Editing Mortimer J. Adler (section)

== Religion and theology ==
Adler was born into a [[Irreligion|nonobservant]] Jewish family. In his early twenties, he discovered [[St. Thomas Aquinas]], and in particular the ''[[Summa Theologica]]''.<ref name="Redpath"/> Many years later, he wrote that its "intellectual austerity, integrity, precision and brilliance ... put the study of theology highest among all of my philosophical interests."<ref>{{Citation | first = Mortimer J | last = Adler | year = 1992 | title = A Second Look in the Rearview Mirror: Further Autobiographical Reflections of a Philosopher at Large | place = New York | publisher = Macmillan | page = 264}}.</ref> An enthusiastic [[Thomist]], he was a frequent contributor to Catholic philosophical and educational journals, as well as a frequent speaker at Catholic institutions, so much so that some assumed he was a convert to Catholicism. But that was reserved for later.<ref name=Redpath>{{Citation | first = Peter | last = Redpath | url = http://www.salvationisfromthejews.com/adler.html | title = A Tribute to Mortimer J. Adler | publisher = Salvation is from the Jews}}.</ref>

In 1940, [[James T. Farrell]] called Adler "the leading American [[fellow-traveller]] of the Roman Catholic Church." What was true for Adler, Farrell said, was what was "postulated in the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church," and he "sang the same tune" as avowed Catholic philosophers like [[Étienne Gilson]], [[Jacques Maritain]], and [[Martin D'Arcy]]. He also greatly admired [[Henri Bergson]], the French Jewish philosopher and Nobel laureate, whose books the Catholic church had indexed as prohibited. Bergson refused to convert during the collaborationist Vichy regime, and despite the [[anti-semitic laws|Statute on Jews]] he instead restated his previous views and was thus stripped of all his previous posts and honors.<ref name=Redpath/> Farrell attributed Adler's delay in joining the Church to his being among those Christians who "wanted their cake and ... wanted to eat it too" and compared him to the Emperor [[Constantine I|Constantine]], who waited until he was on his deathbed to formally become a Catholic.<ref>{{Citation | first = James T | last = Farrell | orig-year = 1940 | contribution = Mortimer T. Adler: A Provincial Torquemada | type = reprint | title = The League of Frightened Philistines and Other Papers | place = New York | publisher = Vanguard Press | year = 1945 | pages = 106–109}}.</ref>

Adler took a long time to make up his mind about [[Theology|theological]] issues. When he wrote ''How to Think About God: A Guide for the Twentieth-Century Pagan'' in 1980, he claimed to consider himself the [[Paganism|pagan]] of the book's subtitle. In volume 51 of the ''[[Mars Hill Audio Journal]]'' (2001), Ken Myers includes his 1980 interview with Adler, conducted after ''How to Think About God'' was published. Myers reminisces, "During that interview, I asked him why he had never embraced the Christian faith himself. He explained that while he had been profoundly influenced by a number of Christian thinkers during his life, ... there were moral – not intellectual – obstacles to his conversion. He didn't explain any further."<ref name=BFP>{{Citation | url = http://www.basicfamouspeople.com/index.php?aid=3028 | title = Mortimer Adler | date = December 31, 2023 | type = biography | publisher = Basic Famous People}}.</ref>

Myers notes that Adler finally "surrendered to the [[Hound of Heaven]]" and "made a confession of faith and was [[baptism|baptized]]" as an [[Episcopalian]] in 1984, only a few years after that interview. Offering insight into Adler's conversion, Myers quotes him from a subsequent 1990 article in ''Christianity'' magazine: "My chief reason for choosing Christianity was because the mysteries were incomprehensible. What's the point of revelation if we could figure it out ourselves? If it were wholly comprehensible, then it would just be another philosophy."<ref name=BFP />

According to his friend [[Deal Hudson]], Adler "had been attracted to Catholicism for many years" and "wanted to be a Roman Catholic, but issues like abortion and the resistance of his family and friends" kept him away. Many thought he was baptized as an Episcopalian rather than a Catholic solely because of his "wonderful – and ardently Episcopal – wife" Caroline. Hudson suggests it is no coincidence that it was only after her death in 1998 that he took the final step.<ref>{{Citation | first = Deal | last = Hudson | date = June 29, 2009 | url = http://www.insidecatholic.com/feature/the-great-philosopher-who-became-catholic.html | title = The Great Philosopher Who Became Catholic | newspaper = Inside catholic | access-date = October 18, 2010 | archive-date = April 10, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110410121554/http://www.insidecatholic.com/feature/the-great-philosopher-who-became-catholic.html | url-status = dead }}.</ref> In December 1999, in San Mateo, where he had moved to spend his last years, Adler was formally received into the Catholic Church by a long-time friend and admirer, Bishop [[Pierre DuMaine]].<ref name=Redpath/> "Finally," wrote another friend, [[Ralph McInerny]], "he became the Roman Catholic he had been training to be all his life".<ref name=McInerny />

Despite not being a Catholic for most of his life, on account of his lifelong participation in the [[Neo-scholasticism|Neo-Thomist movement]]<ref name= BFP /> and his almost equally long membership in the [[American Catholic Philosophical Association]], this latter, according to McInerny<ref name=McInerny /> is willing to consider Adler "a Catholic philosopher".