"Yes, God Is Real": A Born-Again Public Intellectual Reflects on Catholic Faith in Reason and Community

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John DiIulio
University of Pennsylvania

Date:听April 17, 2008

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Abstract

If faith should lead to action, what are the implications of that belief for institutions, particularly universities committed to religious principles? DiIulio will draw on his extraordinary breadth of service in the university, church and government to discuss this and other questions.

Speaker Bio

John J. DiIulio, Jr.

John J. DiIulio, Jr.听is the Frederic Fox Leadership Professor of Politics, Religion and Civil Society at the University of Pennsylvania.听 He majored in Economics at Penn and received his Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University.听 After teaching at Harvard, he spent thirteen years at Princeton University as a professor of politics and public policy.听

He has been a research director at the Brookings Institution, the Manhattan Institute, and Public/Private Ventures.听 During his academic leave in 2001-2002, he served as the first director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.听He听has also听developed programs to mentor the children of prisoners, provide literacy training in low-income communities, reduce homicides in high-crime police districts and support inner-city Catholic schools that serve low-income children.听

His most recent publications include听(University of California Press, 2007), and听听(with James Q. Wilson; Houghton Mifflin and Company, 2007, 11th edition).听 He was chief consultant to the documentary听鈥淕od and the Inner-City.鈥

A born-again Catholic in the Jesuit and Pentecostal traditions, he professes what Saint Ignatius of Loyola taught: 鈥淟ove ought to show itself in deeds more than in words.鈥澨 He also professes what Saint James taught: 鈥淔aith without works is dead.鈥

Event Photos

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John DiIulio

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Rev. Eugene Rivers

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John DiIulio and Rev. Eugene Rivers (Photos by Kerry Burke, 情色空间 Media Technology Services)

Event Recap

The Boisi Center鈥檚 second CIT event brought to campus John DiIulio, former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, and current professor of politics, religion and civil society at the University of Pennsylvania. On April 17 DiIulio presented a provocative and moving exhortation to service under the title: 鈥溾橸es, God is Real鈥: A Born-Again Public Intellectual Reflects on Catholic Faith in Reason and Community.鈥 He began by recounting how he had lived most of his adult life as if the Catholicism he was born into had little relevance to his scholarly work. Tenured at Princeton just two years after receiving his Ph.D. at Harvard, he was renowned for his hard-hitting policy analysis of crime.

In the midst of a research project on the influence of churches on crime statistics in blighted neighborhoods, DiIulio met inner-city pastors whose churches provided an array of social services to all who needed them, regardless of race or religion. He was particularly moved by Benjamin 鈥淧ops鈥 Smith, a Pentecostal pastor whose vast outreach efforts were motivated, Smith said, by the simple fact that God is real. When you know that God is real, said DiIulio, you act on behalf of the poor and hungry. At this point in his talk, DiIulio invited Rev. Eugene Rivers, prominent pastor of Boston鈥檚 Azusa Christian Community, to come forward. At DiIulio鈥檚 urging, Rivers sang the gospel hymn 鈥淵es, God is Real鈥 and commented about Rev. Smith鈥檚 importance in his own life. Rev. Smith and others demonstrated, said DiIlulio, that 鈥渇aith without works is dead鈥 (James 2:20). In that spirit, DiIulio called the Catholic community at Boston College to 鈥淒o something for real鈥: help low-income residents decipher tax or food stamps documents; mobilize graduating seniors to teach鈥攑ermanently鈥攊n inner-city schools; do 鈥渨hatever else you feel like doing, deep down in your souls, for God鈥檚 family.鈥 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why God gave us faith in reason, and reason for faith,鈥 he concluded.

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Further Reading

DiIulio, John.听听(University of California Press, 2007).

DiIulio, John and E.J. Dionne (eds.)听What's God Got to Do With the American Experiment?听(Brookings, 2000).

DiIulio, John and James Q. Wilson.听American Government: Institutions and Policies.听(Houghton Mifflin, 1998).听

DiIulio, John and Donald F. Kettl.听Fine Print: The Contract with America, Devolution, and the Administrative Realities of American Federalism.听(Brookings, 1995).

Fox Leadership Program, University of Pennsylvania

White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives