Father Richard John Neuhaus, 1936-2009
Former Faculty
By Micah Watson, Assistant Professor of Political Science & Director, Center for Religion and Politics
Jan 8, 2009 -
Father Richard John Neuhaus died this morning. There will be a great deal of commentary, praise, and appreciation expressed throughout the blogosphere and beyond in the days to come and this is as it should be. Justin Taylor has a helpful timeline of Fr. Neuhaus' life here. You can learn a great deal more about him and peruse his writings here.
For those of you not familiar with Fr. Neuhaus, he was a Catholic priest who converted from Lutheranism. He is best known for spearheading the journal First Things and for his book The Naked Public Square in 1984. It will be difficult to measure his impact in the world of ideas and the subsequent impact these ideas have had on law, politics, culture, and church-state matters. I would venture to say that to the extent that our public square is not as "naked" as it used to be, or might have been, we owe a great debt of gratitude to Father Neuhaus. His book in 1984 was part of raising the alarm and First Things was and continues to be a premier platform for serious intellectual engagement with the most important of first and second things.
I met Fr. Neuhaus briefly and will not pretend to have known him well, though I know many who did. They can do a much better job than I can of speaking to his character, wit, and faith. I can speak to his writing and will say that he was insightful, acerbic at times, witty, and committed to defending the good and eviscerating the bad. Yes, eviscerating. You only need to read some of his gems in the concluding pages of each issue of First Things to realize that his pen was not a tame one. He had more in common with the Apostle Paul on the circumcision question in Galatians than with the play-nice Precious Moments sort of interlocuter who can't even take his own side in an argument.
This is not to say I agreed with him on every point, and Protestants and evangelicals in particular had some good cause to joust with him from time to time. Yet today it is appropriate, I believe, to thank God for the life and ministry of Father Neuhaus and pray that we may faithfully carry out our own callings with the integrity and tenacity with which he carried out his.
We at Union had invited Father Neuhaus to speak at our upcoming conference in February and we will miss his presence and words for us when that time comes.