Launch of 1968: Culture & Counterculture

This week, the book 1968: Culture & Counterculture - A Catholic Critique (published by Wipf & Stock) was launched. This volume brings together the proceedings of a conference organised around the year 1968, and was put together by Tom Gourlay and Daniel Matthys of the Perth-based Dawson Society for Philosophy and Culture.

In the days before coronatide, the Society organised pub nights where meals were eaten and talks on theology, philosophy, literature and culture were given. I have been privileged to give two such talks with them on a theology of escape and the vice of acedia.

In 2018, the Society organised a conference marking the fiftieth anniversary of 1968, which many might consider to be epochal, not only for the many social upheavals brought about by riots, assassinations and the rise of new threads of critical theory. In the Catholic world, 1968 also marked a watershed with Humanae Vitae, Pope St. Paul VI’s encyclical on married love (and prohibition on the use of artificial contraception).

The conference proceedings, published by Wipf & Stock, brought together a range of papers and contributors, which include the Theologian to the Papal Household, Fr Wojciech Giertych, the Italian specialist Prof. John Kinder, and the co-winner of the most recent Ratzinger Prize for Theology, Prof. Tracey Rowland. On a much lesser note, my contribution to the proceedings is also included, on how Cultural Marxism could help Christians understand and navigate a fake-news world.

Our Australian readers might be interested to know that the book was launched in Sydney this week and more launches are in the offing in Perth and Melbourne (look up the Dawson Society on facebook for the latest updates).

Our international readers can listen to an interview of Tom and Daniel about the book by This Catholic Life, as well as purchase copies of the book.

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