Introduction

This issue of Seeking Wisdom includes four articles. Our lead article is a critique of William James’ pragmatic defense of religion by Nader Chokr of Shandong University in China, and represents a contribution to the ongoing debate about the possibility of rationally grounding a doctrine of meaning and value. Our second article is an interview (conducted by Jerome Sabhandu, a Sri Lankan currently pursing doctoral work at Trinity College Dublin) with Belgian sociologist of religion Francois Houtart, and represents an important step in documenting the remarkable life of a man who played a very significant role (mostly behind the scenes) in shaping the politics of the late twentieth century. Our third article, by Dirk Durbin, who is Director of Interdisciplinary Humanities at X, is explores the lessons of the Taoist tradition for contemporary Western Civilization. Finally, Understanding America by our editor, Anthony Mansueto, analyzes the sources of American identity and the implications of that identity for the current and future politics of the United States