Recent Publications: Dorsey, Peter A. Common Bondage : Slavery As Metaphor in Revolutionary America “This is a brilliant book that I believe will make a very valuable and original contribution to the way scholars understand the use of language in the era of the American Revolution and the origin and limited nature of Revolutionary era anti-slavery sentiment.”
—Robert Olwell, author of Master, Slaves, and Subjects: The Culture of Power in the South Carolina Low Country, 1740–1790 In the American revolutionary era, the antislavery rhetoric of certain founding fathers often took on a life of its own. The distinctions they drew between the British imperial order and the bright dawn of liberty in a new American republic seemed, at times, to compel the freedom of the slaves as well as the freedom of white colonists. But Peter A. Dorsey shows that this rhetoric was often more strategic than principled, and he argues that understanding this ploy helps to explain why an early antislavery movement failed to achieve its goals once the American Revolution was over. In Common Bondage, Dorsey examines how patriots and those who opposed them understood slavery within a broader tradition of revolutionary thought. Especially prominent in the rhetoric and reality of the eighteenth century, this fluid concept was applied to a wide variety of events and values and was constantly being redefined. Dorsey explains the classical meaning of rhetoric as “to persuade” but notes that it can also mean “to mask” or “to mislead.” He shows how these different senses of the word merged, as revolutionary rhetoric was used to achieve limited ends. By examining the figurative extension of slavery in revolutionary rhetoric, Dorsey recaptures the transforming energy of the ideas it promoted and points toward a better understanding of the regressive aftermath. The resulting composite psychology of the slave-holding culture that existed during the country’s formative years allows us to better trace the development of American racism.
Peter A. Dorsey is the chair of the English Department at Mt. Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He is the author of Sacred Estrangement: The Rhetoric of Conversion in Modern American Autobiography. Sister Anne Higinns. How the Hand Behaves. Published Nov. 8th. To read the preview article click here McCarthy, David. The Heart of Social Teaching: Its Orgin and Contemporary Significance. 2009. "This collection brings the venerable tradition of Catholic social justice in line with a newer generation's concerns about community, personal commitment, and liturgy. Social action and policy reform are integrally and dynamically related to the nature of the Christian life and the necessity of conversion. The book will be a superb teaching resource for students who want to link theology and tradition with the contemporary search for a meaningful way of life that includes justice and the common good."--Lisa Sowle Cahill, Boston College "This collection arises from the collaborative habits of a real community of teacher-scholars, philosophers, and theologians who live in the same place and talk to each other about the general education program in which they all work. Wise, timely, rigorous, and accessible to students, The Heart of Catholic Social Teaching is an ideal choice for an undergraduate course."--William L. Portier, University of Dayton "The Heart of Catholic Social Teaching moves beyond principles to the lifeblood of Catholic thought--scripture, Eucharist, Augustine, Aquinas, and more. The book will be a useful resource for those who teach the Catholic social tradition."--M. Therese Lysaught, Marquette University "Designing a penetrating and comprehensive introduction to Catholic social teaching presents no small challenge given the myriad of possibilities for structuring the material. David McCarthy and the contributors of The Heart of Catholic Social Teaching have done us an enormous service by providing a text that masterfully interweaves all the key time periods, figures, sources, documents, themes, and issues in Catholic social teaching. The book manages to present all of these different groupings as a unified, organically integrated introductory text. Just as important, the book presents the heart of Catholic social teaching in a manner whereby both its intellectual rigor and its practicality are accessible, such that the reader is not only enlightened but also empowered."--William C. Mattison III, Catholic University of America Notar, Isabella. From Two Wheels to Four Wheels: The History of Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Policy in China. 2009. "For over seven years Notar patiently interviewed Chinese environmental and transportation officials...providing valuable insights into the obstacles facing Chinese local officials and auto companies as they try to create greener and cleaner cars."-Jennifer Turner, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars "Notar's innovative study will be important for policy makers...It will be just as important for those interested in the Chinese political process for showing how much variation is possible between the policies of major cities as they negotiate between the constraints of central policy and local possibility."-Robert P. Weller, Boston University "Notar not only provides a close look at how Chinese officials established standards to control China's auto emissions, she has conducted one of the first surveys to be published in the West about the significance of a growing car culture among China's emerging elite."-Merle Goldman, Boston University "A must-read for anyone interested in understanding automobile emissions regulation in China and environmental policymaking,in general."-Karen Fisher- Vanden,Pennsylvania State University Cloutier, David. Love, Reason, and God's Story: An introduction to Catholic Sexual Ethics. 2008. In Love, Reason, and God's Story: An Introduction to Catholic Sexual Ethics, Dr. David Cloutier provides readers with a basic understanding of the history of Catholic teaching on sexual ethics, particularly as it has evolved in the last half century. By engaging students in serious intellectual discussion, this author allows them to integrate that discussion with the practical questions that affect their lives.
This text explores the historical, spiritual, practical, and normative elements of Catholic sexual ethics in a way no other book does. Love, Reason, and God's Story is faithful to the Catholic tradition, engaging, accessible to students, and pedagogically structured to encourage critical thinking about dating, marriage, and sexuality. Other publications: Collinge, William. The A to Z of Catholicism. 2001 Collinge, William. The Fathers of the Church: Saint Augustine-Four Anti-Pelagian Writings. 1992 Grisez, Germain. The Way of the Lord Jesus, Living a Christian Life.2008 Hochschild, Joshua P. Virtue's End: God in the Moral Philosophy of Aristotle and Aquinas. 2008 Hochschild, Joshua P. Ethics Without God?: The Divine in Contemporary Moral and Political Thought. 2008 Malone, Martin. Worlds of Talk: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Conversation. 1997 McCarthy, David. Gathered for the Journey: Moral Theology in Catholic Perspective. 2007 Stay, Byron. The Writing Center Director's Resource Book. 2006 | 
