Resisting Throwaway Culture; How a Consistent Life Ethic Can Unite a Fractured People by Charles Camosy is a powerful read. Camosy is a professor of ethics at Fordham University. In this book he lays out the logic of the Consistent Life Ethic which he defines (I am paraphrasing!) as the Christian principle of encounter and hospitality in responding to political and cultural attacks on the sanctity of life. These issues range from abortion, reproductive technology such as surrogacy, how we treat the poor, lack of humane treatment of animals, euthanasia and assisted suicide, the death penalty, nuclear arms and unjust war.
He deliberately dances around policy because he doesn't want to get dragged down into the quagmire of political polarization. Instead, he tries his best to keep things on the level of applying principles to situations, which leaves room for a variety of policy approaches.
There were many wise words and convincing arguments in this book I really enjoyed Camosy's calm and reasonable way of presenting the material. He is thorough and magnanimous. He doesn't want to engage in anything divisive. He wants to state the truth in a loving way and engage in true dialogue with those who disagree. He ends each chapter in an Thomistic way by stating the strongest arguments against his approach and then meeting each objective with a counter argument.
This book really clarified for me my own position on these various issues. I especially was edified by his exploration of what our consumer culture is doing to us morally, how it demeans and diminishes us.
I liked this book so much I just bought 5 copies to give to my kids for Christmas. I don't have time or the concentration right now to delve in deeper (I am currently watching a 3 year old boy!) but this book would serve well as fodder for group discussion for a church or civic group book club.
Two thumbs up! For more book reviews, go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment