Fr. Thomas Crean and Prof. Alan Fimister have recently published their “manual,” Integralism (“C&F”). While the debates over integralism to date have centered on the subordination of the temporal power to the spiritual power, Crean and Fimister have an altogether more ambitious goal: they hope to present a coherent vision of Catholic politics, jurisprudence, and political economy. It would, however, be a mistake to think that they present a descriptive case. They have an agenda. There are numerous examples of this fact, but one of the clearest is their treatment of the civil law tradition compared to the common law tradition. A quick inspection of one aspect of their treatment, which takes up only a couple of paragraphs in their chapter on law, reveals not only their agenda but the manner in which they pursue it.
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