Apology: Love as the State of Things

If the greatest threat to human happiness is comfort and conformity, Apology: Love as the State of Things offers a means to overcome it. Under the literary form of Justin Martyr's second-century defense of the Christian faith, Stephen Bujno's speculative narrative girds the reader with a spiritual armor and strategy to win the field against the compromising minions of apathy and indifference. To wit: finding peace in the world is not possible by making peace with the world, and goods contrary to human nature will pacify only its restlessness. Even as no society can be reformed without self-reform, no Christianity can be reformed without reformed Christians.Under the guise of a letter to a secular authority by an imprisoned member of the "Weak," this prescient and timely book invites the reader to consider how this modern crisis is voluntarily self-imposed. It reimagines the Christian landscape as divided among three rivals: the Compromised, who under a mantle of eminence nonetheless stealthily conform; the Radicals, who nonetheless bow to rational thought; and the Weak, who maintain orthodoxy by embracing voluntary precarity. Hope overcomes apathy as mercy tempers indifference. This path to justice offers love as the Absolute's self-attraction, becoming a liturgy of the will. Only by risking comfort and conformity can the human person live a Gospel that demands everything.

About the Author :
STEPHEN BUJNO, Ph.D., has endeavored to live an examined life, whether in the classroom, in literary form, or at the potter's wheel. As academic, he teaches philosophy and ethics for health care professionals at Villanova University. His published writings include Ethics of Care and Wellness; Moral Being: Freedom, Society, and Beauty; and Autonomy, Consciousness, and Personhood. As lifelong clay artist, he still assists his wife Tina in her studio. Married for thirty-six years, they are parents of three daughters and grandparents of seven, all living and sharing close by in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Review :

"We are all in receipt of divine gifts in the beginning and at the end. We are asked to be mindful of this in the middle. This worthy book goes to the heart of the matter in offering an existential witness and prophetic reminder of all of this in the gifts of divine love. It offers true testament to the weakness and poverty asked of us by Christ. It is witness in communicating with genuineness, lucidity, and steadfastness beyond the normal securities, and expressed with poetic touch and spiritual cadence. It is clued into the counterfeit doubles of Christianity, whether from the left or the right, and indeed in the middle. Very warmly recommended." -WILLIAM DESMOND, Cassiciacum Fellow, The Augustinian Institute, Villanova University, USA; Professor of Philosophy emeritus, Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven, Belgium

"Whether one identifies with the Weak, the Compromised, or the Radicals-or perhaps some bricolage of these paradigms-readers will find in Stephen Bujno's Apology a provocation to contemplate subtle but deeply significant aspects of our world today. With echoes of Justin Martyr's first Apology, Bujno channels not only a similar attitude and keenness of insight, but a creative modification updated for our time. This is an immensely thought-provoking work, with a profound depth that is communicated in a very accessible style. I highly recommend Apology for anyone wanting a clearer vision of so much of what today has otherwise been obscured." -BRENDAN SAMMON, Associate Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, Saint Joseph's University

"If 'traditionalism' means recovering the style, tone, and teaching of the early Fathers, this book is traditionalist. If 'radicalism' means getting to the 'roots' (radix) and applying them to the current moment, this book is radical. Only a 'radical traditionalism' can address the problems we face today-and Stephen Bujno addresses them in the same way St Justin Martyr or St Basil the Great did. A radicalism without tradition can only mean power without purpose; a tradition severed from its roots is a contradiction in terms." -JOHN MÉDAILLE, Instructor in Theology, University of Dallas