In Quest of Science: Historical Examples of Understanding What Science Is and Cannot Be and What to Do and Not to Do to Acquire and Preserve It by Dr. Peter Anthony Achilles Redpath Peter Redpath’s In Quest of Science delves into the role of Christian philosophy,...
In Quest of Science: Historical Examples of Understanding What Science Is and Cannot Be and What to Do and Not to Do to Acquire and Preserve It
In Quest of Science: Historical Examples of Understanding What Science Is and Cannot Be and What to Do and Not to Do to Acquire and Preserve It
by Dr. Peter Anthony Achilles Redpath
Peter Redpath’s In Quest of Science delves into the role of Christian philosophy, particularly that of St. Thomas Aquinas, in shaping Western scientific and intellectual traditions. Redpath argues that misunderstandings of fundamental principles have caused philosophical and educational decline in the West. He examines the influence of figures like Aquinas, Étienne Gilson, and Stanley Jaki, asserting that true science and philosophy stem from a cohesive psychology and metaphysics rooted in Christian teaching, which link rational thought to real-world applications.
Redpath critiques how modern philosophy’s departure from these foundational ideas, like the existence of the soul and an intrinsic moral order, has fragmented Western civilization and weakened higher education. He contends that Aquinas provided an essential framework for integrating faith with reason, enabling scientific inquiry and intellectual growth. Furthermore, Redpath examines the current state of Catholic education, identifying a “decline of real colleges and universities” that have strayed from a true understanding of their purpose and mission. He suggests that reclaiming the Thomistic understanding of human nature and intellectual virtues can help rebuild these institutions and, more broadly, Western society itself.
The work is both a historical analysis and a call to return to an educational model that harmonizes faith, reason, and scientific exploration, aligning moral and intellectual aims for human flourishing.
Paperback: $14.95 | Kindle: $9.99
TESTIMONIALS
TBA
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Peter A. Redpath (retired Full Professor of Philosophy at St. John’s University, New York) is author, editor, co-editor of dozens of books and many dozens of articles and book reviews. An internationally recognized scholar, since 1980 he has given over 200 invited guest lectures nationally and internationally. Among his many accomplishments, he is CEO of the Aquinas School of Leadership, LLC; former Founder and Chair of the Thomistic Studies Graduate Concentration in Christian Wisdom for Holy Apostles College and Seminary (USA); an Affiliate Scholar with the University Abat Oliba Graduate program (Barcelona, Spain). Peter is also co-founder of the Gilson Society (USA) and the International Etienne Gilson Society, the Adler-Aquinas Institute, and the Angelicum Academy and Great Books Academy homeschool programs (both founded with the help of Mortimer J. Adler); former executive editor of the Value Inquiry Book Series (VIBS) for the Dutch publisher Editions Rodopi, B.V., and special series editor for Rodopi and Brill/Rodopi. Presently, he is a member of the editorial board of Brill Publishing’s Philosophy and Religion (PAR) series, a member of the Advisory Board of the Lyceum Institute, and Officer in Charge of Medieval Christian Philosophy and Academic Liaison to the Holy See for Global Scholarly Publications. For a list of articles published on the Catholic World Report, see http://www.catholicworldreport.com/author/redpath-peter/
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Agustín Udías, nacido en Santander (España) en 1935, jesuita, catedrático emérito de Geofísica de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, ha ocupado puestos de investigación y docencia en la Universidad de California, Berkeley; Wolfgang Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main y Universidad de Barcelona. Entre sus libros: con Julio Mezcua Fundamentos de geofísica (Alianza, 1997), Principles of Seismology (Cambridge University Press, 1999, 2018), Historia de la Física. De Arquímedes a Einstein (Síntesis, 2004), Ciencia y religión. Dos visiones del mundo (Sal Terrae, 2010), Jesuit Contribution to Science. Una historia (Springer, 2015) y Los Ejercicios Espirituales con Teilhard de Chardin (Mensajero, 2022). Ha publicado artículos científicos sobre el mecanismo de origen de los terremotos, la sismicidad y la sismotectónica de la región mediterránea, y sobre la relación entre ciencia y religión, y la historia de los científicos jesuitas.
Kenneth Francis is a freelance journalist and Contributing Editor at New English Review. For the past 30 years, he has worked as an editor in various publications and print media, as well as a university professor in journalism. He also holds an MA in Theology and is the author of The Little Book of God, Mind, Cosmos and Truth (St Pauls Publishing); The Terror of Existence: From Ecclesiastes to Theatre of the Absurd (with Theodore Dalrymple); and Neither Trumpets Nor Violins (with Theodore Dalrymple and Samuel Hux).
