{"title":"R J Snell","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"acedia-and-its-discontents-book-r-j-snell-9781621382010","title":"Acedia and Its Discontents","description":"While the term acedia may be unfamiliar, the vice, usually translated as sloth, is all too common. Sloth is not mere laziness, however, but a disgust with reality, a loathing of our call to be friends with God, and a spiteful hatred of place and life itself. As described by Josef Pieper, the slothful person does not want to be as God wants him to be, and that ultimately means he does not wish to be what he really, fundamentally is. Sloth is a hellish despair.\u003cp\u003e Our own culture is deeply infected, choosing a destructive freedom rather than the good work for which God created us. Acedia and Its Discontents resists despair, calling us to reconfigure our imaginations and practices in deep love of the life and work given by God. By feasting, keeping sabbath, and working well, we learn to see the world as enchanting, beautiful, and good--just as God sees it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e In the arid wasteland that is academic writing, amid the wider desert that is modern secular thought, R. J. Snell's book on acedia is an oasis of flowers and fruit and fresh water. Professor Snell reminds us that man must never be made subordinate to work, nor even to the empty 'vacations' that are but interruptions in work. Like his great predecessors Josef Pieper, Jacques Maritain, Max Picard, Romano Guardini, and Pope John Paul II, he diagnoses the besetting disease of our time--spiritual torpor--and prescribes as a remedy the joyful celebration of the Sabbath. A stupendous book, filled with the happiness of wonder.--ANTHONY ESOLEN, author of Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e A whole book about just one vice, 'sloth'? Ah, but this book is different-and devastating. It exposes a deeply hidden and deeply destructive fundamental attitude that pervades our culture, an attitude that comes not just from the flesh (laziness) or from the world (world-weariness, cynicism), but from the Devil: disgust and rebellion toward Being itself, natural as well as supernatural. This is the 'noonday devil' that great saints have labelled 'sloth.' Know your enemy. Read this book --PETER KREEFT, author of Practical Theology: Spiritual Direction from St. Thomas Aquinas\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Acedia--the sin of sloth, so often confused with laziness--is the most overlooked but widespread illness of the modern age; the emptiness under the mask of the world's frantic activity. R.J. Snell helps us see why this is so and what Christians can do about it with elegant, penetrating insight. This is a terrific book about a badly misunderstood 'deadly sin' and its antidotes.--CHARLES J. CHAPUT, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Our modern Empire of Desire manufactures endless appetite while simultaneously denying that anything is objectively good, beautiful, or desirable. The result is not great yearning or passion, but acedia or sloth, a pervasive 'noonday demon' which prowls about our culture like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. In this learned study, R.J. Snell draws on the vast spiritual and intellectual resources of the Christian tradition to diagnose the deep structure of our contemporary nihilism, exposing this demon and its far-reaching effects with elegance and profundity and thereby providing the weapons necessary to slay it. This is a timely and important book.--MICHAEL HANBY, author of No God, No Science: Theology, Cosmology, Biology\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e R. J. SNELL is professor of philosophy at Eastern University in St. Davids, PA, and executive director of the Agora Institute for Civic Virtue and the Common Good. His recent books include Authentic Cosmopolitanism (with Steve Cone) and The Perspective of Love: Natural Law in a New Mode. He and his wife have four young children.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49619475792145,"sku":"GOR013604996","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51039660605713,"sku":"NIN9781621382010","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51157348942097,"sku":"NGR9781621382010","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53022083383569,"sku":"NLS9781621382010","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/162138201X.jpg?v=1751246009"},{"product_id":"lost-in-the-chaos-book-r-j-snell-9781621389552","title":"Lost in the Chaos","description":"\u003cp\u003eA world lacking transcendence is a world lacking hope-a world locked in the despair of utter immanence. Humans cannot long endure despair, and so they contrive false substitutes for hope. But these always disappoint. This book first explores the despair that follows from radical immanence, then the manifold false and flailing attempts to provide hope, and then, finally, hope in its fullness. It is a troubling tale of malaise and feverish attempts to conjure alternatives, especially through political rationalism, humanitarianism, and faux enchantment. But, after looking despair full in the face, Lost in the Chaos also offers us a dynamic ontology, a cognitional theory, and the virtue of hope itself. Yes, ours is in many ways a hopeless age, but in the end this hopelessness is a call to renewed hope, which has never truly been lost.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50129723949329,"sku":"CIN1621389553VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":50993437737233,"sku":"NIN9781621389552","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52107337203985,"sku":"CIN1621389553G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53021654122769,"sku":"NLS9781621389552","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1621389553.jpg?v=1751246026"},{"product_id":"through-a-glass-darkly-book-r-j-snell-9780874626681","title":"Through a Glass Darkly","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50366071636241,"sku":"CIN0874626684G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0874626684.jpg?v=1750980794"},{"product_id":"authentic-cosmopolitanism-book-r-j-snell-9781610973656","title":"Authentic Cosmopolitanism","description":"Description: Humans are lovers, and yet a good deal of pedagogical theory, Christian or otherwise, assumes an anthropology at odds with human nature, fixed in a model of humans as thinking things. Turning to Augustine, or at least Augustine in conversation with Aquinas, Martin Heidegger, the overlooked Jesuit thinker Bernard Lonergan, and the important contemporary Charles Taylor, this book provides a normative vision for Christian higher education. A phenomenological reappropriation of human subjectivity reveals an authentic order to love, even when damaged by sin, and loves, made authentic by grace, allow the intellectually, morally, and religiously converted person to attain an integral unity. Properly understanding the integral relation between love and the fullness of human life overcomes the split between intellectual and moral formation, allowing transformed subjects--authentic lovers--to live, seek, and work towards the values of a certain kind of cosmopolitanism. Christian universities exist to make cosmopolitans, properly understood, namely, those persons capable of living authentically. In other words, this text gives a full-orbed account of human flourishing, rooted in a phenomenological account of the human as basis for the mission of the university. Endorsements: Cone and Snell criticize current theory and practice of education in the best way possible: they offer a clear and inspiring alternative. They ground the alternative not in the latest Gallup poll or the latest pop psychology, but in rereading of authors and traditions recognized by the model they criticize. Dynamite comes in small packages. You have been warned. --Gregory A. Clark, Professor of Philosophy, North Park University Here is a valuable contribution to Christian reflection on the foundational problems of education and spiritual order. Cone and Snell are alive to the dynamics of love, wonder, and bias in the unfolding of the human spirit. They creatively reappropriate and enrich a great tradition to propose a compelling vision for Christian higher education. Anyone serious about cultural renewal will profit from this book. --Jeremy D. Wilkins, Associate Professor, Regis College at the University of Toronto About the Contributor(s): Steven Cone is Assistant Professor of Theology and Chair of the Bible\/Theology Field in the Undergraduate School at Lincoln Christian University. R. J. Snell is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Philosophy Program at Eastern University, as well as Research Director for the Agora Institute for Civic Virtue and the Common Good.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50395944222993,"sku":"CIN1610973658G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51219688390929,"sku":"NIN9781610973656","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51323593883921,"sku":"CIN1610973658VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52345061966097,"sku":"NLS9781610973656","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1610973658.jpg?v=1750960213"},{"product_id":"acedia-and-its-discontents-book-r-j-snell-9781621381266","title":"Acedia and Its Discontents","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50424881086737,"sku":"CIN1621381269G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50701122437393,"sku":"GOR007507726","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50764728860945,"sku":"CIN1621381269VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":50993426170129,"sku":"NIN9781621381266","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53021519905041,"sku":"NLS9781621381266","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1621381269.jpg?v=1751375136"},{"product_id":"perspective-of-love-book-russell-j-snell-9781498265973","title":"The Perspective of Love","description":"Description: While many of the Reformers considered natural law unproblematic, many Protestants consider natural law a Catholic thing, and not persuasive. Natural law, it is thought, competes with the Gospel, overlooks the centrality of Christ, posits a domain of pure nature, and overlooks the noetic effects of sin. This Protestant Prejudice, however strong, overlooks developments in contemporary natural law quite capable and willing to incorporate the usual objections into natural law. While the natural law itself is universal and invariant, theories about the natural law vary widely. The Protestant Prejudice may respond to natural law understood from within the modes of common sense and classical metaphysics, but largely overlooks contemporary natural law beginning from the first-person account of subjectivity and practical reason. Consequently, the sophisticated thought of John Paul I, Martin Rhonheimer, Germain Grisez, and John Finnis is overlooked. Further, the work of Bernard Lonergan allows for a natural law admitting of noetic sin, eagerly incorporating grace, community, the limits of history, a real but limited autonomy, and the centrality of Christ in a natural law that is both graced and natural.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51030378709265,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51030380642577,"sku":"NIN9781498265973","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52485207425297,"sku":"NLS9781498265973","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1498265979.jpg?v=1750827929"},{"product_id":"lost-in-the-chaos-book-r-j-snell-9781621389576","title":"Lost in the Chaos","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51039837847825,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51039840829713,"sku":"NIN9781621389576","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53021654221073,"sku":"NLS9781621389576","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/162138957X.jpg?v=1751246028"},{"product_id":"concepts-of-nature-book-r-j-snell-9781498527569","title":"Concepts of Nature","description":"This volume asks how and why the concept of nature has changed its meaning in modernity and whether a rearticulation of premodern ideas about nature is possible. Building on the work of Voegelin, Strauss, Lonergan, Finnis, and others, the book compares and contrasts classical, medieval, and modern conceptions of nature.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52585366782225,"sku":"NLS9781498527569","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781498527569.jpg?v=1761052693"},{"product_id":"subjectivity-book-r-j-snell-9781498513180","title":"Subjectivity","description":"In Subjectivity, sixteen leading scholars examine the turn to the subject in modern philosophy and consider its historical antecedents in ancient and medieval thought. Some critics of modernity reject the turn to the subject as a specifically modern error, arguing that it logically leads to nihilism and moral relativism by divorcing the human mind from objective reality. Yet, some important thinkers of the last half-century--including Leo Strauss, Eric Voegelin, John Finnis, and Bernard Lonergan--consider a subjective starting point and claim to find a similar position in ancient and medieval thought. If correct, their positions suggest that one can adopt the subjective turn and remain true to the tradition.   This is a timely question. The common good of our polity encounters a situation in which many believe that there is no objective reality to which human minds and wills ought to conform, a conclusion that suggests we can define and construct reality. In light of this, the notion of a natural or objective reality to which human beings ought to conform becomes particularly vital. Should we, then, adopt the modern turn to subjectivity and argue for objective truth and moral order on its basis, or reject the subjective turn as part of the problem and return to an earlier approach that grounds these things in nature or some other external reality? 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