Five Proofs preview

By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed will be out from Ignatius Press next month.  Later in the year, and also from Ignatius, comes my book Five Proofs of the Existence of God.  Having told you, dear reader, a bit about the former, let me say something about the latter.

Reply to Mark Shea on capital punishment

Crisis magazine has reprinted the first of the two articles that political scientist Joseph Bessette and I recently wrote for Catholic World Report putting forward a Catholic defense of capital punishment.  (The articles merely summarize briefly some of the lines of argument we develop in detail and at length in our book By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of the Death Penalty, forthcoming from Ignatius Press.)

Pakaluk on capital punishment

Philosopher Michael Pakaluk kindly provided an endorsement for By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment.  In an essay at The Catholic Thing, Mike puts forward an important defense of his own of the death penalty.  Go give it a read.  Along the way, he comments once again on By Man, calling it “the most comprehensive case ever assembled” for capital punishment.

Capital punishment at Catholic World Report

UPDATE: The second installment of the article has now been posted at CWR. 

Over at Catholic World Report today you’ll find “Why the Church Cannot Reverse Past Teaching on Capital Punishment,” the first installment of a two-part article I have co-authored with Joseph M. Bessette, who teaches government and ethics at Claremont McKenna College.  Joe and I recently completed work on our book By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of the Death Penalty, which is forthcoming from Ignatius Press.

Reply to Ivereigh, Brugger, Shea, and Fastiggi

My recent Catholic Herald article about Pope Francis and capital punishment has gotten a fair bit of attention.  Some of it has been positive, some of it less so.  In a new essay at Catholic World Report, I respond to four critics – Austen Ivereigh, E. Christian Brugger, Mark Shea, and Robert Fastiggi.

Radio activity

Today on his Daily Wire podcast, Ben Shapiro kindly recommended my book The Last Superstition, characterizing it as “really fantastically written” and “rare for a philosophy book, really readable and lucid.”  His comments on the book can be heard about 38 minutes into the show.

Speaking of The Daily Wire, I will be interviewed this week on The Andrew Klavan Show. 

Last week I was interviewed on Catholic Answers Live on the subject of my latest book Five Proofs of the Existence of God.  You can listen to the show here.

The latest on Five Proofs and By Man

Some early reactions to Five Proofs of the Existence of God: At Catholic Answers Live, Karlo Broussard describes it as “a phenomenal book” and “the Bible of natural theology.”  At The B.C. Catholic, Christopher Morrissey judges it “a significant, original philosophical contribution to the scholarly discipline of natural theology” and his “favourite book among [his] summer reading.”

Reply to Griffiths and Hart

By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment received some pretty nasty reviews from Paul Griffiths in First Things and David Bentley Hart in Commonweal.   My response to Griffiths and Hart can now be read at Catholic World Report.

Capital punishment on radio and TV

Tomorrow, Thursday, July 27 at 1:40 pm PT, I’ll be on The Ed Morrissey Show to discuss By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed.  On the same day, my co-author Joe Bessette will be on Meet the Author with Ken Huck at 12 pm PT.  On Thursday, August 3, Joe and I will appear on The World Over with Raymond Arroyo on EWTN.

Capital punishment on the radio (UPDATED)

Joe Bessette and I will be doing a number of radio interviews in connection with our new book By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment.  Yesterday I appeared on Kresta in the Afternoon, and you can find the interview here.  Today I appeared on The Mike Janocik Show to discuss the theological side of the issue.  Joe will appear on the show next week to discuss the social scientific aspects of the issue. 

Many further radio appearances are scheduled for next week and beyond.  Stay tuned.

Catholic Herald on capital punishment

The latest issue of the Catholic Herald features an article by Dan Hitchens on Catholicism and the death penalty which discusses By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment, which I co-authored with political scientist Joseph Bessette and which has just been released by Ignatius Press.  The article contains some remarks from a brief interview I did with the Herald. 

Capital punishment on EWTN

Yesterday, Joe Bessette and I appeared on EWTN’s The World Over with Raymond Arroyo to discuss our book By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment.  The segment can now be viewed online. 

Review of Dennett’s From Bacteria to Bach and Back (Updated)

UPDATE 11/19: The review can now be read online for free.

My review of Daniel Dennett’s From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds appears in the Fall 2017 issue of the Claremont Review of Books.  (This is the issue that also contains Janet Smith’s review of By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed.  Good excuse to buy a copy!)

A further reply to Fastiggi, etc.

In an article at Catholic World Report, Robert Fastiggi is critical of the position I have taken vis-à-vis Pope Francis and capital punishment in my recent articles at Catholic Herald and Catholic World Report.   I reply to Fastiggi in a new CWR article.

At Public Discourse, E. Christian Brugger has published a two-part article (here and here) responding critically to By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed.  I have written a detailed reply to Brugger which will appear at Public Discourse soon.  I also recently replied to David McClamrock’s review here at the blog.

Pope Francis on capital punishment

Pope Francis has made news with his recent remarks about capital punishment and the catechism.  They are seriously problematic.  In an article at Catholic Herald, I provide an analysis.

LifeSiteNews has also asked me to comment on the story.

Capital punishment with Prager (UPDATED)

UPDATE 8/9: You can now hear the interview online here.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 8 at 11 am PT, Joe Bessette and I will be on The Dennis Prager Show to discuss our book By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment. 

Reply to Brugger and Tollefsen (Updated again)

UPDATE 11/21: Part 3 has also now been posted.

UPDATE 11/20: Part 2 has now been posted.

In a recent series of articles at Public Discourse, E. Christian Brugger (here and here) and Christopher Tollefsen (here and here) have criticized By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment.  This week, Public Discourse is running my three-part reply.  Part 1 has now been posted.

Conversations with Klavan et al.

My recent interview on Daily Wire’s The Andrew Klavan Show has now been posted.  You can hear the audio at the Daily Wire website or at Ricochet, and you can see the video either at the Daily Wire (if you are a subscriber) or on Facebook.  (Addendum: You can now watch it on YouTube as well.)  We talk about The Last Superstition, mechanism versus teleology, natural law, and Five Proofs of the Existence of God.

Also now available online is my recent interview on Bill Martinez Live.  The subject is Five Proofs and the segment begins a little over 6 minutes into the show.

Capital punishment with Patrick Coffin

Recently I did a long Skype interview about By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment for The Patrick Coffin Show.  You can watch it here.  (Boy do I need to master the art of Skype – I look like I just rolled out of bed.)