George Weigel
Encyclopedia
George Weigel is an American author, and political and social activist. He currently serves as a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center
. Weigel was the Founding President of the James Madison Foundation. He is the author of the best-selling biography of Pope John Paul II
, Witness to Hope.
, and he later received his masters degree from St. Michael's College
, University of Toronto
. Weigel has received nine honorary doctorate degrees, as well as the papal cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice
and the Gloria Artis Gold Medal from the Polish Ministry of Culture.
Weigel lived in Seattle
, serving as Assistant Professor of Theology and Assistant Dean of Studies at the St. Thomas the Apostle Seminary School of Theology in Kenmore
, and Scholar-in-Residence at the World Without War Council of Greater Seattle, before returning to Washington, D.C.
as a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
.
Weigel served as the founding president of the James Madison Foundation (not to be confused with the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation
) from 1986 to 1989. In 1994, he was a signer of the document Evangelicals and Catholics Together
.
He currently serves as Distinguished Senior Fellow and Chair of Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C..
Each summer, Weigel and several other Catholic intellectuals from the United States, Poland, and across Europe conduct the Tertio Millennio Seminar on the Free Society in Krakow
, in which they and an assortment of students from the United States, Poland, and several other emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe discuss Christianity within the context of liberal democracy and capitalism, with the papal encyclical Centesimus Annus
being the focal point.
Weigel and his wife Joan live in North Bethesda
, Maryland
.
He is a member of the advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
.
Weigel writes and serves on the Institute board for the Institute for Religion and Public Life, which publishes First Things
, an ecumenical that focuses on encouraging a religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society.
In his political writings, Weigel argues for a U.S. pitfalls of international relations. As such, Weigel advocates a U.S. foreign policy guided not by utopian notions about how nations should behave, but by moral reasoning.
In some cases, he adds, moral reasoning may require that the United States support authoritarian regimes to fend off the greater evils of moral decay and threats to the security of the United States. For Weigel, America's shortcomings do not excuse her from pursuing the greater moral good.
Weigel achieved much fame for writing Witness to Hope, a biography of the late Pope John Paul II, which was also made into a documentary film. In 2004 Weigel wrote an article in Commentary magazine
, entitled "The Cathedral and the Cube", in which he used the contrast between the modernist Grande Arche
, and the Notre Dame de Paris
cathedral, both located in Paris, France, to illustrate what he called a loss of "civilizational morale" in Western Europe
, which he tied to the secular tyrannies of the 20th century, along with, more recently, plummeting birthrates and Europe's refusal to recognize the Christian roots of its culture. Weigel questions whether Europe can give an account of itself while denying the very moral tradition through which its culture arose: "Christians who share this conviction (that it is the will of God that Christians be tolerant of those who have a different view of God's will) -- can give an account of their defense of the other's freedom even if the other, skeptical and relativist, finds it hard to give an account of the freedom of the Christian." This is a theme sounded clearly by Marcello Pera
and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI
), in their book Without Roots: the West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam, for which Weigel authored the foreword. In 2005, he expanded the article into a book, The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God.
Following the controversial September 2006 lecture of Pope Benedict XVI at Regensburg, Weigel defended the Pope's call for interreligious dialogue based on reason.
In January 2009, Weigel expressed concern on the lifting of the excommunications of the bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X, essentially because the group has been critical of some aspects of the Second Vatican Council, especially its teaching on religious liberty, which Weigel strongly defends.
Ethics and Public Policy Center
The Ethics and Public Policy Center is a Washington, D.C.-based conservative advocacy group. Formed in 1976 by Ernest W. Lefever, who was its president until 1989, the group describes itself as "dedicated to applying the Judeo-Christian moral tradition to critical issues of public policy."Since...
. Weigel was the Founding President of the James Madison Foundation. He is the author of the best-selling biography of Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
, Witness to Hope.
Career and personal life
Weigel grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, where he attended St. Mary's Seminary and UniversitySt. Mary's Seminary and University
St. Mary's Seminary and University is a Roman Catholic seminary in Baltimore, Maryland; it was the first seminary founded in the United States of America.-History:...
, and he later received his masters degree from St. Michael's College
University of St. Michael's College
The University of St. Michael's College is a college of the University of Toronto, founded in 1852 by the Congregation of St. Basil of Annonay, France. While mainly an undergraduate college for liberal arts and sciences, St. Michael's retains its Roman Catholic affiliation through its postgraduate...
, University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
. Weigel has received nine honorary doctorate degrees, as well as the papal cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice
Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice
The Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal is an award of the Roman Catholic Church. It is also known as the "Cross of Honour". The medal was established by Leo XIII on July 17, 1888, to commemorate his golden sacerdotal jubilee and was originally bestowed on those women and men who had aided and...
and the Gloria Artis Gold Medal from the Polish Ministry of Culture.
Weigel lived in Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, serving as Assistant Professor of Theology and Assistant Dean of Studies at the St. Thomas the Apostle Seminary School of Theology in Kenmore
Kenmore, Washington
Kenmore is a city in King County, Washington, United States, along the northernmost shores of Lake Washington...
, and Scholar-in-Residence at the World Without War Council of Greater Seattle, before returning to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
as a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars , located in Washington, D.C., is a United States Presidential Memorial that was established as part of the Smithsonian Institution by an act of Congress in 1968...
.
Weigel served as the founding president of the James Madison Foundation (not to be confused with the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation
James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation
The James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation was established by Congress in 1986 to encourage outstanding current and future secondary school teachers of American history, American government, and social studies in grades 7 through 12 to undertake graduate study of the roots, framing,...
) from 1986 to 1989. In 1994, he was a signer of the document Evangelicals and Catholics Together
Evangelicals and Catholics Together
Evangelicals and Catholics Together is a 1994 ecumenical document signed by leading Evangelical and Roman Catholic scholars in the United States. The co-signers of the document were Charles Colson and Richard John Neuhaus, representing each side of the discussions...
.
He currently serves as Distinguished Senior Fellow and Chair of Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C..
Each summer, Weigel and several other Catholic intellectuals from the United States, Poland, and across Europe conduct the Tertio Millennio Seminar on the Free Society in Krakow
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, in which they and an assortment of students from the United States, Poland, and several other emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe discuss Christianity within the context of liberal democracy and capitalism, with the papal encyclical Centesimus Annus
Centesimus Annus
Centesimus Annus was an encyclical written by Pope John Paul II in 1991, on the hundredth anniversary of Rerum Novarum...
being the focal point.
Weigel and his wife Joan live in North Bethesda
North Bethesda, Maryland
North Bethesda is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It borders the city of Rockville, and is closely associated with the city.-Geography:...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
.
He is a member of the advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation is a non-profit educational organization in the United States, established as a result of an Act of Congress in 1993 with the purpose to commemorate "the deaths of over 100,000,000 victims in an unprecedented imperial communist holocaust"...
.
Weigel writes and serves on the Institute board for the Institute for Religion and Public Life, which publishes First Things
First Things
First Things is an ecumenical journal focused on creating a "religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society". The journal is inter-denominational and inter-religious, representing a broad intellectual tradition of Christian and Jewish critique of contemporary society...
, an ecumenical that focuses on encouraging a religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society.
Views
The main body of Weigel's writings engage the issues of religion and culture.In his political writings, Weigel argues for a U.S. pitfalls of international relations. As such, Weigel advocates a U.S. foreign policy guided not by utopian notions about how nations should behave, but by moral reasoning.
"From the Iliad to Tolstoy and beyond, that familiar trope, “the fog of war,” has been used to evoke the millennia–old experience of the radical uncertainty of combat. Some analysts, however, take the trope of “the fog of war” a philosophical step further and suggest that warfare takes place beyond the reach of moral reason, in a realm of interest and necessity where moral argument is a pious diversion at best and, at worst, a lethal distraction from the deadly serious business at hand."
In some cases, he adds, moral reasoning may require that the United States support authoritarian regimes to fend off the greater evils of moral decay and threats to the security of the United States. For Weigel, America's shortcomings do not excuse her from pursuing the greater moral good.
Weigel achieved much fame for writing Witness to Hope, a biography of the late Pope John Paul II, which was also made into a documentary film. In 2004 Weigel wrote an article in Commentary magazine
Commentary (magazine)
Commentary is a monthly American magazine on politics, Judaism, social and cultural issues. It was founded by the American Jewish Committee in 1945. By 1960 its editor was Norman Podhoretz, a liberal at the time who moved sharply to the right in the 1970s and 1980s becoming a strong voice for the...
, entitled "The Cathedral and the Cube", in which he used the contrast between the modernist Grande Arche
Grande Arche
La Grande Arche de la Défense is a monument and building in the business district of La Défense and in the commune of Puteaux, to the west of Paris, France...
, and the Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris , also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra of...
cathedral, both located in Paris, France, to illustrate what he called a loss of "civilizational morale" in Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
, which he tied to the secular tyrannies of the 20th century, along with, more recently, plummeting birthrates and Europe's refusal to recognize the Christian roots of its culture. Weigel questions whether Europe can give an account of itself while denying the very moral tradition through which its culture arose: "Christians who share this conviction (that it is the will of God that Christians be tolerant of those who have a different view of God's will) -- can give an account of their defense of the other's freedom even if the other, skeptical and relativist, finds it hard to give an account of the freedom of the Christian." This is a theme sounded clearly by Marcello Pera
Marcello Pera
Marcello Pera is an Italian philosopher and politician. He was the President of the Italian Senate from 2001 to 2006.-Career:...
and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
), in their book Without Roots: the West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam, for which Weigel authored the foreword. In 2005, he expanded the article into a book, The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God.
Following the controversial September 2006 lecture of Pope Benedict XVI at Regensburg, Weigel defended the Pope's call for interreligious dialogue based on reason.
In January 2009, Weigel expressed concern on the lifting of the excommunications of the bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X, essentially because the group has been critical of some aspects of the Second Vatican Council, especially its teaching on religious liberty, which Weigel strongly defends.
Books
- The end and the beginning: Pope John Paul II–The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy, Doubleday, 2010, ISBN 978-0-385-52479-7
- Against the Grain: Christianity and Democracy, War and Peace, Crossroad, 2008, ISBN 0824524489.
- Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism: A Call to Action, Doubleday, 2007, ISBN 9780385523783.
- God's Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church, Harper Collins, 2005, ISBN 0-06-621331-2.
- The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God, Basic Books, 2005, ISBN 0-465-09266-7.
- Letters to a Young Catholic, Basic Books, 2004, ISBN 0-465-09262-4.
- The Courage To Be Catholic: Crisis, Reform, and the Future of the Church, Basic Books, 2002, ISBN 0-465-09260-8.
- The Truth of Catholicism: Ten Controversies Explored, Harper Collins, 2001, ISBN 0-06-621330-4.
- Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, Harper Collins, 1999, ISBN 0-06-018793-X.
- Soul of the World: Notes on the Future of Public Catholicism, Eerdmans, 1996, ISB 0802842070.
- The Final Revolution: The Resistance Church and the Collapse of Communism, Oxford University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-19-507160-3.
- Just War and the Gulf War, Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1991, ISBN 0-89633-166-0.
- Freedom and Its Discontents: Catholicism Confronts Modernity, Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1991, ISBN 0-89633-158-X.
- American Interests, American Purpose: Moral Reasoning and U.S. Foreign Policy, Praeger Publishers, 1989, ISBN 0-275-93335-0.
- Catholicism and the Renewal of American Democracy, Paulist Press, 1989, ISBN 0-8091-3043-2.
- Tranquillitas Ordinis: The Present Failure and Future Promise of American Catholic Thought on War and Peace, Oxford University Press, 1987, ISBN 0-19-504193-3.
External links
- Unofficial Blog with links to archived articles
- Archdiocese of Denver: Denver Catholic Register: The Catholic Difference (home of Weigel's syndicated column The Catholic Difference)
- Ethics and Public Policy Center: George Weigel
- Political Research Associates: Right Web: George Weigel
- SourceWatch: George Weigel
- National Review Online: George Weigel archive
- Newsweek: George Weigel archive
- Audio interview with National Review Online
- The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life: The Vatican and Islam: Pope Benedict XVI Prepares to Visit Turkey (interview with Weigel and John EspositoJohn EspositoJohn Louis Esposito is a professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University...
)