Continuing my series on Aquinas; find the rest here. Now, preliminaries settled, we dive into the deep end. Chapter 3 of the Compendium Theologiae begins, Regarding the unity of the divine essence, we must first believe that God exists. This is a truth clearly known by reason. In dealing with truths known by revelation, Thomas proceeds in one of two ways. Some of these revealed truths can also be known by reason; and these he attempts to prove. Others can... Read more
Patheos is celebrating its fifth anniversary, which is more like its 35th anniversary in dog years. I don’t recall when I first became aware that Patheos was a thing, but it was probably around the time the Anchoress moved her blog there. I didn’t read the Anchoress much then; she seemed to write mostly about political issues that bored me, but once in a while I’d follow an interesting link over to her blog. And then, one after another, other... Read more
In paragraph 27 of Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis looks at the relationship between truth and love. The pope has compared faith in Christ to falling in love; and many of us might think that falling in love is no guarantee of truth. On the contrary, the one who has fallen in love cannot see clearly. Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein was right there: For Wittgenstein, believing can be compared to the experience of falling in love: it is something subjective which cannot... Read more
This was first posted in October of 2004, about events that occurred around 1980. When I was junior in high school a fire in the mountains above our house threatened to make us evacuate, and my mother sent me to my room to pack, just in case. She warned me that we couldn’t take everything. So I grabbed a brown paper grocery bag and went to my room and into it I placed that which I valued most—my Tolkien books.... Read more
We’ve been getting a new kind of phone call recently; we’ve gotten I’ve answered at least five of them over the last couple of weeks, and I believe Jane has answered some as well. I pick up the phone, and say “Hello?” There’s a pause, and a brief ring, and then a voice with a strong Indian accent comes on: “Hello, this is Mark, from the Virus Control Center. I’m calling about your home computer, which is under attack. Hackers... Read more
This month’s post at CatholicMom concerns the Second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary: the Visitation, or, as I often think of it, the Mystery of Service. Enjoy! Read more
So Joseph Susanka listened to The Wishing Wife last week, and liked it; and then paid attention to the lyrics, and still liked it; and then wishing to prove to me that it’s just the sort of thing he does like, shared that he’d purchased the theme from the video game Portal. If you’ve not played Portal, the premise is that an amoral but driven computer named GlaDOS puts you through horribly dangerous “tests” in the name of Science! Eventually... Read more
Traditionally the priests and brothers in a religious order are termed the “first order”, and the nuns and sisters the “second order”; but it’s an odd fact about the Order of Preachers that the nuns came first. St. Dominic began his career of itinerant preaching in a part of France much overtaken by the Albigensian heresy. The Albigensians were gnostics who preached that the soul is pure and the body is evil; and they acquired followers in part by running... Read more
So I was wondering what to say about writing today, beyond that it was a busy weekend and Watchman for Daybreak is only 1,000 words longer, when I saw Elizabeth Duffy’s post this morning and said, “A writing meme! I can do that!” So, four questions: What are you working on? What makes your work different from others’ work in the same genre? Why do you write what you do? How does your writing process work? 1. What are you... Read more
Usually on Tuesdays I blog about a book I’ve read recently; but in the last few weeks I’ve been doing less reading and more tapping, which is to say, I’ve been playing Spiderweb Software‘s Avernum: Escape from the Pit. I’ve been playing it on the iPad, but it’s also available for Mac and Windows. Avernum is a classic open world role-playing-game. You have been exiled by the evil Emperor Hawthorne to a dim underworld of caves, giant fungus, and monsters... Read more
Cry 'Woof'
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