''Memory and Identity'' is the last book written by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

. It was published in 2005. The work consists of 26 chapters, each opening with a short narrative paragraph, sometimes including one or more questions. The rest of the chapter consists of the Pope's answers or reactions to the opening paragraph.

Description

The chapters are organized into five sections and an epilogue. The sections discuss his views on the issues of: 1) The nature and limitations of evil; he asserts that 'the ideologies of evil are profoundly rooted in the history of European thought'; especially the French Enlightenment, 'radically atheist

Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

revolution', 'National Socialist ideology', and abortion/ gay rights conferred by the European parliament. Redemption is the Divine limit imposed on evil, and is given to Man as his task. 2) The relationship between freedom and responsibility; a discussion of the 'just good', the 'useful good' and the 'pleasurable good' brings him to criticize modern

utilitarianism In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different chara ...

. Freedom must be commensurate with truth and love. 3) The nature of

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

in the context of history and culture; patriotism and culture are expressions of love, whereas nationalism pursues the good of one's own nation alone. 4) The current social state of affairs in Europe; liberty, equality and fraternity grew out of the Gospel, but early capitalism did much damage to these principles. Europe was also uniquely devastated by two world wars. 5) The virtues and weaknesses of

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...

; Parliaments confer abortion rights but do nothing to defend the unborn child. The epilogue is a first hand account of the assassination attempt on him on 13 May 1981. It also mentions the importance of the Thomistic philosophy and theology of the prominent doctor of the Catholic Church

St. Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known ...

to come to a deeper understanding of the Pope's

personalist Personalism is an intellectual stance that emphasizes the importance of human persons. Personalism exists in many different versions, and this makes it somewhat difficult to define as a philosophical and theological movement. Friedrich Schleierm ...

( phenomenological) presentation of ''

Humanae Vitae ''Humanae vitae'' (Latin: ''Of Human Life'') is an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and dated 25 July 1968. The text was issued at a Vatican press conference on 29 July. Subtitled ''On the Regulation of Birth'', it re-affirmed the teaching of ...

'' in his ''

Theology of the Body ''Theology of the Body'' is the topic of a series of 129 lectures given by Pope John Paul II during his Wednesday audiences in St. Peter's Square and the Paul VI Audience Hall between September 5, 1979, and November 28, 1984. It constitutes an ...

catechesis Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the ...

, which he thought had its limitations. He writes:

If we wish to speak rationally about good and evil, we have to return to
St. Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known ...
, that is, to the philosophy of being. With the phenomenological method, for example, we can study experiences of morality, religion, or simply what it is to be human, and draw from them a significant enrichment of our knowledge. Yet we must not forget that all these analyses implicitly presuppose the reality of the Absolute Being and also the reality of being human, that is, being a creature. If we do not set out from such ' realist' presuppositions, we end up in a vacuum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Memory And Identity 2005 books 2005 in Christianity Works by Pope John Paul II