God and the Knowledge of Reality

by Thomas Steven Molnar

Written simply yet comprehensively, Molnar's anlaysis of the history of philosophy and false mysticism leads him to conclude that a return to a moderate realism will save the philosophical enterprise from a series of epistemological and societal absolutes that are embodied in contemporary rationalism and mysticism alike. Issues that have been systematically excluded from discourse will have to be reintroduced into the discussion of person and providence. Molnar divided the philosophical systems into two groups according to their vision of God, and consequently of reality. One group removes God from the human scope, therefore rendering the world unreal, unknowable, and meaningless. The second group holds that God is immanent in the human soul, thereby emphasizing the human attainment of divine status, and reducing the extra-mental world to a condition of utter imperfection. Either way, the result is a pseudo-mysticism, a denial of the creaturely status of human beings. What is most needed, Molnar claims, is a theory of knowledge whose ideal is not fusion but distinction―between God and Man, subject and object, the self and the society. By thus raising the question of philosophy over against magic Molnar seeks to awaken the reader from neo-dogmatic assumptions and restore speculative thought to its traditional place. Upon publication, Dale Vree in The Review of Politic^, said that "this book will go a long way in establishing Professor Molnar as one of the distinguished conservative philosophers of our time."

268 pages, Paperback

Published December 31, 1993

About the author

Thomas Steven Molnar (Hungarian: Molnár Tamás) was a Catholic philosopher, historian and political theorist.

Molnar completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Brussels in Belgium and received his Ph.D. in philosophy and history from Columbia University in New York City.

He was visiting professor of philosophy of religion at the University of Budapest. As author of over forty books in French and English he published on a variety of subjects including religion, politics, and education. He emigrated to the United States, where he taught for many years at Brooklyn College. Molnar said he was inspired by Russell Kirk's The Conservative Mind . Like Kirk, he wrote a good deal for the magazine National Review. In addition, Kirk and Molnar were founding board members of Una Voce America.

Molnar admired Charles Maurras and wrote that French failure to honor Maurras' conservative values was a component of the "agony of France".

He died at the age of 89 on Tuesday 20 July 2010.

Among the awards Molnar received was the Széchenyi Prize, from the President of the Republic of Hungary.