All thinkers
Ruler / statesman · Modern
Bl. Karl of Austria
1887–1922 · Christian monarchy; Catholic social policy
Blessed
Latin
Last Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary (1916–1918); beatified 2004.
The last Habsburg emperor, who inherited the First World War, sought a separate peace through the Sixtus Affair, was the only belligerent ruler to welcome Benedict XV's peace note, founded a ministry of social welfare, forbade dueling and the use of poison gas, and after deposition refused to abdicate his God-given office, dying in exile on Madeira at thirty-four, offering his sufferings for his peoples.
Why he matters: The Church's model of a Christian ruler in the modern age: authority held as a trust from God, exercised for peace and the poor, and surrendered without betraying conscience.
Reading
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A Heart for Europe: The Lives of Emperor Charles and Empress ZitaJames and Joanna Bogle · The best English introduction.
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Blessed Charles of Austria: A Holy Emperor and His LegacyCharles A. Coulombe · A fuller life with his political vision.
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Diuturnum IlludPope Leo XIII, 1881 · The doctrine of authority from God that Karl lived.
Documented positions
Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.
Settled teaching
Its center
Open question
Beyond teaching, not condemned
Condemned error
I
God and Being · What is, and whence it is.
Can reason know that God exists?
Natural theology
Fideism or agnosticism
Natural theology
Is the world governed by purpose?
Providence and final causes
Chance and mechanism
Providence and final causes
II
Faith, Reason and Truth · How we know, and whom we trust.
Who interprets revelation?
Living Tradition and Magisterium
Private judgment
Living Tradition and Magisterium
Are the world's learning and arts a danger or a gift?
A gift to be baptized
A danger: Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem
A gift to be baptized
III
The Human Person · Soul, body, freedom and the Fall.
Is there a spiritual soul?
Immortal spiritual soul
Mind is brain
Immortal spiritual soul
Are you free?
Free will
Determinism
Free will
How fallen is human nature?
Between
Totally depraved
Basically good
Person and community
Collectivism
Individualism
Collectivism
Marriage, sex and the body's meaning
Given by nature and grace
Given by nature and grace
Defined by consent and identity
What is suffering for?
A share in the Cross
An evil to be relieved
A share in the Cross
IV
The Moral Life · Law, virtue, conscience and the good.
Is morality objective and knowable?
Natural law
Relativism
Natural law
Are some acts always wrong?
Intrinsically evil acts
Consequentialism
Intrinsically evil acts
What is conscience?
Conscience bound to truth
Autonomous conscience
Conscience bound to truth
What is happiness?
Beatitude in God
Earthly flourishing
Beatitude in God
V
Grace and Salvation · How God saves, and whom.
How are we made right with God?
Infused, transforming grace
Forensic imputation
Infused, transforming grace
VI
Church and Society · Authority, the state, wealth and the nation.
Church and state
Social kingship of Christ
Laicism
Social kingship of Christ
The economic order
Socialism
Socialism
Laissez-faire capitalism
Where does authority come from?
Authority from God
Social contract
Authority from God
Reform or tradition?
Guided by tradition
Remake by reason
Guided by tradition
The nation and the Church
Nation does not matter
Nation or race first
Nation does not matter
May the state restrain false religion?
The confessional state: error has no rights
The confessional state: error has no rights
Civil liberty for every religion
Which form of government best suits a Christian people?
Monarchy and hierarchy
Monarchy and hierarchy
Democracy and participation
May a Christian take up the sword?
Between
Never: the way of the Cross is nonviolence
Yes: war can be just and sometimes a duty
VII
Worship, Prayer and the Two Lungs · Liturgy, icons, the Spirit, and the See of Peter.
Liturgical development
Receive and develop organically
Reconstruct and innovate
Receive and develop organically
Icons and images
Veneration of images
Iconoclasm
Veneration of images
The way of prayer
Discursive meditation
Stillness and the Jesus Prayer
Discursive meditation
The office of Peter
Universal and immediate primacy
Conciliarism
Universal and immediate primacy
What do the sacraments do?
Efficacious ex opere operato
Signs only
Efficacious ex opere operato
When the Pope speaks
Every word binds
Resist and judge
Every word binds
Holy Orders and the Church's constitution
A clerical Church
A clerical Church
Reformable by the people
Contemplation or action?
Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy
Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy
Contemplation: the one thing needful