A spirited exchange recently unfolded in the pages of the The New Digest and New Polity: Does Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons offer a faithful portrait of the historical Thomas More? If so, did More concede too much to Man’s law (as opposed to God’s)? Join the authors for a lively discussion moderated by Shaun Rieley, Ph.D.
Jack Kieffaber, an attorney at Jones Day, argues that Bolt’s drama distorts the real Thomas More by recasting him as a kind of proceduralist hero. For Kieffaber, the historical More was no mere tactician of conscience but a rightly “mutinous” servant of the Crown, loyal to Henry VIII only insofar as the king served God.
Nicolas McAfee, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Christendom College, responds that this reading overlooks More’s moral anthropology. The loyal More rightfully deployed legal reasoning as a “brave but prudent soldier in the wider battle for the soul of England.”
6:00 PM – Lenten Reception
6:30 PM – Discussion
7:30 PM – Reception Continues
Hillsdale College’s D.C. Campus
227 Massachusetts Ave., NE
Washington, DC
Hosted in partnership with Hillsdale College’s Van Andel Graduate School of Government