So my daughter’s class was given the assignment to make up a menu for a themed restaurant. Her particular theme was Greek mythology. My elder son and I were inspired, and came up with a number of unique…dishes. Persephone’s Diet Plate The Scylla and Charybdis Platter (the entree isn’t the best, but the sides are to die for). The All-You-Can-Eat Hydra Plate: Eat one, get two free! Pandora’s Box Lunch The Tartarus Soul Food Special (Leaves everyone else’s soul food... Read more
We’re blogging through St. Thomas Aquinas’ Compendium Theologiae, sometimes called his Shorter Summa. Find the previous posts here. Today’s post is from Chapter 71: “Matter Not the Cause of Diversity in Things”. Here's a case where Thomas is ultimately right…but matters are a lot more complicated than he would have thought. He says, The foregoing exposition shows clearly that the cause of diversity in things is not diversity on the part of matter. For, as we have proved, the divine action which brings... Read more
We’re blogging through St. Thomas Aquinas’ Compendium Theologiae, sometimes called his Shorter Summa. Find the previous posts here. Today’s post is from Chapter 70: “Creation Possible for God Alone.” In the previous chapter, Thomas defined creation ex nihilo, from absolutely nothing. When a human artist "creates" a work of art, he works from pre-existing materials; but if God worked only from pre-existing materials He could not be the First Cause. In order to be the First Cause, He must rather create from nothing.... Read more
We’re blogging through St. Thomas Aquinas’ Compendium Theologiae, sometimes called his Shorter Summa. Find the previous posts here. Today’s post is from Chapter 69: “Creation from Nothing” In the previous chapter, Thomas shows that God is the source of existence in all things that are other than Himself. When we humans "create", we are making something new out of existing materials; but when God creates, He creates ex nihilo, from nothing. This makes it clear that, in creating, God has no need of... Read more
The less perfect arises from the more perfect, so the egg (being a chicken only in potential) comes from the more perfect, the mature chicken. Read more
Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing iconographer Vivian Imbruglia about her work and how she came to be an iconographer in the first place. It was a delightful experience, and you can read all about it at Aleteia: The Eyes Draw You In. ____ photo credit: Will Duquette Read more
We’re blogging through St. Thomas Aquinas’ Compendium Theologiae, sometimes called his Shorter Summa. Find the previous posts here. Today’s post is from Chapter 67: “The Divine Properties Not Externally Affixed.” In this final chapter on the Trinity, Thomas deals with a significant controversy of the previous century. Gilbert of Poitiers was a philosopher and theologian; his works on Aristotelian logic were the most influential of his day. Like Thomas, he held that all things derive their being from God, who sustains them in... Read more
We’re blogging through St. Thomas Aquinas’ Compendium Theologiae, sometimes called his Shorter Summa. Find the previous posts here. Today’s post is from Chapter 66, “Identity between the Relative Properties and the Divine Essence”. In the past chapters Thomas has analyzed the nature of the Trinity in metaphysical terms; the discussion has been technical, complex, and not entirely satisfying, for the simple reason that God doesn’t fit neatly into any of the usual metaphysical categories. God is unique, and also infinitely beyond our grasp;... Read more
We’re blogging through St. Thomas Aquinas’ Compendium Theologiae, sometimes called his Shorter Summa. Find the previous posts here. Today’s post is from Chapter 65, “Nature of the Distinction between Notional Acts and Notional Properties”. In previous chapters, Thomas has been showing how all of the usual Scholastic metaphysical machinery applies to the Trinity: properties, acts, and so forth. God is really Three Persons, and Thomas must make metaphysical sense of this; but God is also One God, simple and without composition, and so... Read more
We’re blogging through St. Thomas Aquinas’ Compendium Theologiae, sometimes called his Shorter Summa. Find the previous posts here. Today’s post is from Chapter 64, “64: Generation with Respect to the Father and with Respect to the Son”. Some T's more obviously need to be crossed than others; and I'm afraid I'm not at all sure why Thomas felt the need to cross the particular T's he's concerned with in the current chapter. However, there are some interesting background ideas in play. The context... Read more
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