Here and There . . .

• Justin Nickelsen, a friend and reader of David Jone's la nouvelle théologie -- has been inspired to start his own blog: RRCT: Retrieval and Renewal in Catholic Thought. One of his opening posts is on the "journalistic maturing" of John Allen, Jr., reporter for the National Catholic Reporter and the well-read column "Word from Rome".

• On la nouvelle théologie, a flurry of comments and a minor dustup btw/ Stephen Hand and myself, but may be useful reading in that I clarify exactly why I do not believe the Zwicks (of the Houston Catholic Worker) are "exactly on point" in their treatment of Michael Novak, but rather indulge in a misreading, and perhaps even a deliberate misrepresentation, of his position on issues in Catholic social doctrine.

  Presently I'm reading and enjoying Novak's Free Persons and the Common Good, a very rich and educational study in understanding the term from the Catholic perspective as well as Alexis de Tocqueville and the writings of our founding fathers. Novak wrote his book in tribute to Jacques Maritain and the 40th anniversary of Maritain's influential essay The Person and the Common Good.