Being in the World: A Quotable Maritain Reader

The work of the lay Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain (1882-1973) continues to provoke and inspire readers to engage in a Thomistic approach to many of the questions facing the world today. Maritain's wide-ranging thought touched on many fields, including aesthetics, anthropology, educational theory, moral philosophy, and ethics, as well as Thomism and its relationship to other philosophical stances. In Being in the World: A Quotable Maritain Reader, Mario O. D'Souza, C.S.B., has selected seven hundred and fifty of the most salient quotations found in the English translations of fifty-four works by Jacques Maritain. Organized into forty thematic chapters, ordered alphabetically, the book serves as an overview of the areas that Maritain's writings addressed. By referring to entries in Being in the World, readers can quickly locate key passages in Maritain's writing on a given topic and then turn elsewhere to the full texts for more in-depth study. Complete with a detailed index of key terms, the Reader will be an essential reference tool for the study of Maritain in English.

About the Author :
Mario O. D'Souza, C.S.B., is dean emeritus of the Faculty of Theology at the University of St. Michael's College, Toronto, where he holds the Basilian Fathers Chair in Religion and Education. Jonathan R. Seiling is an independent scholar affiliated with the University of Toronto.

Review :
"The editors of this collection of the writings of Jacques Maritain, one of the outstanding philosopher/theologians of the mid-20th century, provide a readable and 'quotable' resource for contemporary students, scholars, and theologians. D'Souza re-read 55 of Jacques Maritain's works, took over 1,700 pages of notes, and organized them into a quotable corpus of 40 topics from 'Aristotle' to 'Wisdom.' The result is what well may be a classic study." —The Catholic Journalist "Being in the World is a collection of some seven hundred and fifty quotations selected and thematically arranged with the primary purpose of re-introducing a modern audience to Jacques Maritain . . . . Mario O. D'Souza expertly chose quotations that speak to or resonate with issues relevant to twenty-first century philosophical inquiry . . . . D'Souza provides an excellent overview to Maritain in the forward of the book plus a bibliography of Maritain sources and a useful index of concepts and names. Being in the World is recommended for all academic libraries." —Catholic Library World "Being in the World: A Quotable Maritain Reader makes an original contribution to the field of Maritain studies and to philosophy generally. Maritain is a thinker of great insight and a writer with a fine style. It is very useful to lay out these quotes containing many of his insights and showing his methods and lines of argument. The volume will be of interest not only to philosophers but also to scholars and readers from other fields such as politics, the arts, religion, and education." —John Hittinger, University of St. Thomas "Father D'Souza's wide-ranging collection of Maritain insights and reflections is most welcome. It is an extraordinarily useful and organized review of his mind at its best. I thought, as I read through these reminders of Maritain's genius, that I should like to have a class in which we did nothing for a semester or two but read carefully through the 'range of reason' that Maritain provides for us. We know of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas and what such genius can see. We have in this collection a reminder of what this tradition could do and of what it did do when a man like Maritain worked his way through, in his own way, all that is. This contemplative 'working' is the true work of a genuine philosopher. This book is both needed and, yes, unexpected. Indeed, it is a delight in that proper sense of a 'delight of the mind.'" —James V. Schall, S. J., emeritus, Georgetown University "Fr. Mario O. D'Souza's careful selection from the works of Jacques Maritain provides the reader with an invaluable sampling of Maritain's extensive philosophical work. In it, we find examples of Maritain's almost lyrical gift of expression as well as of his trenchant wit. More than a scholarly contribution, the volume also ably serves as an introduction and entrance into Maritain's corpus." —William Sweet, St. Francis Xavier University, Canada