Some time ago I started a series of topical TOP10 lists. I got as far as doing two (one on philosophy and one on novels) before I temporarily ran out of steam. The kettle is back on the stove today. Several people have asked me about books to read in Catholic Studies (CS–not Lewis), so I’m compiling a list with publisher blurbs, their titles linked, and covers here today. You might also want to look at the nearly comprehensive reader: Catholic Spirit:... Read more
Last week’s first post on torture (see the more divisive second one here) mentioned Stratford Caldecott’s All Things Made New. One of the many things I’ve learned from this book is something about something I hate: numbers. I was a good math student in high school right up until AP calculus, but my friends were brilliant. I gave up on math knowing that I could never develop the natural acumen they had. I secretly came to hate numbers and turned to... Read more
Two weeks ago I drove our family Volvo forty miles vaguely aware something was wrong with it. I needed to take the car to some trusted mechanics. Halfway through the trip the left wheel-well began to make a pneumatic drill nose. It kept getting louder. I drove onto the shoulder of the highway, did a walk-around, found nothing, and then kept on driving despite the noise. I had no money for a tow-truck. Two days later the car went to... Read more
It’s been noted (initially by the author of a book on the theology of the body–extended) that yesterday’s post on the already infamous torture report ought to have mentioned William T. Cavanaugh’s Torture and Eucharist. His book develops a theology of the Eucharist by surprisingly contrasting it with torture as practiced by totalitarian regimes in Latin America: Where torture is an anti-liturgy for the realization of the state’s power on the bodies of others, the Eucharist is the realization of... Read more
One story stood out from the morning TV buzz today: the United States is preparing for attacks. The reason behind it? The government believes that its torture programs were (are?) so nefarious that they call for retribution (read about the report’s most gruesome moments here). Some strange dialectic has turned the state’s efforts to make us safe after 9/11 into a danger-producing machine. Not even killing Saddam had the intended effects! Strangely enough, Stratford Caldecott’s All Things Made New: The Mysteries... Read more
I’ve had some fun doing interviews for Cosmos and at Ethika Politika. Below is something no interviewer should go through. I ran across this video on the wall of a friend who is the author of a highly praised book on the divine names (can’t help plugging him). He knows a thing or two about this stuff and, according to him, this clip is mostly theologically accurate. Enjoy this as I begin contemplating packing ahead of our big move. If you’re... Read more
This is a guest post by Dr. Justin Tse of the University of Washington. ================================================== On October 24, 2014, a politically conservative blogger, Stephen Herreid, performed an Internet hit job on my friend and colleague, Dr. Artur Rosman. He might as well have tried to character assassinate Rabelais himself. While taken to task by both Patheos Catholic’s Sam Rocha, the Mitralleuse’s J. Arthur Bloom (as quoted in Herreid’s response), and Rosman himself, Herreid has made no apologies. He has instead... Read more
I’ve been going through some old writings in preparation for a conference I’ll participate in next week at Villanova. My paper will discuss the theological significance of Czeslaw Milosz’s poetry. One passage from a Milosz’s ABC’s stood out in relation to last week’s major feast: In Protestant Christianity, there is no place for them [the departed, their presence, their examples], and no one turns to the dead with a plea for intervention. Catholicism, however, by introducing the intercession of the... Read more
My colleague Kathy Schiffer followed the Brittany Maynard assisted suicide case closely on her blog. There was a moment when it seemed Maynard had changed her mind. But it was not to be. Her solution was a result of her terminal cancer combined with a fear of dependency. Right around the same time I ran across a quote from the Rene Girard Reader on John Medaille‘s wall. Here is what Girard says about assisted suicide as a solution: The experience... Read more
When I started writing my latest series of posts I knew I was sticking my head out. But I assumed the best about people. I could not bring myself to write about anything else, because weakness, financial hardships tied to unemployment, childcare, are eating away at me. I figured writing about them would give me some sort of temporary release. When life hits you with body shots like this you not only feel your stomach muscles shrinking from the pain... Read more
Cosmos The In Lost
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