A Thesis Nailed to the Regensburg Door

February 29, 2012 By francisbeckwith 2 Comments

That’s the title of an article I just published in Sacred Tribes Journal 7.1 (Spring 2012). It is one of several articles in that issue dealing with the new book by my friend, Stephen H. Webb, Jesus Christ, Eternal God (Oxford University Press). Here’s how my article begins (notes omitted):

In his learned and provocative tome, Jesus Christ, Eternal God, Stephen H. Webb plows the soil of hallowed ground. He broaches a topic that most classical theists have considered a settled question for quite some time, namely, that God is by nature the immaterial ground of being. Webb concludes, most remarkably, that matter is one of God’s perfections, and for that reason, God—not just the post-incarnational second Person of the Trinity—is embodied.

He does not offer a simple argument, with a few premises and a conclusion, as one is accustomed to seeing in contemporary analytic philosophy of religion. Rather, his case is in the form of an extended engagement with a variety of figures in the history of Christian theology and American religion, including Origen, Arius, St. Augustine, Nestorius, St. Thomas Aquinas, Karl Barth, and Joseph Smith, Jr.  Along the way, Webb finds the time to discuss issues in science, metaphysics, and philosophical anthropology.

This is not to say that Webb does not offer any arguments.  It just means that in making his case he takes special care in trying to account for points of view with which he disagrees while properly situating his own position in the history of Christian thought and philosophical theology.

Consequently, it would be sheer folly for me to attempt to offer an assessment of Webb’s case that claims to capture his remarkable tapestry of philosophical and theological engagement. For this reason, I will limit my task to raising three questions in order to draw critical attention to what I believe is the operative assumption that drives Webb’s case for an embodied God: Christianity can be dehellenized and still remain Christianity.

You can read my article here. The entire issue may be accessed here.

 

Filed Under: Mormonism, Philosophy of Religion, Pope Benedict XVI Tagged With: , 2 Comments

Ash Wednesday at Baylor

February 21, 2012 By francisbeckwith Leave a Comment

One of the many reasons I love Baylor. Here’s an announcement that is on the Baylor website:

Ash Wednesday worship service

Feb. 20, 2012

On February 22nd, there will be an Ash Wednesday service in Miller Chapel at 12:20. For centuries, Christians have observed Ash Wednesday on the first day of the Lenten season, a time of deep introspection, intentional discipline, and preparation as Holy Week approaches. On Ash Wednesday, Christians receive the sign of the cross on their foreheads. The mark is made with ashes from burned Palm branches saved from the previous year’s celebration of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Our service is co-sponsored by the Chaplain’s office and The Catholic Student’s Association. Father Anthony from St. Peter’s and Burt Burleson will be presiding.

 

Filed Under: Ash Wednesday, Baylor Tagged With: , Leave a Comment

Contraception and Catholicism: What the Church Really Teaches

February 16, 2012 By francisbeckwith Leave a Comment

That’s the title of a piece authored by University of South Carolina philosopher, Christopher Tollefsen, who this year is serving as a Visiting Fellow in the James Program at Princeton University. The essay published this morning on National Review Online. Here’s how it begins:

Catholic teaching on contraception is at the heart of the controversy over the Health and Human Services mandate. Catholic hospitals and universities are unwilling to purchase insurance plans that provide contraceptive coverage. To critics, this unwillingness borders on the irrational; accordingly, they see little value in protecting the freedom of Catholic hospitals and universities to act in accordance with their beliefs.

Catholic teaching about contraception is, however, not irrational; nor is it founded, as some have claimed, on irrelevant distinctions such as that between what is natural and what is “artificial.” Rather, two lines of argument are to be found throughout the tradition of Catholic, and more generally, Christian, thought on this issue that together show the teaching to be plausible and, in the view of many, true.

>>>continue reading

Filed Under: bioethics, Catholicism, contraception Tagged With: , , Leave a Comment

Read All About It!: President Obama to exempt religious organizations..[+Update]

February 15, 2012 By francisbeckwith 9 Comments

from the list of tax-exempt non-profits that a citizen can work for in order to have the government forgive the student’s college loan. Read all about in the Washington Post On Faith blog. Here’s an excerpt:

Are clergy and teachers of religious faith/thought public servants? Is their work on par with that of others who work for 501c3 non-for-profit groups and for government agencies? It used to be, but as of January 31st, the federal government has changed its mind about that.

Although not known to most people, the federal government maintains a program called Public Service Loan Forgiveness. According to that program, after ten years of public service work, any remaining federal student loans remaining for that worker would be forgiven. But what counts as public service?

Until the end of January, the government definition was clear and inclusive….

So after telling us that pretty much everything qualifies, even going out of its way to highlight that neither the type of work nor nature of the organizations matters, the government slips in the fact that if faith or worship are part of your work, you don’t qualify. What?!

Do read the whole thing. (HT: The Anchoress). In response to a claim in the combox, the following comes from Hot Air:

Update: I’ve had a couple of e-mails from readers who sent the link to the statutory language for the PSLF, which doesn’t indicate any changes to the law itself since October 2009 (not 2008, as one of them wrote), although there is no indication what changed at that time.  However, the administration’s PSLF fact page did in fact change on January 31, 2012, with the addition of that restriction on eligibility.  Someone wanted to make sure that people working at religious organizations knew they don’t qualify for PSLF at about the same time the White House announced the HHS mandate, and the message is pretty clear that they intend to enforce that restriction.  Either way, the fact remains that this administration is treating religious exemptions very differently based on their preferred outcomes.

Filed Under: American Culture, President Barack Obama, Religious Liberty Tagged With: , , 9 Comments

The Dangers of Anti-Sharia Laws

February 15, 2012 By francisbeckwith 3 Comments

That’s the title of a well-reasoned article published in the March 2012 issue of First Things.  Authored by the University of St. Thomas Law School professor Robert K. Vischer, here’s how it begins:

The law in several states now requires pro-life pharmacists to dispense the morning-after pill, Christian adoption agencies to place children with same-sex couples, and religious entities to pay for their employees’ contraceptives. The list of such violations of religious freedom keeps growing, along with the insistence that religious beliefs be kept private. The recent spate of “anti-Sharia” initiatives is just the most politically popular example of such threats.

Though popular with secularists and religious conservatives, anti-Sharia legislation does not defend against theocracy but calls into question our society’s fundamental commitments to meaningful religious liberty and meaningful access to the courts. These commitments have been relied on by generations of Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, and Jews, and to try to remove them for Muslims both is unjust to Muslims and sets a dangerous precedent for other religious groups.

>>>continued

I think Professor Vischer is spot on, and I have shared similar concerns with my students at Baylor.

Filed Under: American Culture, Constitutional Law, Religious Liberty Tagged With: , 3 Comments
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