New York University’s Center for the Study of Transformative Lives will host historian James Carroll, author of Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews, for a public lecture, “The Pope’s Uneasy Conscience: Why Bergoglio Matters,” on Tues., Sept. 23.

James Carroll
The Center for the Study of Transformative Lives will host historian James Carroll, above, author of Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews, for a public lecture, “The Pope’s Uneasy Conscience: Why Bergoglio Matters,” on Tues., Sept. 23. Photo credit: Bob Richman.

“Pope Francis has impressed the world with his modest demeanor and evident concern for impoverished peoples,” says Carroll. “But his steady rejection of the self-exoneration that marks not only prelates but most power figures suggests a deeper shift—not just for religion, but for a world politics centered on predatory capitalism. The Catholic Church, facing its failures, may prove to be the center of a much needed and quite broad moral reckoning. Is it possible? Can he do it? He’s the pope!”

Carroll is the author of 11 novels and seven works of non-fiction, including An American Requiem, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction; Constantine's Sword, now an acclaimed documentary; House of War, which captured the first PEN-Galbraith Award; and Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World, which was named a 2011 Best Book by Publishers Weekly. In November, Viking will publish Christ Actually: The Son of God for The Secular Age. Carroll is a Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at Suffolk University in Boston.

The event is free and open to the public. An RSVP is required here. For more information, email transformative.lives@nyu.edu or call 212.998.4291. Subways: 6 (Astor Place); N, R (8th Street).

EDITOR’S NOTE:
The Center for the Study of Transformative Lives at New York University fosters research, teaching, and education centering on the lives of exemplary individuals whose dedication, genius, and moral vision helped shape the course of human events. The work of the Center is motivated by the conviction that the example of a great and good life, studied in depth and at length, can become a guiding influence on people’s lives today as they confront their own choices, decisions, and opportunities. Focusing on well-known and less-well-known figures from the present and the past, students and researchers study inspiring individuals in the context of their times and the circles in which they moved, using them as powerful lenses through which to view history and understand societal change.

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