fall 2007 - Seton Hall University

Cain Slays Abel by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1794-1872
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
With a plot that revolves around murder, this novel brings
the Biblical doctrine that we are our brother’s keepers to
bear upon modern atheist beliefs that refuse to square the
existence of a good God with the reality of human, especially
innocent human, suffering. In The Brothers Karamazov,
Dostoyevsky claimed to have set out the atheist position better
and more forcefully than all contemporary atheists had
done. (F. Nietzsche, one of the 19th century’s greatest atheists
himself, gave credit to this boast.) But Dostoyevsky made the
boast because he believed he not only had answered the
atheists’ challenge, but also had exposed the murderous
contradictions of their positions. If you are looking for an
answer to contemporary best sellers advocating atheism,
here is their classic and perennially effective rebuttal.
Charles Dickens by G.K. Chesterton
In the eyes of those who esteem him as the greatest
thinker and English writer of the 20th century, G.K.
Chesterton is the most unjustly neglected writer of
our time. Charles Dickens represents Chesterton’s
appreciation of the life and works of one of England’s
greatest 19th century thinkers and writers, in which
he explains how and why Dickens’ writing reformed
social ills more effectively than the writing of any
revolutionary and, more than any other writer,
revolutionized countless professional lives
by engaging people’s imagination to change
working environments.The novelist’s greatness,
Chesterton explains, lies in the way he let
philanthropy blow humanity and hope through
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the hard, cruel world depicted in his books and also in
the way in which Dickens, unlike certain great men who
make every man feel small, made every man feel great.
The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis
by Leon R. Kass
Kass, best known for his efforts to stop human embryonic
stem cell and cloning research as chair of the President’s
Council on Bioethics, has synthesized three decades of
writing and reflection on ethics and the Bible into what
promises to be one of the most accessible and profound
guides to the Book of Genesis (and thus to Hebrew scripture
and spirituality.) Here finally is a book that reveals how
Israel’s patriarchs and matriarchs can help us understand
and fulfill our roles as parents and spouses, and as links
in the chain of tradition that gives our lives meaning.
Glazov is assistant professor of Biblical studies and coordinator
of the Great Spiritual Books program. To learn more about
the course, please contact Debbie Kurus at (973) 313-6329 or
kurusdeb@shu.edu
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