Richard John Neuhaus
Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod | |
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Ordained |
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Congregations served | St. John the Evangelist Church, Williamsburg (1961-1978) |
Richard John Neuhaus (May 14, 1936–January 8, 2009) was a prominent writer and
Born in Canada, Neuhaus moved to the United States, where he became a naturalized United States citizen. He was the longtime editor of the Lutheran Forum magazine newsletter and later founder and editor of the monthly journal First Things and the author of numerous books.
A staunch defender of the Catholic Church's teachings on abortion and other life issues, he served as an unofficial adviser to President George W. Bush on bioethical issues.[1]
Early life and education
Born in
Career
Lutheran minister
Neuhaus was first an
From 1961 to 1978, he served as pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church, a poor, predominantly black and Hispanic congregation in
He was active[
He was a longtime editor of the monthly newsletter published in between quarterly issues of the interdenominational independent journal Lutheran Forum, published by the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau during the 1970s and 1980s. He was a supporter of the movement to reestablish, in Lutheranism, the permanent
In 1981, Neuhaus helped to found the Institute on Religion and Democracy and remained on its board until his death. He wrote its founding document, "Christianity and Democracy". In 1984, he established the Center for Religion and Society as part of the conservative think-tank Rockford Institute in Rockford, Illinois, which publishes Chronicles. In 1989, he and the center were "forcibly evicted" from the institute's eastern offices in New York City under disputed circumstances.[citation needed]
In March 1990, Neuhaus founded the
Catholic priest
In September 1990, Neuhaus was received into the
Neuhaus continued to edit First Things as a Catholic priest. He was a sought-after public speaker and wrote several books, both scholarly and popular genres. He appeared in the 2010 film, The Human Experience, released after his death, where his voice features in the narration and in the film's trailer.
Personal life and death
Neuhaus died from complications of cancer in New York City,[8] on January 8, 2009, aged 72.[9]
Political significance
In later years, Neuhaus compared
Neuhaus promoted ecumenical dialogue and social conservatism. Along with Charles Colson, he edited Evangelicals and Catholics Together: Toward a Common Mission (1995).[10] This ecumenical manifesto sparked much debate.[citation needed]
A close yet unofficial adviser of President George W. Bush, he advised Bush on a range of religious and ethical matters, including abortion, stem-cell research, cloning, and the Federal Marriage Amendment.[11] In 2005, under the heading of "Bushism Made Catholic", Neuhaus was named one of the "25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America" by Time magazine:[11]
"Bushism Made Catholic:" When Bush met with journalists from religious publications last year, the living authority he cited most often was not a fellow Evangelical but a man he calls Father Richard, who, he explained, "helps me articulate these [religious] things." A senior Administration official confirms that Neuhaus "does have a fair amount of under-the-radar influence" on such policies as abortion, stem-cell research, cloning and the defense-of-marriage amendment.[11]
Neuhaus was criticized for his political engagement as "
described Neuhaus asa reflective, intelligent, self-possessed, generous, and principled man, is opinionated (definitely), but not at all spiteful or resentful towards those who disagree with him; words like "absolutist" are vacuous abstractions when applied to him. His magazine publishes articles that argue (sometimes quite forcibly) views contrary to his own, and he seems quite pleased that it should do so.[14]
Neuhaus also controversially defended Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, in the pages of First Things.[15]
Works
Books
- Movement and Revolution (co-authored with Peter Berger, 1970)
- In Defense of People: Ecology and the Seduction of Radicalism (1971)
- Time Toward Home: The American Experiment as Revelation (1975)
- Against the World for the World: The Hartford Appeal and the Future of American Religion (co-authored with Peter Berger, 1976)
- Freedom for Ministry (1979)
- Unsecular America (1986)
- ISBN 0-8028-3588-0)
- Confession, Conflict, and Community (co-edited with Peter Berger, 1986)
- Dispensations: The Future of South Africa As South Africans See It (1986)
- Piety and Politics: Evangelicals and Fundamentalists Confront the World (co-editor with Michael Cromartie, 1987)
- Democracy and the Renewal of Public Education (editor with author Richard Baer, 1987)
- Jews in Unsecular America (1987)
- The Catholic Moment: The Paradox of the Church in the Postmodern World (1987; ISBN 0-06-066096-1)
- Believing Today: Jew and Christian in Conversation (co-authored with Leon Klinicki, 1989)
- Reinhold Niebuhr Today (1989)
- Guaranteeing the Good Life: Medicine and the Return of Eugenics (editor, 1990)
- Doing Well & Doing Good: The Challenge to the Christian Capitalist (1992)
- America Against Itself: Moral Vision and the Public Order (1992; ISBN 0-268-00633-4)
- Freedom for Ministry: A Guide for the Perplexed Who Are Called to Serve (1992; ISBN 0-06-066095-3)
- To Empower People: From State to Civil Society (co-authored with Peter Berger, 1996)
- The End of Democracy? The Celebrated First Things Debate, With Arguments Pro and Con and "the Anatomy of a Controversy" (co-edited with Mitchell Muncy, 1997)
- The Best of the Public Square (1997)
- Appointment in Rome: The Church in America Awakening (1999)
- The Eternal Pity: Reflections on Dying (editor, 2000; ISBN 0-268-02757-9)
- A Free Society Reader: Principles for the New Millennium (2000; ISBN 0-7391-0144-7)
- There We Stood, Here We Stand: Eleven Lutherans Rediscover Their Catholic Roots (co-authored with Timothy Drake, 2001)
- The Second One Thousand Years: Ten People Who Defined a Millennium (editor, 2001)
- The Best of the Public Square: Book 2 (2001)
- Death on a Friday Afternoon: Meditations on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross (2001; ISBN 0-465-04933-8)
- As I Lay Dying: Meditations Upon Returning (2002; ISBN 0-465-04930-3)
- The Chosen People in an Almost Chosen Nation: Jews and Judaism in America (editor, 2002)
- Your Word Is Truth: A Project of Evangelicals and Catholics Together (co-edited with ISBN 0-8028-0508-6)
- As I Lay Dying: Meditations Upon Returning (2003)
- The Best of the Public Square: Book 3 (2007)
- Catholic Matters: Confusion, Controversy, and the Splendor of Truth (2007; ISBN 0-465-04935-4)
- American Babylon: Notes of a Christian Exile (2009)
On the Square blog
- "We shall not weary, we shall not rest". First Things. July 11, 2008.
References
- ^ The Catholic Herald, London, January 16, 2009, p. 6.
- ^ George Weigel: "An Honorable Christian Soldier", Newsweek, January 19, 2009
- ISBN 978-0-8028-2720-3.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- ^ a b First Things. "The Unhappy Fate of Optional Orthodoxy", First Things, February 2009
- ^ "Mission Statement" Archived June 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, First Things
- ^ Neuhaus, Richard John (April 2002), "How I Became the Catholic I Was", First Things
- ^ Richard John Neuhaus, 1936–2009 Archived January 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ "News of Fr. Neuhaus' death", First Things, January 2009.
- ISBN 0-8499-3860-0.
- ^ a b c Time Magazine. The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America – Richard John Neuhaus 2005
- ISBN 978-1400096855.
- ^ Wooldridge, Adrian (September 24, 2006). "Church as State". The New York Times. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
- ^ Hart, David Bentley. "Con man". www.newcriterion.com. The New Criterion. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
- ^ "Neuhaus and Maciel: For the Record". The Atlantic. February 15, 2009.
Further reading
- Boyagoda, Randy (2015). Richard John Neuhaus: a life in the public square. New York: Image
- George, Robert P. (March 20, 2009). "He Threw It All Away". First Things. Retrieved July 20, 2009.
- Nuechterlein, James (April 2009). "Day By Day". First Things. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
External links
- Profile
- Neuhaus online archive
- Neuhaus discusses his conversion to Catholicism in a June 1991 interview for 2000AD
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Booknotes interview with Neuhaus on As I Lay Dying: Meditations Upon Returning, May 26, 2002
- In Depth interview with Neuhaus, June 5, 2005
- "A Strange New Regime: The Naked Public Square and the Passing of the American Constitutional Order" by Neuhaus for The Heritage Foundation
- Newsweek obituary by George Weigel
- Slate obituary
- The Daily Beast article
- Article by John Armstrong