Justice, Unity & the Hidden Christ: New Book by Matthew Tan

Last updated on: January 17, 2014 at 2:49 am By Matthew Tan

The theological publishing house Wipf & Stock has released the first book by the Divine Wedgie’s blogger at large, entitled Justice Unity and the Hidden Christ: the Theopolitical Complex of the Social Justice Approach to Ecumenism in Vatican II. This book comes on the 50th anniversary of the release of Unitatis Redintegratio, which was Vatican II’s Declaration on Ecumenism, which forms the starting point of the book’s inquiry. The central question is whether, as paragraph 12 of the Declaration suggests,... Read more

Where the Centre Holds

Last updated on: January 9, 2014 at 10:10 pm By Matthew Tan

A line in William Butler Yeats’ The Second Coming bewailed the breakdown of civilisation the words Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed… As his poem indicates, one of the keys to preventing further breakdown is attention to “the center”, and it then becomes easy to associate this term with particular public institutions. But Eliot’s referal to the center pertains to a number of areas from the... Read more

Crying and the Life of the World to Come

Last updated on: January 3, 2014 at 2:56 am By Matthew Tan

Another year has passed, and with that comes the catharsis of committing yet another year to the realm of history. This catharsis would be particularly so if 2013 has been a year where causes for deep regret outweigh those for joyous celebration. For those whose experience of 2013 was a veil of tears, there is a hope that 2014 not be a repeat of the travails of the year just past. The question to be asked is whether there... Read more

Chesterton on Paganism and Christianity

Last updated on: December 19, 2013 at 11:00 pm By Matthew Tan

Christians are often found bewailing the possibility that we are returning to the time of the ancient church, when it was living under the shadow of pagan influences. In the last few years, many Christians have noted with dismay the return to prominence of neo-pagan expressions in both pop culture and the academy. This observation is coupled with a resignation that the Star of Bethlehem is slowly and irreversibly replaced by the Pentagram – the constant peals for Christians... Read more

The Body Moral

Last updated on: December 12, 2013 at 10:23 pm By Matthew Tan

A 2008 edition of The Sociology of Sport Journal featured a highly illuminating article entitled “Fatness, Fitness, and the Moral Universe of Sport and Physical Activity“, it consisted of an ethnography which suggested the existence of a “moral universe that makes the moral superiority of the fit, athletic body possible”. This article is one of a slow and gradual trickle of written works that are hinting at an unwritten moral law within contemporary society, whether approvingly or otherwise. This is... Read more

The Church and Popular Culture: DePaul Winter Course Offering

Last updated on: December 3, 2013 at 11:03 pm By Matthew Tan

The Department of Catholic Studies at DePaul University is inviting enrollment into one of its new course offerings to be taught by “the Divine Wedgie’s” blogger at large and Visiting Professor, Matthew Tan, entitled “The Church and Popular Culture“. The course, to be held in the Winter Quarter of 2014 (beginning 6th January), will explore pop culture through the lens of Catholic theology. It will demonstrate how pop culture is more than a system of distributing goods and services, but... Read more

Pain & Logos

Last updated on: November 21, 2013 at 10:24 pm By Matthew Tan

In an interview with the Mars Hill Audio Journal, the Canadian theologian Hans Boersma spoke about the ease with which Christians talk about Jesus as the Saviour, as if he was the great fixer that came to extrinsically fix the cosmos that was previously alright on its own, but now needed fixing due to the stain of sin. To Boersma, this conception of Christ as the repairman to what was a perfectly well functioning clock, has borne many philosophical,... Read more

Food: the Last Sacrament

Last updated on: November 14, 2013 at 9:31 pm By Matthew Tan

The word “foodie” has now entered common usage in contemporary English. The word denotes a class of folks who deliberately hone an appreciation of not only the eating, but the production and preparation of one or many types of food. The proliferation of shows on food has even led to the creation of dedicated food channels on cable television, and dedicated food sections in magazines, journals and papers. It has also nurtured its own “slow food” movement. At the heart... Read more

Slavoj Zizek, the Christian Revolution & So On…

Last updated on: November 7, 2013 at 9:19 pm By Matthew Tan

The Slovenian marxist philosopher Slavoj Zizek has made a reputation for himself as the “Elvis of Philosophy”, having published countless articles, more than 70 books, and appeared in many TV slots and interviews (including two feature length films about himself). Zizek has proven a very adept observer of how ideology is present in the minutiae of everyday existence, as his discourse on toilet design seeks to demonstrate http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/rzXPyCY7jbs&source=uds Christians are also paying attention to his appropriation of Scripture as a... Read more

Against Salvific Minimalism: Passion & Cosmos

Last updated on: October 31, 2013 at 11:16 pm By Matthew Tan

Christians often adopt an anthropocentric conception of the purpose of the history of salvation. The trope goes that God became fully man in Jesus of Nazareth so that man might be saved. It is important to note that this is true, and is reflected in St. Athanasius’ line that “God became man so that man might become God”. Nonetheless, it would be a mistake to confine the effects of the salvific work of God to just the human. A starting... Read more