This book reveals how through a discourse of truth-telling—calling things by their proper name—Pope John Paul II effectively exposed the corruption of language and thought fueling a death culture that is becoming increasingly embedded in medicine, human experimentation, commerce, law, and ideology. This is an indispensable guide to Pope John Paul’s profound and practical insights, meditations, principles, and actions to protect society’s most defenseless individuals.
“William Brennan rebuts the charge that John Paul II’s phrase “culture of death” is no more than the exaggerated scolding of an anxious aging Churchman. In his latest work Brennan catalogues the conceptual and language games used in law, medicine, and politics to deny the humanity of the weak and the vulnerable. Quoting from our cultural elites, Brennan contrasts their cold concepts with John Paul II’s warm affirmation of the value of every human life all the while showing how their vocabulary undercuts the sanctity of human life.
The work is also an excellent resource for anyone who wants at his fingertips a handbook of the most egregious anti-life statements by the most prestigious of our cultural leaders. It is well researched and documented, a valuable resource for anyone engaged in our battle for a culture of life.”
—Adrian Reimers, Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame
“We live not only in a time and place but also in the description of that time and place. William Brennan exposes how that description was twisted and deformed, and how John Paul the Great responded by teaching the world the language of the ‘culture of life.’”
—Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, Editor in Chief, First Things
"No one has more astutely analyzed the language of death in our time than William Brennan, and his study of John Paul II's writings on the subject brings to our attention an aspect of the pope's thought that has often been overlooked."
—James Hitchcock, Professor of History, St. Louis University
“A veritable linguistic compass to ferret out the lies of the culture of death.”
—Fr. Basil Cole, OP, Professor of Moral Theology, Dominican House of Studies, Washington DC
William Brennan is a professor in the St. Louis University School of Social Service where he teaches courses in human behavior and the social environment, and family interaction under stress. He is author of Dehumanizing the Vulnerable: When Word Games Take Lives and has addressed major life issues at national conferences, on university campuses, and in the media.
