TOP10 Books on Religion and Ecology

Last updated on: April 24, 2016 at 2:20 pm By Artur Rosman

I have put together this list as a distraction, or better yet, a refocusing of attention on first things, away from the post-synodal sniping between liberal and conservative Catholics. I have rubbernecked too many times on those mostly uselessly hypothetical debates. What I’ve been missing in between is the real impact of the Francis Effect upon my colleagues. Theology is neither liberal, nor conservative, and we shirk our responsibilities if we ignore the real questions our contemporaries ask us. For... Read more

Famous Atheists Who Weren’t Atheist: Sartre Eulogizes Merleau-Ponty

Last updated on: October 28, 2015 at 10:19 am By Artur Rosman

The “Famous Atheists” series is devoted to exposing prominent thinkers (Sartre, Camus, Heidegger, Irigaray), artists (Warhol, Hitchcock), and writers (Wallace Stevens) whom the general public tends to erroneously identify as influential atheists. The truth is they were either lifelong theists (mostly Catholics), or they betrayed the atheist cause on their deathbeds. The series, as I conceive it on good nights, is also a gesture of welcoming the porous space between theism and atheism, what Irish philosopher Richard Kearney calls the... Read more

What if the Worldwide Jesuit Conspiracy is REAL?

Last updated on: October 27, 2015 at 4:33 pm By Artur Rosman

There are plenty of unbalanced Catholic commentators on the Jesuit papacy. Their conspiracy theories, not infrequently involving snide Jesuit jokes, make one wonder whether the Roman Church didn’t lose out to the Reformation. However, sometimes, you run across things that make you believe the conspiracy theorists for at least a second or two. Really of all the Catholics covering #synod15 I’ve come to appreciate @antoniospadaro‘s mustache-twirling cartoon Jesuit villain the most. — Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) October 26, 2015 This sounds... Read more

2DVD SET GIVEAWAY: The Mystery of God by Word on Fire

Last updated on: October 26, 2015 at 3:29 pm By Artur Rosman

Bishop Robert Barron has a new DVD series out, The Mystery of God: Who God is and Why He Matters. I will be giving away a copy of it (a $60 value) in about a week. The most fundamental problems of belief in a late modern context are at the center of the questions answered by this series: Atheism is on the rise. Skeptical thinkers like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris vigorously attack belief in God as irrational... Read more

Cosmos: Weakened Edition, 4

Last updated on: October 25, 2015 at 10:36 am By Artur Rosman

Here’s what’s not weak this week: 1. Against the Defense of Christendom 2. BREAKING–Pope Francis to Announce he Converted to Anglicanism 3. TOP10 Books On Theology and Neuroscience 4. Why Did Hans Urs von Balthasar Remain Catholic? 5. Family Synod Conflict Is Not What You Think It Is . . . 6. Michel Houellebecq’s Submission to Catholicism 7. Science Doesn’t Think: Neil deGrasse Tyson Busts a Move on Philosophy 8. Christianity Does Not Endeavor to Save Christianity 9. From Russia with Idols 10. Ocean Symphony, Breeze, & a Liturgy See... Read more

Why Did Hans Urs von Balthasar Remain Catholic?

Last updated on: February 18, 2016 at 12:36 pm By Artur Rosman

If you think that Catholicism is in some special mess today, then you really have no historical perspective at all. For example, when we admire their great beauty we frequently forget that the writings of Hans Urs von Balthasar come to us from one of the most crisis-ridden times in Catholic history: Catholicism before Vatican II. There was so much controversy and backroom dealing during the time that von Balthasar, clearly the most important Catholic theologian of the 20th century,... Read more

TOP10 Books On Theology and Neuroscience

Last updated on: October 22, 2015 at 11:57 pm By Artur Rosman

The relationship between religion and science is frequently presented in an agonistic light. But there’s no reason why the two domains of knowledge should be in conflict. For every Galileo there are hundreds of unheralded examples of the Church promoting science. Our view of this cooperative history is frequently obscured. For some believers every new scientific discovery is an opportunity to fall into a more anxious and defensive stance toward “secular science.” For some boosters of science every new discovery... Read more

Against the Defense of Christendom

Last updated on: October 21, 2015 at 11:53 am By Artur Rosman

A Wall Street Journal piece by Bret Stephens, In Defense of Christendom, is unfortunately making the rounds. Cultural warriors are crying tears of joy as the pass it along blindly. The defense is an extremely superficial defense of Christian culture from a man who recently blindly blamed celibacy for the Catholic scandals. How quickly they forget! I find it troubling that Stephens, who clearly has no qualifications to comment on complicated matters theological or historical, mixes Judaism and Christianity with... Read more

Michel Houellebecq’s Submission to Catholicism

Last updated on: October 20, 2015 at 1:52 pm By Artur Rosman

Michel Houellebecq is France’s literary bête noire. His much-anticipated novel Submission finally makes its appearance today in the United States. Houllebecq is controversial because he seems to run a reductio ad absurdam on every Western sacred cow he encounters: The Elementary Particles lampoon the genetics and posthuman revolutions, The Map and the Territory makes light of the art market and capitalism, while the newest book skewers France for having no backbone to resist being turned into an authoritarian Islamic state. Submission is inextricably tied to the... Read more

BREAKING–Pope Francis to Announce he Converted to Anglicanism

Last updated on: November 4, 2015 at 9:03 am By Artur Rosman

You really do wonder sometimes: I wonder how the non-clerical Christian world would have reacted if they had a daily report on the proceedings at Nicaea. — Arthur Urbano (@arturoviaggia) October 18, 2015 It would probably look something like this (pardon the anachronisms): In a perverse Jesuit reversal of Benedict XVI’s Ordinarate Francis has decided to reverse-Newman and become an Anglican! Ross Douthat gets it. Striking how many Catholics seem persuaded that the Holy Spirit is an Anglican. — Ross... Read more