The Way of Heaven and Earth
The Way of Heaven and Earth
From Either/Or to the Catholic Both/And
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Winner of the CMA 2026 Book Award for First Time Author of Theological Subject Matters
A crisis of polarization more and more threatens the future of civilization. Whether it’s philosophy, theology, politics, or culture, we find ourselves falling into stark either/or dilemmas: Religion or science? Conservative or liberal? Faith or works? We can’t help but choose one idea at the expense of the other, falling into zero-sum games, mutual extremes, and the endless division of human life.
In The Way of Heaven and Earth, Matthew Becklo offers a way of interpreting this crisis: Christ and “the Catholic both/and.” Framing our greatest dilemmas as “heaven-earth dilemmas”—choices between God or man, God’s place or man’s place, the spiritual or the physical, or the spirit or the flesh—Becklo shows that our greatest hope for overcoming our divisions is in Christ, who is “the Way of heaven and earth,” and the Catholic Church, which is the fullness of the Way.
With the help of Scripture, Catholic teaching, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and various philosophers, theologians, and artists, The Way of Heaven and Earth finds new hope in this forgotten Way, which calls us into the paradoxes of the human journey.
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Table of Contents
What People are Saying
“This book is like a many-jeweled crown. It is a rich treasury of thousands of pieces of wonderfully unoriginal Catholic wisdom arranged in an original and unforgettable ‘big picture’ that reveals the Catholic (universal) ‘both/and’ mind in contrast to all its ‘either/or’ alternatives. It shows how Christ is a matchmaker who marries (not compromises) all the spiritual couples that the world divorces.”
—Peter Kreeft, Professor of Philosophy, Boston College, and author of Socrates’ Children
“Pursuing holiness requires a type of suffering that many are not able to bear. It includes a radical transformation in the way we see God, ourselves, and the world. In The Way of Heaven and Earth, Becklo masterfully leads us down the road that Scripture calls ‘narrow’ and ‘constricted’ by breaking through the false dichotomies that distract many today and teaching us how to be holy, how to see, how to understand, and simply how to be human. If you're tired of wrestling with the either/or scenarios that plague the human heart or tired of sitting in the tension of polarization and extremes, this book is an invitation to be free of the paradoxes by diving deeper into them through the lens of the Incarnation. Everyone should read it.”
—Rachel Bulman, author, speaker, and editor of With All Her Mind: A Call to the Intellectual Life
“I am so happy that Matthew Becklo has written The Way of Heaven and Earth. Why? Because when people discover that I teach philosophy at a seminary, they often share with me their deep desire to study philosophy in the light of the Catholic faith to better understand God, themselves, the Church, the world, and their participation in it. Whether he intended it or not, in The Way of Heaven and Earth, Becklo covers all the major philosophical themes required by the Program for Priestly Formation in a well-written, thoroughly researched, and challenging yet accessible book. As our world, our country, and even at times our Church become more polarized, Becklo reminds us that the fullness of truth is usually found in the Catholic both/and, and that heaven and earth ought not be opposed.”
—Fr. Damian Ference, Vicar for Evangelization and Secretary for Parish Life in the Diocese of Cleveland, Professor of Philosophy at Borromeo Seminary, and author of Understanding the Hillbilly Thomist: The Philosophical Foundations of Flannery O’Connor’s Narrative Art
“Beautiful, riveting. You’re absolutely going to want to add this to your library and to your reading list. I love this book.”
—Katie Prejean McGrady, Sirius XM’s The Katie McGrady Show
“I highly recommend this book. Becklo has done a really good job of taking big ideas and turning them into ordinary language. He has that gift that G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis had.”
—Larry Chapp, Gaudium et Spes 22 podcast
“A richly rewarding meditation on the genius of Catholicism and how it helps us live within the creative tension of paradox rather than succumbing to the familiar temptation to flatten rich and complex realities into tidy, simplistic explanations. Against the false allure of the ‘either/or,’ Becklo asks with the mind and heart of the Church: Why not both? This book does not merely exhort us to embrace the Church’s fullness or to reconcile what seems disparate but shows us how. Becklo writes with the clarity of a philosopher and the heart of a believer, tracing the history of philosophical dilemmas from Epicurus to Descartes, Nietzsche, Hegel, and Marx, while also illuminating the Church’s own drama from Pelagius to Montanus to Jansen and beyond. Readers will learn much from this work—but even more, they will be equipped to live it. Few books are this intellectually rich and spiritually alive at once. The Way of Heaven and Earth is not only a work of theology but a guide for living in the fullness of truth, reminding us that the Way is ultimately a person who bridges heaven and earth.”
—Matthew J. Ramage, professor of theology and co-director of the Center for Integral Ecology, Benedictine College
“Becklo is a skilled writer and thinker who moves easily and effectively from theology to current events to philosophy to literature. And does so with real purpose, both defending and explaining the Catholic faith with a winsome style and without needless polemics.”
—Carl E. Olson, Catholic World Report
“I can say without hesitation that The Way of Heaven and Earth is among the most lay-friendly Catholic books I have read in quite some time. As such, I highly recommend it to readers of The Catholic Telegraph (and everyone else).”
—Kenneth Craycraft, The Catholic Telegraph
“Becklo’s comparison of Protestant and Catholic conceptions of the connection between heaven and earth is an illuminating way to contemplate ecumenical debate and an interesting means of helping our Protestant brothers and sisters consider the problem of their religious system from a different perspective.”
—Casey Chalk, Catholic Answers