A Call to Action: John Courtney Murray, S.J., and the Renewal of American Democracy

As a Jesuit and an American intellectual, John Courtney Murray believed that U.S. society in the post–World War II era lacked a public philosophy and that intellectuals could reformulate the societal consensus so crucial to the early Republic. Invoking St. Thomas Aquinas, Murray formulated the concept of a city composed of democratic ideals and believed that Catholics could challenge the academy to preserve this city and the consensus that built it. Murray committed his life to work within Catholic and other intellectual circles and to the interpretation of U.S. democracy that could reveal the truths held by Americans.