Knowing is Not Enough; and the Doing is Hard

August 11, 2015 By willduquette

Continuing through Cam’s comment on my post about suffering in Heaven, he asks, Your first argument seems to revolve around knowledge, yes? You’re saying we won’t have suffering in heaven because we will have perfect knowledge. This knowledge is somehow caused by something God is or does, and the exact mechanics of that probably won’t matter for my comment…. Secondly, your first argument seems to rest on an assumption often used by Christians in the service of theological issues (such... Read more

Today’s Aquinas: Begotten, Not Made

August 10, 2015 By willduquette

We’re blogging through St. Thomas Aquinas’ Compendium Theologiae, sometimes called his Shorter Summa. Find the previous posts here. In the past two weeks, Thomas has shown how the Word is not distinct from God in time or in species; finally, he shows that the Word is not distinct from God in nature: that is, the nature of God and the nature of the Word are identical. Lastly it is impossible for the Word to differ from God according to nature, since it is... Read more

Got the Blues, Got the Blues, Got the Saint Louis Blues

August 7, 2015 By willduquette

The “Saint Louis Blues” is a jazz standard. It was composed by W.C. Handy as a fusion of “ragtime syncopation with a real melody in the spiritual tradition.” It’s been recorded by “God” and everybody, and it’s one of my favorites. I thought we’d take a tour through some of the recordings. First, here’s Handy and his band, recorded in 1914. I’d not heard this version before. In 1921, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded their version. The band wasn’t... Read more

The Dogmat Saw Lions, Panthers, and Saints, Oh My!

August 6, 2015 By willduquette

The Dogmat thinks he’ll start with the Panther. A 78-year-old German man was hiding a full-size tank in his basement: During WWII, the Germans built tanks they called Panzerkampfwagens, which means Armoured War Wagon, or “Panzer” for short. The Mark V Panzer was the “Panther” tank. So the tank in this story is a Panther, and it’s a Panzer, but Panzer is not German for Panther. Alles klar? ‘The Bigger Picture’: Flashcards and an App for Photo Challenges and Inspiration:... Read more

Review: Adobe Lightroom

August 5, 2015 By willduquette

I mentioned last week that I’m getting back into photography, and that I’d picked up a copy of Adobe Lightroom. And I have to say, Lightroom rocks. Once upon a time it was the case that Photoshop was the tool of choice for professional finishing of digital photographs. It was simply what you used if you could afford the “Photoshop tax”, because it had all the tools you needed. You could crop images, fix (some) exposure issues, adjust the perspective,... Read more

When Your Fist Strikes My Face, That’s a Choice

August 4, 2015 By willduquette

This week I’m still mining Cam’s excellent comment on my post about suffering in Heaven. Cam begins, ‘suffering’: just for present purposes, when I use this word I follow your lead and refer to the subset of a person’s total suffering caused by the free exercise of their personal choice. This is a tiny tiny minority of total suffering and I have a moral duty to acknowledge that. Anyway as you explained, your recent posts aren’t intended to address the... Read more

Today’s Aquinas: God of God, Light of Light, True God of True God

August 3, 2015 By willduquette

We’re blogging through St. Thomas Aquinas’ Compendium Theologiae, sometimes called his Shorter Summa. Find the previous posts here. Last week, Thomas showed that God’s Word is not distinct from God in time, that is, that God and His Word are co-eternal. Next, Thomas shows that there is no distinction between God and His Word according to species. Remember that two things are of different species if they belong to the same genus but are distinguished by some specific difference; thus, oak trees and... Read more

The Nashville Cats meet Noshville Katz!

July 31, 2015 By willduquette

So many years ago the Lovin’ Spoonful recorded a song about guitar pickers in Nashville, as recorded on yellow Sun Records. I happened to hear it yesterday, and thought I’d share it: I like the song, but the reason I wanted to share it was because of a song I heard first, many years before: “Noshville Katz”, by the Lovin’ Cohens, about a Brooklyn boy who opens a kosher delicatessen in Nashville. (Heard it on the Dr. Demento Show, natch.)... Read more

The Dogmat saw Miyazaki!

July 30, 2015 By willduquette

Well, not in person. The Pope and the Animator: John Herreid writes about what Pope Francis and Hayao Miyazaki might have to say to one another, comparing Miyazaki’s vision with the Pope’s as given in Laudato Si’. The unity of the Spirit: Tom Kreitzburg writes about something that’s apparent by its absence these days, despite St. Paul’s admonition that we should strive to preserve it. ‘We Had No Idea It Was Going to Do That’: See ‘Incredible’ Result of Throwing... Read more

On the Making of Faces

July 29, 2015 By willduquette

Recently I decided to jump back into photography as an active hobby, and my first step was to get my collection of digital photos in order. I used to be very good about cataloging everything, but in the last few years I’ve been doing the bare minimum as I was engaged in other pursuits and I didn’t much like the tools I was using. Consequently, my first step was to get a copy of Adobe Lightroom and have it catalog... Read more