Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver: Honoring the Work of Leon R. Kass

(Paperback)

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Leon R. Kass has been helping Americans better understand the human condition for over four decadesas a teacher, writer, scholar, public champion of the humanities, and defender of human dignity. From bioethics to civic education, from interpreting the Bible to weighing the moral implications of modern science, Kass has offered wisdom, guidance, and instruction. In this volume, fifteen of Kass's admirers, including students, colleagues, and friends, honor his work by reflecting on the broad range of subjects to which he has devoted his life's work. Some of the essays offer interpretations of great works of literature and philosophy from Homer, Sophocles, and Plato to Rousseau, Franklin, Jane Austen, Hawthorne, and Henry James. Others examine the significance of Leon Kass's work as a bioethicist and Chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics and as an interpreter of the Book of Genesis. The essays collected in Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver offer a sense of the breadth of Kass's interests and insights and of the influence he has had on generations of scholars. The reader is further acquainted with the career of Leon R. Kass by a biographical introduction and a comprehensive listing of his published writings and the courses he has taught.

Reviews

This book is a liberal education in itself. The friends and students of Leon Kass have written engagingly and searchingly about literature, politics, science, philosophy, and God in the generous, humane, and dignified spirit of their philosopher-physician-scientist mentor. Each and every chapter is a gem; my compliments to the editors for paying such meticulous attention to detail and form. -- Peter Augustine Lawler, Berry College
I don't know that any worldly honor is sufficiently lofty to do justice to the intellectual achievements and public contributions of Leon Kass. If one comes close, however, surely it is this splendid collection of essays by his admirers, associates, and former students. Readers who, like Dr. Kass himself, are true philosopherslovers of wisdomwill find in this volume much to love. -- Robert P. George, Visiting Professor, Harvard Law School; McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
A spectacular achievement. Leon Kasss students and friends have done him, and themselves, proud. The consistently high quality of these diverse essayssome of them virtual apples of gold themselvesmakes this volume a fitting tribute to a stellar thinker and gifted teacher. -- William Kristol, editor, The Weekly Standard

Author Bio

Yuval Levin is editor of National Aff airs and a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC.

Thomas W. Merrill is assistant professor of government at American University in Washington, DC, and was a senior research analyst at the Presidents Council on Bioethics.

Adam Schulman is a tutor at St. Johns College, Annapolis, and was a senior research consultant at the Presidents Council on Bioethics.