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In the hype of multi-/inter-disciplinarity, is the voi-ce or voices of theistic religions and the attendant philosophical moral awareness (etymologically bet-ter rendered as conscientização in Portuguese) still meant to be heard? Can classical tales of saints and sinners remain part of the canon of public literacy? How existential is the threat of “organised religions” or otherwise established ecclesiastical structures posed to society when they are accused of attempting to fight proxy crusades against humanitarian enlightenment under the guise of religious literature? Are tenets pro-pounded by scholars like Gavin D’Costa in Theology and the Public Square (2005) to be politely bracketed when discussing perennial values? Values that respon-sible media strive to propagate, particularly the value of human dignity eulogised by the life exemplars of great figures in times of existential crises of whatever magnitude. With these questions in mind, this article will hearken back to the stories of two “grandees” in the Roman Catholic tradition who left their marks on the pages of the development of modern English and Chinese literacy. Newman’s Apologia pro vita sua(1865) is just but one of the tactical devises for his defense of creedal integrity, while Ma Xiangbo engaged in catholicising the Chinese national ethos through educational literacy for close to half a century. We shall phenomenologically draw inspirations from their parallel vision and experience on what lends power to the medium of words and deeds in shaping informed public conscience in regard to the core values of truth, good, and beauty.

Abstract The Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci's teaching on the goodness of human nature in The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven represents the fruit of the first encounter between Catholicism and Confucianism. This article will consider the Thomistic and neo‐Confucian sources in Ricci's enunciation of the Catholic doctrine on the goodness of human nature in this Chinese catechism. It will illustrate that Ricci developed his teaching, which is fundamentally Thomistic, with the help of terminology borrowed from the Chinese philosophical tradition. His distinction between the good of nature and the good of virtue leads to prioritising the cultivation of human nature. Ricci's teaching reflects the early modern Jesuits’ appreciation of human freedom. It also displays a Catholic reaction to the sixteenth‐century neo‐Confucian intellectual trend that ignored the importance of moral cultivation.

In this essay, we put forth a novel solution to Plantinga’s Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism, utilizing recent work done by Duncan Pritchard on radical skepticism. Key to the success of Plantinga’s argument is the doubting of the reliability of one’s cognitive faculties. We argue (viz. Pritchard and Wittgenstein) that the reliability of one’s cognitive faculties constitutes a hinge commitment, thus is exempt from rational evaluation. In turn, the naturalist who endorses hinge epistemology can deny the key premise in Plantinga’s argument and avoid the dilemma posed on belief in the conjunction of naturalism and evolution.

The doctrine of original sin gives people the impression that the goodness of human nature is under-evaluated in the Christian theological tradition. The Chinese philosopher Mencius is famous for his teaching on the goodness of human nature. Reading Mencius and Thomas Aquinas side by side, this article argues that the Mencian teaching on human nature brings us to affirm the goodness of human nature by recovering the significance of the image of God for the Christian doctrine of human nature. If we seek the goodness of human nature in the possibilities to become good, it is natural to see that even in the fallen state the possibilities of becoming like God remain in human nature imprinted with the image of God. It is open to the culmination of a gradual progression to its perfection.

A growing focus on God’s mercy and forgiveness emerged in the wake of the recent Pontificates of John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis. Our time with its multiple crises cries for healing, forgiveness, and the experience of God’s mercy. In social, political, and global terms, humanity craves for “lasting peace, born of the marriage of justice and mercy” (John Paul II, 2001, no. 15). The experience of God’s forgiveness, merciful healing and new life has been expressed many times in the Bible. But, theologically, it has never been formulated as directly as in Hosea 11:8, when God’s own heart becomes “turned over”, “converted” following the blaze of his own overwhelming compassion, paving the way for a fundamental spiritual transformation, rooted in forgiveness and mercy, that opens wellsprings of dignity, healing, and new life for all.

In this essay we argue that, based on current scientific data, the most prudential course of future actions that an American conservative can take, is one that assumes what we call climate change alarmism. In order to establish this thesis, we first provide a basic overview of the relevant climate change science, as well as give an analysis of the alarmist and lukewarming dialectic (the two primary interpretations of the data). We then move to develop our environmental wager. Finally, following Roger Scruton, we end this work by proposing what sort of policies conservatives should endorse going further.

Launonen and Mullins argue that if Classical Theism is true, human cognition is likely not theism-tracking, at least, given what we know from cognitive science of religion. In this essay, we develop a model for how classical theists can make sense of the findings from cognitive science, without abandoning their Classical Theist commitments. We also provide an argument for how our model aligns well with the Christian doctrine of general revelation.

The place of theology is under threat in the modern university. It is denied a place, except insofar as it is useful in the training of religious professionals or as a phenomenon in its own right, on the grounds that relate to an unscientific scientism that both makes metaphysical assumptions it itself does not recognise as scientific or denies its own epistemological commitments. This article argues that the notion of education in ‘liberal knowledge’ or ‘universal knowledge’, the idea at the heart of John Henry Newman’s The Idea of a University provides a sufficiently robust counter to these assaults on the place of theology proper in the modern university and that refusing such a place to it undermines the claim of universities to use the name at all. It is precisely the uselessness of theology that guarantees its place in the university committed to universal knowledge and universal enquiry.

In this essay, we respond to Dustin Crummett’s argument that one cannot consistently appeal to body count reasoning to justify being a single-issue pro-life voter if one is also committed to the usual response to the embryo rescue case. Specifically, we argue that a modified version of BCR we call BCR* is consistent with the usual response. We then move to address concerns about the relevance of BCR* to Crummett’s original thesis.