Since I’m on a Balthasarian kick these days, it’s impossible not to talk about the idea of theological aesthetics. Much of Balthasar’s thought springs from the idea of the Beautiful as the “forgotten transcendental.” Think of the three Great Transcendentals of classical Greek philosophy: the True, the Good and the Beautiful. Both theology and philosophy place great emphasis on the first two and tend to overlook the third. Balthasar’s idea in writing a Theodramatik was precisely to give the Beautiful pride of place... Read more

I’ve already written about the meaning of morality as worship (coda). I’ve already written (maybe only in my mind?) about the meaning of our existence as self-donation in imitation of the Persons of the Trinity. If God is the very nature of Being itself, as Scripture and the Scholastics say, and if God is a self-giving union of Persons, then, as Ratzinger puts it, the nature of being itself is being-in-relation. But there is more. This relation between the Persons of the Trinity is not any... Read more

My wonderful Patheos co-blogger Leah Libresco has recently been hosting a symposium of sorts on her blog on relationships, dating, and the “Nice Guy Problem.” Here’s the roundup. Man, are we in a bad way. Cultures have relationship scripts: i.e. memes or cultural stories that more-or-less dictate how relationships work. The script doesn’t mean that everybody follows it, but it tells us what to expect, and what is culturally expected of us. For many centuries, we had the more-or-less arranged marriage,... Read more

A number of prominent Bible scholars believe that Richard Bauckham’s book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses just might be the most important book of New Testament scholarship in many decades–the kind of paradigm-shifting work that will be ignored by most current scholars and only taken up by a new generation, as science advances “one funeral at a time”. In a word, the book argues that the Gospels are books of oral history; in other words, that they are based on the... Read more

My fellow Catholic Patheosi Kyle Cupp says that pro-lifers should not be vague about the penalties for abortion that they envisage. This is obviously a fair question to ask. Before I answer the question, I would say a couple things by way of prolegomena. The first is that in the United States, the road to a pro-life policy (even just a pro-life possibility) goes through the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Overturning Roe v. Wade would not mean making abortion illegal, but rather, return the issue... Read more

“My center is giving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent, I am attacking.” – Ferdinand Foch In the Roman Empire, when a new Emperor was appointed (or seized power), heralds would fan out on those well-maintained Roman roads and announce it to all the Empire, to all the civilized world. And in the East, where Greek was spoken, this is how they would do it: they would stand up, and they would say: Here is the euangelion, the good news!... Read more

Over at The Week, I wrote a post arguing that most Christians will continue to believe that same-sex marriage is wrong, because sexual complementarity is an important part of the faith. My view was not to advocate for a particular position, but rather to argue for pacifying by seeking to explain why most Christians wouldn’t give up on it. I just want to point to a couple fair-minded and intelligent responses, and say a few things in response to them–again, more in a... Read more

For all that I fire potshots at Protestantism, I really do believe there is very little that divides us, and very much that Catholicism can and must learn from Protestantism. (See: Why Faithful Catholic Priests Should Be Good Lutherans; Is The Future Of Catholicism Protestantism? I Hope So) The paradox of ecumenism is that as little as there is that divides us, we still find ways to divide ourselves. Can I be crass for a moment? I’m sure some will find... Read more

Calvinism is one of my frequent internet punching bags, and usually the retort from my Calvinist brethren (whom I love!) is that I mischaracterize Calvinism. And I always give them the benefit of the doubt because, well, they would know better than me, wouldn’t they. And caricaturing opponents’ positions is one of the most annoying features of debate, and (honestly, guys) I try to avoid it, even though none of us are immune. One of my Twitter interlocutors, the very gracious... Read more