We now know the universe began with a bang, even if it might end in a whimper. The ancient view of the cosmos was based upon the higher spheres of existence being analogously reflected in the lower spheres all the way down to rocks (and lawyers). This meant that there was a great chain of being that potentially connected every being through a kind of ladder of actualization with the highest rung in the created order occupied by the angels. In this... Read more
Товарищ, Христос воскрес! Воистину воскрес! Happy May Day, Resurrection camp starts today. The wonderful thing about Russia and Russian Orthodoxy is how they undermine your efforts at politically incorrect comedy. Today is the consummate Communist holiday, May Day. It’s also Resurrection Sunday in the Eastern Orthodox calendar. You might think this convergence is a great trolling opportunity for Catholics. You’re wrong. Before we get to the surreal contemporary Russian Orthodox stuff: I bet most of you didn’t know how American and... Read more
There is a solid rule about what you can expect about reporting on Catholicism: If it’s making the front pages of the news and creating heated debate, then it’s most likely irrelevant and will have no staying power. The buildup to Amoris Laetitia was bigger than for any of the Leonard vs. Duran fights–Don King be damned. The apostolic exhortation was supposed to tear the very ontological fabric that holds the cosmos together, then the family, and finally, destroy Catholicism along the way by turning it into... Read more
Comedy, even when it is unintentional, is frequently revelatory. Attack ads are a fun genre for reasons other than merely appealing to our basest natures. The video below is a case in point. It’s predicated upon the kind of logic that underpins statements such as, “If x wins, I will move to y.” Where x winning is so bad that it leaves you no alternative than voting for “alternative to x.” Anna Wierzbicka’s What Did Jesus Mean? demonstrates this is how the warnings... Read more
World Book Day gives me an opportunity to do yet another book list. It’s something I’m known/hated for. This unique blog genre drains (or draws) my readers, or rather their bank accounts, most. I’ve always tried my best to give you suggestions from left field. My education was broadly interdisciplinary, so I cannot help but surprise some folks most of the time. I assume there’s plenty in the links below to please (and anger) you. These meta reading list links cover... Read more
Catholic commentary on spirituality too frequently vacillates between impervious toughness and bubble-gum sentimentality. The pat solutions and rote narratives are a total waste when there are either no chinks in the armor or there are only chinks and no armor. Either way, there’s no need for salvation for the already saved and the already damned. When I compare my experience to what these spiritualities have to offer it’s clear they have little to offer me or those whom I love. Like the... Read more
Prince gave us the ultimate expression of spiritual eros in music. The genealogy of soul music goes back to the Pentecostal spiritual, the first of which, in Acts, we find Peter trying to convince people that he and his friends are not drunk. The intoxication of spiritual song expresses itself through the body. The same bodies that danced as jazz was born, the same bodies that pulsed to Elvis’ popularization of Black music, the same bodies that moved to Ray... Read more
No, this piece is not about the latest front in the Culture Wars. Or, maybe it is, but in a different sense. The pope has sought to refocus the Church’s attention from relatively insignificant First World issues to ultimately significant Third World issues (granted, usually caused by the incompetent foreign policy of the First World). Just in case you were wondering . . . Yes, the islanders of Lesbos, home of Sappho, have long fought sexual minority activists for the exclusive... Read more
Catholic Social Teaching has a clear appeal to many, but is in conflict with what is generally perceived as American values, values such as “self-reliance” (as good a definition of Original Sin as I’ve seen). I haven’t followed the whole brouhaha surrounding the Bernie Sanders appearance at the Vatican. I’m so exhausted by all the stupid bickering and speculation in the Catholic blogosphere that I wanted to wait for something concrete to come. I have bronchitis and four fantasy baseball... Read more
I ran across the oldest recorded text in Poland’s history today. The hymn in question is not in Latin, but rather in colloquial Polish. So much for medievals being Latin fetishists. [Reading Suggestion: scroll down to the bottom of this post and hit play on the YouTube video, then start reading from the top.] I couldn’t figure out why it popped up in my feed until I read the following: Happy 1,050th birthday, Poland! On this day in 966, the... Read more
Cosmos The In Lost
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In