Daniel Philpott’s website is here.
The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the authors. None express the view of the University of Notre Dame.
About
Arc of the Universe is a blog about justice. It was launched in 2014, reconfigured in 2022 and authored by Daniel Philpott at the University of Notre Dame. The blog is written from the standpoint of a Christian concept of justice rooted in the Bible, shaped by the tradition of the Catholic Church, and informed by other Christian and religious traditions. It contends that justice in the Bible means comprehensive right relationship and is wider than, though inclusive of, the constant will to render another his due, the notion that now dominates modern nation-states. Retrieved, biblical justice contains great promise for the renewal of modern societies.
The pictures on the home page exemplify the blog’s theme. One is Jacques Maritain, the 20th century Catholic philosopher who retrieved the thought of Thomas Aquinas to defend human rights, the common good, democracy, international community, and a personalist economics in the context of modern nation-states. Another is Mother Theresa, who defended the most vulnerable human persons on the basis of her faith. Pope St. John Paul II was a great witness for justice, defending human dignity and religious freedom against communist states, human life in modern societies, and an approach to social justice shaped by mercy and reconciliation. The other picture shows former Notre Dame President Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. marching with Martin Luther King in 1964. Fr. Hesburgh is just to the left of King in the photo. The picture conveys the blog’s commitment to Notre Dame’s mission to promote justice, rooted in its Catholic character. The blog’s title is borrowed from Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote, “the arc of the universe is long but it bends towards justice.”