Brendan Sweetman

Rockhurst University
  • Some reflections on the relationship between religion and science, especially evolution
    In Joel C. Sagut & Alfredo P. Co (eds.), Faith and reason in the Catholic intellectual tradition, University of Santo Tomas Publishing House. 2022.
  •  5
    Reflections on the Crisis Facing Modern Democracies
    Philosophia: International Journal of Philosophy (Philippine e-journal) 24 (2). 2023.
  •  3
    The Invisible Threshold: Two Plays by Gabriel Marcel (edited book)
    with Maria Traub and Geoffrey Karabin
    St. Augustine's Press. 2019.
    The plays in this new volume were written early in Marcel’s career, and were published together under the title Le Seuil invisible (The Invisible Threshold) in 1913. The first play, Grace, explores the theme of religious conversion. The drama depicts a crisis between characters of genuine depth and sincerity, who are struggling with different interpretations of shared experiences. Similar themes are addressed but developed differently in the second play, The Sandcastle. This drama explores the c…Read more
  •  2
    Józef Bremer, Damian Leszczyński, Stanisław Łucarz, Jolanta Koszteyn, ed. Piotr Lenartowicz (review)
    Forum Philosophicum: International Journal for Philosophy 26 (1): 169-171. 2021.
    Part of a series of books devoted to Polish Christian Philosophy in the twentieth century, this latest study introduces the life and work of Piotr Lenartowicz. Lenartowicz, a member of the Jesuit order, held several professional positions, but spent most of his career at the Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow. Approaching philosophy from an Aristotelian- Thomistic perspective, his interests ranged over the philosophy of animate nature, the theory of evolution, topics in the philosophy of sci…Read more
  •  2
    This new collection covers a wide range of cutting-edge and timely questions in contemporary philosophy of religion from a rich variety of backgrounds and perspectives. The essays in the volume deal with a range of fascinating topics in the philosophy of religion such as views of God's nature in process philosophy and theology, process views compared with traditional views (such as that found in St Thomas Aquinas), teleology and purpose in human life and in the universe, religion and evolution, …Read more
  •  2
    Santiago Sia. Society in its Challenges: Philosophical Considerations of Living in Society (review)
    Philosophia: International Journal of Philosophy (Philippine e-journal) 19 (1): 118-122. 2018.
  •  1
    Me, You, Us: Essays by George Sher (review)
    Review of Metaphysics 74 (4): 638-640. 2021.
  •  1
  •  1
    Supreme Court Rules on Suicide Cases
    Ethics and Medics 22 (8): 3-4. 1997.
  • Science in Society: Conflict or Dialogue?
    Ethics and Medics 33 (6): 1-2. 2008.
  •  1
    Naturalism, Science and Religion
    Ethics and Medics 24 (2): 4-4. 1999.
  •  2
    Evolution and Religion in Kansas
    Ethics and Medics 24 (11): 1-2. 1999.
  •  3
    Death Without Dignity in Oregon
    Ethics and Medics 23 (10): 3-4. 1998.
  •  7
    This book argues that contemporary liberal democracy is reaching a crisis. Brendan Sweetman contends that this crisis arises from a contentious pluralism involving the rise of incommensurable worldviews that emerge out of the absolutizing of freedom over time in a democratic setting. This clash of worldviews is further complicated by a loss of confidence in reason and by the practical failure of public discourse. A contributory factor is the growing worldview of secularism which needs to be dist…Read more
  •  1
    The Emissary, Act Three
    with Gabriel Marcel and Maria Traub
    Journal of Continental Philosophy 1 (2): 318-344. 2020.
    Act Three of Gabriel Marcel’s play, The Emissary, is presented here in English for the first time. The introductory essay introduces Marcel and several of his best known themes, especially the distinctions between problem and mystery, and primary and secondary reflection. Focusing on the relationship between experience and conceptual knowledge, it discusses Marcel’s attempt to argue philosophically for a return to ordinary experience. The role of drama and art in the recovery of the realm of mys…Read more
  •  3
    Advice for Scientists on the Subject of Ethics
    Ethics and Medics 43 (3): 1-2. 2018.
    Advances in technology have not only given rise to many important questions in bioethics but have also made the whole subject something of an ethical minefield. Bioethics now involves practices that give rise to ethical dilemmas in such diverse fields as medicine, biology, and even physics and chemistry. The success and future potential of scientific research in bioethics has contributed to the growing perception that science has a kind of hegemony over modern life, and this brings with it a tem…Read more
  •  12
    Experiments in Democracy: Human Embryo Research and the Politics of Bioethics by J. Benjamin Hurlbut (review)
    The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 20 (1): 191-194. 2020.
  •  8
    Evolution, Chance, and God looks at the relationship between religion and evolution from a philosophical perspective. This relationship is fascinating, complex and often very controversial, involving myriad issues that are difficult to keep separate from each other. Evolution, Chance, and God introduces the reader to the main themes of this debate and to the theory of evolution, while arguing for a particular viewpoint, namely that evolution and religion are compatible, and that, contrary to the…Read more
  •  38
    Contemporary perspectives on religious epistemology (edited book)
    with R. Douglas Geivett
    Oxford University Press. 1992.
    This unique textbook--the first to offer balanced, comprehensive coverage of all major perspectives on the rational justification of religious belief--includes twenty-four key papers by some of the world's leading philosophers of religion. Arranged in six sections, each representing a major approach to religious epistemology, the book begins with papers by noted atheists, setting the stage for the main theistic responses--Wittgensteinian Fideism, Reformed epistemology, natural theology, prudenti…Read more
  •  3
    Reason, Revelation, and Devotion: Inference and Argument in Religion (review)
    Review of Metaphysics 72 (1). 2018.
  •  1
    Gabriel Marcel and the Problem of Knowledge
    Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy 7 (1-2): 148-163. 1995.
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  •  28
    Science and Spirituality: Making Room for Faith in the Age of Science (review)
    Philosophical Quarterly 69 (276): 653-656. 2019.
    Science and Spirituality: Making Room for Faith in the Age of Science. By Ruse Michael.
  •  1
    Religion and the Obligations of Citizenship (review)
    Philosophia Christi 7 (1): 221-227. 2005.
  •  9
    Religious Commitment and Secular Reason (review)
    Philosophia Christi 6 (1): 163-168. 2004.
  •  4
    An Introduction to Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Religion (review)
    Philosophia Christi 4 (2): 553-557. 2002.
  •  5
    D. Z. Phillips on Christian Belief, Immortality, and Resurrection
    Philosophia Christi 16 (1): 57-80. 2014.
    This paper is a critical reflection and response to the religious fideism of D. Z. Phillips, and especially to recent attempts to defend this fideism. Over the course of his career, Phillips argued for a number of interesting but quite dramatic theses about religious belief, including the claim that what is sometimes called the propositional nature of religious belief is frequently misunderstood by philosophers, and that this misunderstanding involves a distortion of what religious believers are…Read more
  • New Catholic Encyclopedia: Supplement 2012-2013: Ethics and Philosophy (edited book)
    with Robert L. Fastiggi, Joseph W. Koterski, and Victor Salas
    Gale. 2013.
  •  15
    Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Contra Gentiles: A Guide and Commentary. By Brian Davies (review)
    International Philosophical Quarterly 58 (2): 232-234. 2018.
  •  11
    Debating Design: From Darwin to DNA, by William Dembski and Michael Ruse (review)
    The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 5 (2): 423-425. 2005.
  • This is a study of Marcel's valuable and unique contribution to contemporary epistemology, which originated out of his existentialist critique of traditional Cartesian philosophy. Marcel argues that Descartes conceives the self as a discrete entity, distinct from the body, which "looks out" upon the external world, and apprehends it by means of clear and distinct ideas, ideas which can be understood without reference to the world. This view motivated Descartes's epistemological project, and the …Read more