Philosophies at War: The Archbishop Fulton Sheen Signature Set, Book 1

by Fulton J. Sheen, Kevin O'Brien (Narrator)

The modern crisis stems from a great divorce—a divorce between those who have the truth and those who do not. In Philosophies at War, Sheen addresses the American people on the themes of government and politics not only as a bishop but also as a conscious citizen. He writes of war and revolution, the need of an absolute (God), and the roots of democracy, patriotism, and peace. He shows that the culture war is not merely political and economic but also theological.

Genres: Philosophy, Theology, Catholic, Christianity

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 1943

About the author

Fulton John Sheen was an American bishop of the Catholic Church known for his preaching and especially his work on television and radio. Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria in Illinois, in 1919, Sheen quickly became a renowned theologian, earning the Cardinal Mercier Prize for International Philosophy in 1923. He went on to teach theology and philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and served as a parish priest before he was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York in 1951. He held this position until 1966 when he was made bishop of the Diocese of Rochester in New York. He resigned as bishop of Rochester in 1969 as his 75th birthday approached and was made archbishop of the titular see of Newport, Wales.
For 20 years as "Father Sheen", later monsignor, he hosted the night-time radio program The Catholic Hour on NBC (1930–1950) before he moved to television and presented Life Is Worth Living (1952–1957). Sheen's final presenting role was on the syndicated The Fulton Sheen Program (1961–1968) with a format that was very similar to that of the earlier Life Is Worth Living show. For that work, Sheen twice won an Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality, and was featured on the cover of Time magazine. Starting in 2009, his shows were being re-broadcast on the EWTN and the Trinity Broadcasting Network's Church Channel cable networks. His contribution to televised preaching resulted in Sheen often being called one of the first televangelists.
The cause for his canonization was officially opened in 2002. In June 2012, Pope Benedict XVI officially recognized a decree from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints stating that he lived a life of "heroic virtues," a major step towards beatification, and he is now referred to as venerable. On July 5, 2019, Pope Francis approved a reputed miracle that occurred through the intercession of Sheen, clearing the way for his beatification. Sheen was scheduled to be beatified in Peoria on December 21, 2019, but his beatification was postponed after Bishop Salvatore Matano of Rochester expressed concern that Sheen's handling of a 1963 sexual misconduct case against a priest might be cited unfavorably in a forthcoming report from the New York Attorney General. The Diocese of Peoria countered that Sheen's handling of the case had already been "thoroughly examined" and "exonerated" and that Sheen had "never put children in harm's way".

Reviews

[Joseph Serwach]

Philosophies at War, written midst of World War II, is actually more relevant now than it may have been there. Because we can read the text and know what Sheen predicted prophetically and exactly how it applies to our world today. A great read.

[Shane]

Prophetic. Written 80 years ago. Sheen diagnoses and lays out a treatment plan for the disease of modernism already bearing its rotten fruit in the West.

[Amy]

Could have been talking about our modern world, in 2025. It had a lot to unpack, much of which I just glossed over. Deserves a re-read.

[Jonah Stephens]

This book is both interesting as a historical artifact, being a theological perspective on the Second World War during its height (and, I think importantly, prior to the West's discovery of the reality of the Holocaust and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki), and as a work of political theology that is astoundingly relevant to today.

Ven. Abp. Sheen doesn't hold back in his fierce yet precise criticism of every ideological side to the War: Nazism, communism, imperialism, fascism, and liberalism. Each of these are errors for different reasons, which he thoroughly explains, and each one is to be rejected by Christians for different reasons and in different ways.

This book finally tipped the balance on my perspective on the West's ongoing decline. I once blamed the 1960s for so much. In terms of popular morality, that decade truly was devastating. But the seeds had been planted far sooner. So much of the rot had set in by the 1930s and 1940s. I am finally beginning to understand the weight of the evidence that points to this. I think perhaps it is so easy to blame Baby Boomers, because they're still alive, and it's popular for my generation to place all our ills on the shoulders of our oldest living ancestors. But maybe we've been too hesitant to even consider what errors their parents allowed to seep into the moral conscience of the West. Dare we criticize the Greatest Generation?

Some quotes:

Your cruellest pain is when you think of all
The honied treasure of your bodies spent
And no new life to show. O then you feel
How people lift their hands against themselves,
And taste the bitterest of the punishment
Of those whom pleasure isolates. Sometimes
When darkness, silence, and the sleeping world
Give vision scope, you lie awake and see
The pale sad faces of the little ones
Who should have been your children, as they press
Their cheeks against your windows, looking in
With piteous wonder, homeless, famished babes
Denied your wombs and bosoms.

Ch. 6, Conspiracy against Life (This verse is quoted from The Testament of John Davidson.)

Without realizing it we may be getting back to a condition which shocked Caesar. Plutarch tells us that one day Julius Caesar saw some wealthy foreign women in Rome carrying dogs in their arms and he said: "Do the women in their country never bear children?" Apparently, even in those days, maternal instincts which should have been directed to children were perverted, in certain cases, to Pomeranians.

Ch. 6

Even regarding Catholic education, His Excellency was prophetic.

[O]nly the Catholic colleges and universities and other Church colleges are in the spirit and tradition of the Founding Fathers. We have kept the Faith with America. And we are not saying this boastfully, but regretfully. A great burden has been placed on us which we cannot bear. The other Churches were supposed to help carry this burden of preserving the religious and the moral foundations of the country. They have shirked the burden. Today, we are left practically alone.

Ch. 7, Democracy in Education (emphasis added)

And finally, unfortunately, I believe His Excellency was simply wrong on this:

We are not fighting to keep the world just as it was; if we were we would be fighting to preserve a world that produced a Hitler and Communism and Fascism.

Ch. 8, The Need of An Absolute
Did they not do just that?

[John LeMay]

As applicable today as ever before, this deeply philosophical but concise volume should be required reading for all.