Wednesday, September 19, 2007

And From the Introduction

...In which the All-Wise One tackles the problem of philosophy:

"[T]he reason for my dissatisfaction with philosophy as a profession--I now believe to lie in the divorce of philosophy from theology."--T.S. Eliot in the Introduction to Leisure the Basis of Culture



We must remember that Eliot consciously chose away from a profession in philosophy, for which he had been preparing himself, to work in a bank and then as an editor, and through that all, as a poet and literary critic. Just as Eliot sees the need for culture to be founded on Christian principles, so he sees Pieper's emphasis on his faith as connected to his philosophizing as one of his most significant contributions.

1 comment:

John C. Hathaway said...

Very interesting observation ,and much the same path my own life has followed. I've even attempted to get jobs at banks just to imitate Eliot.

I would take it a step further and say that the problem with theology is that it's become divorced from sanctity. For the Left, theology is the quest to become more "subtle", while, for the Right, theology is about Euclidian, Thomistic Proofs.