Upon the recommendation of my friend John, I purchased Render Unto Caesar, subtitled Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life, by the Archbishop of Denver, Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap. (a.k.a. Capuchin Franciscan). Now that I have finished it (and John has asked to borrow it), I have decided to write this short review of the book. At around 230 pages, including intro, endnotes, etc., the book is not exceptionally long. I found this relatively short length is even more suprising as I read through the book. Archbishop Chaput has written a tour de force of a book, discussing the history of Catholic political engagement in the United States (where we were), current political activity of Catholics in the United States (where we are), and Vatican II and it’s postlude (how we got here).
Or, in the Archbishop’s words:
Like it or not, American Catholics are part of a struggle over our country’s identity and future. If this book helps some of us rediscover what it really means to be Catholic - the purpose of our time in the world, the lessons of our history, the responsibilities of citizenship, and the implications of the Christian faith we claim to believe - then it succeeds.
Throughout the book, Archbishop Chaput displays a wide knowledge of Catholic thinkers and Catholic history. John Courtney Murray, Henri de Lubac, Yves Congar, John Henry Newman, and Christopher Dawson are all mentioned. However, he also expands to discuss others such as C.S. Lewis, Victor Frankl, George Orwell, Christopher Lasch, and Lord Acton. (My own thought has been consistently expanded by some of these, especially C.S. Lewis and Christopher Lasch.) None are quoted simply for effect - all add something of importance to the discussion.
I find this book especiually important for several reasons. First, it excels as an overview of the history of American Catholicism, from a discussion of Charles Carroll, the Catholic Senator from Maryland who signed the Declaration of Independence through to John Kennedy, Mario Cuomo, and Robert Casey, Sr., three modern Catholic politicians. In examining the lives and talks of these individuals, the Archbishop charts a course for Catholic readers as to public and private political life (and suggest even that this distinction is too often of too much importance). Second, this book carefully dissects slogans and bad arguments used against Catholics (and other Christians). He uses as an example such phrases as “the separation of church and state” and “don’t impose your beliefs on society” and shows that they are less than argument and more like “a kind of verbal voodoo” employed “to shut down serious thought.” Third, this book is intended to give Catholics and any other Christian reader courage to argue for their beliefs in civil society. He notes that we do not argue for certain things because they are religious beliefs taught by the Church alone - rather, they are taught by the Church because they are right.
Finally, as with any book, the direct purposes are not the only ones which arise. I enjoyed this book, as I do many similar works, in some way just for the joy of contact with a well-organized mind. The book is not a difficult read, nor does it require any sort of “pre-reading” in order to understand it. Rather, it is beautifully laid-out and argued, and is likely to be one which I will re-read several times, discovering something new, and some new direction, each time.
-j.
