In partnership with the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, the University of Notre Dame Press is proud to announce the publication of two new titles in the Catholic Ideas for a Secular World Series: The Disintegrating Conscience and the Decline of Modernity by Steven D. Smith, the Warren Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of San Diego, and A Theology of Creation: Ecology, Art, and Laudato Si’ by Thomas S. Hibbs, the J. Newton Rayzor Sr. Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University.
The Disintegrating Conscience and the Decline of Modernity considers how the modern concept of “conscience” turns the historic commitment on its head, in a way that underlies the decadence of modern society. Marc O. DeGirolami, author of The Tragedy of Religious Freedom, calls it “[F]ar and away the most insightful, balanced, and convincing account of the religion clauses to appear in the last five years at least.” The Disintegrating Conscience and the Decline of Modernity is Smith’s second book in this series; his first, Fiction, Lies, and the Authority of Law, was published in September 2021.
A Theology of Creation: Ecology, Art, and Laudato Si’ provides the first sustained philosophical treatment of Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’ and articulates a theology of creation to recover our place within the cosmos. “Few contemporary writers have the breadth of reading in philosophy, theology, art, and pop culture so elegantly and persuasively displayed in Hibbs’s A Theology of Creation,” says Joseph E. Capizzi, author of A Catechism for Business. “The book is a triumph!”
Both books are available for sale directly from the University of Notre Dame Press at undpress.nd.edu or wherever books are sold.
ABOUT THE DE NICOLA CENTER FOR ETHICS AND CULTURE: The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame is committed to sharing the richness of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition through teaching, research, and public engagement, at the highest level and across a range of disciplines—both on campus at the University of Notre Dame, and as Notre Dame in the public square. The Catholic Ideas for a Secular World Series, edited by O. Carter Snead, director of the de Nicola Center, was created to feature authors from around the world who expand the influence of Catholic thought on the most important conversations in academia and the public square.
ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS: The University of Notre Dame Press, the largest Catholic university press in the world, publishes academic and general interest books that engage the most enduring questions of our time. The Press primarily publishes in areas that align with the academic strengths of the University of Notre Dame, including religion, theology, history, philosophy, political science and theory, medieval studies, Irish studies, Latin American studies, and international relations. Through reviews, scholarly citations, and translations, Notre Dame Press books extend the reach and reputation of the University.