-8499-3860-0). This ecumenical manifesto sparked much debate; some Catholics and evangelicals claimed that Neuhaus and Colson had compromised major doctrines to promote a neoconservative agenda and unfairly demanded that both branches of Christianity stop trying to convert the other's members.
Neuhaus has expressed a strong hope in universal salvation, but has stopped short of teaching it as a doctrine, emphasizing it as a hope, not a belief. "In sum: we do not know; only God knows; but we may hope." He writes:
that absolutely no one is beyond the reach of God’s love in Christ. All are found, and therefore are not lost. That some may choose not to accept the gift of being found is quite another matter. We pray and hope that all will accept the gift of salvation that is most surely available to all. At least for Catholics, the teaching is definitive: God denies no one the grace necessary for salvation.[6]
Similar to Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, another Catholic clergyman, Neuhaus has said that it cannot be known if hell is populated by anyone.[6]
A close, yet unofficial, collaborator of President George W. Bush, Neuhaus advises Bush, who simply calls him "Father Richard", on a range of religious and ethical matters, including abortion, stem-cell research, cloning, and the defense of marriage amendment.[7] In 2005, Neuhaus was named one of the "25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America" by Time Magazine.[7]
[edit] Partial Bibliography
- The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America (1984; ISBN 0802835880)
- Freedom for Ministry: A Critical Affirmation of the Church and Its Mission (1984; ISBN 0060660953)
- The Catholic Moment: The Paradox of the Church in the Postmodern World (1987; ISBN 0060660961)
- America Against Itself: Moral Vision and the Public Order (1992; ISBN 0268006334)
- The Eternal Pity: Reflections on Dying (2000; ISBN 0268027579)
- Death on a Friday Afternoon: Meditations on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross (2001; ISBN 0465049338)
- As I Lay Dying: Meditations Upon Returning (2002; ISBN 0465049303)
- Your Word Is Truth: A Project of Evangelicals and Catholics Together (co-edited with Charles Colson; 2002; ISBN 0802805086)
- Catholic Matters: Confusion, Controversy, and the Splendor of Truth (2006; ISBN 0465049354).
- The Theocons: Secular America Under Siege by Damon Linker, Doubleday 2006. Account of the rise of the "theocons" in which Neuhaus is the central figure; includes biographical information.
[edit] References
- ^ AD2000. Richard John Neuhaus interviewed by Mary Arnold, June 1991
- ^ First Things. The Unhappy Fate of Optional Orthodoxy, January 1997
- ^ First Things. While We’re At It, June/July 2003
- ^ First Things. Mission Statement
- ^ First Things. How I Became the Catholic I Was April 2002
- ^ a b Richard John Neuhaus. Will All Be Saved?" First Things (August/September 2001).
- ^ a b Time Magazine. The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America - Richard John Neuhaus 2005
[edit] External links
- First Things
- Neuhaus online archive
- Neuhaus discusses his conversion to Catholicism in a June 1991 interview for 2000AD
- Profile of Richard John Neuhaus at Right Web.
- A Strange New Regime: The Naked Public Square and the Passing of the American Constitutional Order, by Richard John Neuhaus, Heritage Foundation.
