The Gospel reading for the liturgy marking the feast of the dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran depicts the infamous scene of the cleansing of the temple by Jesus, as narrated by the Gospel of John (2:13-22). Instead of the Synoptic Gospels’ more familiar rebuke of turning a place of worship “into a den of thieves”, John’s Gospel depicts Jesus making the more matter-of-fact exhortation “stop using my Father’s house as a market” (2:16), before then drawing an... Read more
Conferences can be enlightening. They can also be forums when otherwise even mannered intellectuals descend into displays of uncouth narcissism. This streak of narcissism has become even more acute in the age of high saturation of social media and its associated proliferation of echo-chambers. Conferences have now become absorbed into this ecology, very often with live tweeting or posting of persons, comments, and photos. Such egotistical self-referentiality can be made manifest in the presentation of papers, but conferences in recent... Read more
Human sexuality is a vital thing in the Christian tradition. Set in a sacramental register, human sexuality becomes more than genital activity. As the writings of St. John Paul II remind us, the experience of human sexuality and, extending from that, marriage, can become a microcosm of the covenantal bond between God and His creation, and the redemption by God of His creation. Christians thus are right in their concern over civic actions that impact upon this sacramental understanding. The... Read more
In a previous post, mention was made of a presentation at the Caroline Chisholm Library in Melbourne entitled “Being Someplace Else”. The talk explored how the animated films of Makoto Shinkai can act as a useful guide to consider the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Love. The paper then went to put the films of Shinkai with two German theologians, Josef Pieper and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. It concluded that Shinkai’s constant exploration of the longing to be in... Read more
Pope Francis has left North America to return to Rome, after a trip that brought to the fore issues of climate and poverty and ended with a conference focussed on the defense of the family. The Catholic or conservative social mediascape would no doubt express disappointment over the lack of the longed for a showdown with the President over issues pertaining to gay marriage, abortion, or other issues that political pundits both left and right fall under the ambit of... Read more
Like everyone else, the Christian is subject to the onslaught of bad news flooding our radiowaves, television screens and computers. Corruption, abuse by those in authority, violence on those who are weak, exploitation of the defenceless have become a staple of what we keep up to date with under the aegis of “current affairs”. As a defence mechanism against this constant barrage from the exterior, it will be very tempting to retreat into one’s own interiority, refusing to materially... Read more
Blogger at large at the Divine Wedgie, Matthew Tan, will be giving a series of talks this weekend in the State of Victoria. These include Melbourne Launch of the book, Justice, Unity & the Hidden Christ: To be launched by Dr. Conor Sweeney, Lecturer in Sacramental & Postmodern Theology at the John Paul II Institute of Marriage and Family. This will be held at the Institute (278 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne) this Friday 18 September at 1pm. For catering purposes, please email... Read more
In the anime film Children who Chase Lost Voices, we are introduced to a girl named Asuna, who meets a boy named Shun. Shun is from Agartha, a world under the ground beneath which Asuna walks to and from school. Through this relationship, both Shun and Asuna are get to know more of each other’s worlds. What later emerges is a longing for each to be in the other’s world and, for Asuna, this leads to a change in the way... Read more
The Centre for the Study of Western Tradition at Campion College recently announced that it will be holding a day conference to mark the end of the year of the 8th centenary of the Magna Carta. The conference will also have a distinctly Australian flavour, representing a wide range of perspectives. The keynote speakers for the event are Queens Council, Order of Australia recipient and refugee advocate, Julian Burnside and the Commissioner for Law Reform in Western Australia and... Read more
In Theopolitical Imagination, William Cavanaugh described the nation state as a parody of the Church, with the waging of war as its liturgy. It is a secular simulation of the Divine Liturgy, with highly perverse parallels and even more perverse results. No where do we find a more vivid reminder of this when one reads the Lectionary for the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord on the 6th of August, the Feast on which the atomic bomb was dropped in... Read more
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