J. Budziszewski: A Primer on Natural Law
July 28, 2011 By 2 Comments
This is a nice interview of my friend, J. Budziszewski, Professor of Government and Philosophy at the University of Texas. The gentleman interviewing J is Any Nash of Inside Academia. Here's an outline of the interview, as found on the YouTube page on which the video has been embedded: 1:30 -- What is Natural Law? (3 mins) 5:00 -- We're not at war with our nature when we reason (40 sec) 6:00 -- How discipline and virtue define character (1 min) 8:00 -- Challenges of a disordered moral culture … [Read more...]
Interracial Marriage and Same-Sex Marriage: Why the Analogy Fails
July 28, 2011 By 8 Comments
That is the name of an article I published last year on the website, Public Discourse: Ethics, Law, and the Common Good, an online publication of The Witherspoon Institute. Here's how it begins: While doing research for an academic paper on the topic of same-sex marriage and political liberalism, I was struck by how many authors, including judges, draw an analogy between bans on interracial marriage and the present law in almost every state in the United States that recognizes marriage as a … [Read more...]
Jesus, Other Myths, and My Wife’s Stained Glass
July 25, 2011 By 6 Comments
Go here to find an outstanding video of my friend and co-author Greg Koukl (Founder and President of Stand to Reason) answering the question, "Is the account of Jesus in the Bible just copying earlier mythical traditions with similar stories? Behind Greg you will notice a stained glass panel. It was created by my wife, Frankie. The panel is owned by Stand to Reason's Director of Operations, Melinda Penner. Here's a close-up photo of the panel: If you want to see some of her other work, go … [Read more...]
Surprise: The Reformation Happened!
July 22, 2011 By 10 Comments
That's the title of my latest entry over at the Catholic Thing. Here's how it begins: The Atlantic has discovered the Reformation, albeit nearly five centuries too late. Writer Joshua Green reports that the denomination in which presidential candidate Michelle Bachman was a member, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), believes that Martin Luther was right about the Catholic papacy. Imagine that. Lutherans who believe ideas espoused by Luther. Shocking, isn’t it? Perhaps next … [Read more...]
Aristotle, Ethics and God
July 16, 2011 By 5 Comments
My Baylor colleague, Trent Dougherty, has posted a brief entry at The Prosoblogion, "Ethics without God, Aristotle style." His post, as well as some of the comments, reminded me of an exchange at First Things I had four years ago with Villanova law professor, Robert T. Miller: Francis J. Beckwith, "The Irrationality of Richard Dawkins. " First Things On the Square (20 June 2007) Robert T. Miller, "Response to Francis Beckwith." First Things On the Square (25 June 2007) Francis J. … [Read more...]
“Journeys of Faith: Evangelicalism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Anglicanism”
July 2, 2011 By 6 Comments
That it is the title of the forthcoming book of which I am one of the four main authors. I present an account of my return to Catholicism (touching on several issues not touched on in my 2009 book, Return to Rome: Confessions of An Evangelical Catholic). My chapter is followed by a response by Gregg R. Allison of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I then in turn reply to Allison in a small chapter. The other three authors each provide accounts of their pilgrimages from one Christian … [Read more...]
Follow Patheos
Catholic: