Patrick Deneen

Professor of Political Philosophy, University of Notre Dame.

[Patrick Deneen @PatrickDeneen]

Pub Date! My newest book, “American Odyssey,” has just been released.

Having had six such days thus far in a life of 22,630, I can state that it’s a rare, exciting, and humbling moment. What began as some scattered thoughts, proceeded to form with the accumulation of words, underwent constant transformation as the project developed, was subjected to the slicing of the editor’s knife, was transmitted to printers in spite of eternal misgivings that parts could still be improved, and finally appeared at my doorstep as a beautiful physical object, is a magical and mysterious process. My deepest thanks to my good friends Byron Smith and Jeremy Beer for their support and enthusiasm for this book, and for creating and leading the wonderful new press, Creed & Culture Books. I’m grateful to Notre Dame graduate student Gabrielle Grow for extraordinary research and editorial assistance. And my thanks to Brad Birzer, Jessica Hooten Wilson, Joshua Mitchell, and Susan McWilliams Barndt for their humbling blurbs.

The book has already sold out at Amazon on day one, but more copies coming soon. You can order there now and await restocking quite soon, or buy directly from the publisher.
https://t.co/aU4blsrl70
https://t.co/cYpP24ZUGG

@Byron4Tradition
@bradleybirzer
@HootenWilson
@C_and_C_Books

[Byron Smith @Byron4Tradition]

https://t.co/C5sJ8Prqfp

[Patrick Deneen @PatrickDeneen]

https://t.co/EGephrqolu

[Patrick Deneen @PatrickDeneen]

Thanks, @bradleyhaley27 and @ModAgeJournal for this generous and perceptive review of my latest, “American Odyssey.”

[Bradley Haley @bradleyhaley27]

https://t.co/knYJsP81ko

[Patrick Deneen @PatrickDeneen]

Rendre gloire à Dieu!!!

[Mirabelle ♑ @Mirabelletoute]

Au moment du "Salve Regina" j'ai éclaté en sanglots et j'ai pleuré. Des dizaines de milliers de jeunes qui chantent en latin, je n'ai jamais cru que c'était possible de connaître ça un jour.
Quelque chose s'est passé ce soir.❤️

[Patrick Deneen @PatrickDeneen]

FANTASTIQUE!!

[Catholic Arena @CatholicArena]

INCROYABLE

There are close to a million people at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to see Pope Leo XIV

These scenes are unbelievable

[Patrick Deneen @PatrickDeneen]

@bradleybirzer @ToryAnarchist The One Tower

[Patrick Deneen @PatrickDeneen]

@realjohnburtka @bradleybirzer It felt like a draw, in spite of all my bruises.

[Patrick Deneen @PatrickDeneen]

@bradleybirzer An honor and a privilege, Brad. I think of it more as a spirited conversation between friends who share the deepest commitments. Very grateful for that.

[Patrick Deneen @PatrickDeneen]

@CFrancisFisher Congratulations, Chris! Excellent tidings. Godspeed!

[Patrick Deneen @PatrickDeneen]

Wonderful news. And so richly deserved.

[Courtney Mares @catholicourtney]

The Vatican announced today that Notre Dame Professor John C. Cavadini has been selected as the recipient of the 2026 Ratzinger Prize

Cavadini specializes in Patristic Theology with a particular focus on the theology of St Augustine and also served as Director of the McGrath Institute for
Church Life.

Pope Leo XIV will present him with the award in the Apostolic Palace on Dec. 19

[Patrick Deneen @PatrickDeneen]

@Prof_Cooper Congratulations!

[Patrick Deneen @PatrickDeneen]

@NPinkoski @docMJP I teach Comte with fair regularity (to grad students. Very challenging for undergrads.). And I agree with Carlos (not with Comte).

[Patrick Deneen @PatrickDeneen]

@OldTomMoore Yes.

[Casey Mattox @CaseyMattox_]

So this is horrific. I do not know the details of this situation. But this is exactly the kind of thing that people have worried would become reality for a long time. And that many have been dismissive of as fear-mongering.

[Patrick Deneen @PatrickDeneen]

@Mcdonald77M @TheGreatB00ks @alexpriou My mind is fecund…

[Patrick Deneen @PatrickDeneen]

@TWilliamsAuthor @RobertOrdway 😂
Yes, the “free market” arises from spontaneous order, and not national (and eventually global) enforcement of uniformity.

https://t.co/sUJrSG7hzp

[The Giving Review @GivingReview]

https://t.co/kKKlHca0Jj

In 1st part of 2-part conversation, @NotreDame’s @PatrickDeneen talks to @GivingReview’s @mhartmannmke about his new book American Odyssey, the innate American tension between rootedness and restlessness, perfectibility and progressivism, utopianism, and how all these impulses have shaped grantmaking, as well as what “Moonlight” Graham in Field of Dreams might teach us about localism and the meaning of philanthropy.

“We are more homeless at the moment than we are at home,” according to Deneen—literally, for younger Americans struggling to settle, buy homes, and start families, but also because technology leaves us elsewhere even when at home. Americans remain as “anxious and restless as Tocqueville described us in the 19th Century.”

That restlessness, Deneen says, feeds a belief in perfectibility—the sense that “there’s something beyond, outside, something around the corner that might be better.” The Progressive Era may have represented a “full realization” and “institutionalization” of those impulses, including in philanthropy.

He contrasts an older, face-to-face charity, rooted in particular places, with modern philanthropy’s organized pursuit of transformation and progress.

And he offers Graham as unlikely exemplar of local rootedness. The story of Graham, whose one-inning major-league baseball career gave way to decades serving as a small-town Minnesota doctor and community pillar, raises a different possibility for philanthropy—staying somewhere alongside and serving the people there.

[Mark Bauerlein @mark_bauerlein]

The Odyssey is, in fact, a very American story, says Patrick Deneen on today's podcast:

https://t.co/HDNqzIkqjo

[Nikos Mohammadi @NikosMohammadi]

Top of the list: @PatrickDeneen’s @unherd essay on how Wendell Berry saved his life.

ICYMI: https://t.co/mjXJuU3zL2