As many of you may know, the state of Nevada is feeling the brunt of the current economic downturn. For this reason, the state’s institutions of higher education are being forced to make deep budget cuts. Among the cuts proposed by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is the elimination of its philosophy department. Below is the letter I sent last night to UNLV President Neal Smatresk. I cc’d it to the chancellor of the university system (Daniel Klatch) as well... Read more
Evangelical Pastor and former Catholic, Chris Castaldo, nicely corrects those who have opined that Rob Bell’s recent musings on hell are not unlike the Catholic doctrine of purgatory. You can read Pastor Castaldo’s comments here. Read more
Joseph A. Dickerson, Jr. died in May 2006 at the age of 86. Today would have been his 91st birthday. My wife, Frankie, still misses him, as she misses her mother, Peggy, who passed away in January 2010. At 5:30 pm today at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Waco, Mass will be said for the repose of Joe’s soul. What follows is the eulogy I delivered at his memorial service: (more…) Read more
It’s a hell of an entry. Read more
My esteemed colleague, Professor Roger Olson, has written on his blog some interesting and thoughtful comments about Evangelicals and Catholics. He writes: Over the last 50 years many notable evangelical thinkers have converted to the Roman Catholic Church (or to some independent Catholic church of which there are many; here I’m concerned mainly with those who have converted to the RC Church). Think of Tom Howard, evangelical professor at Wheaton (and I think Gordon), who converted to RCC and wrote... Read more
That is the title of a review essay I just published in the April 2011 issue of First Things. The book is authored by Robert Benne of Roanoke College. Here’s how the essay begins: For some Americans, as for the Founding Fathers, the separation of church and state means that the government and religious bodies ought not to exert power over the other’s areas of legitimate authority. To others it means that religiously informed policy proposals may not become the... Read more
Have you ever had this happen? You read a passage of Scripture that you had read many times before, but this time it hits you like a ton of bricks. This is what happened to me tonight when I read this passage from the Book of Romans (12:9-21): Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be... Read more
That is the title of an article of mine that is forthcoming in the philosophy journal, Synthese. It is, however, now available online prior to its appearance in print. (It may be downloaded by individual purchase or if you or your institution has a subscription). Here is how my article begins (references omitted): (more…) Read more
There is much that those of us in 2011 can learn from Will Herberg’s important 1949 review of Paul Blanshard’s famous (or infamous) tome, American Freedom and Catholic Power (1949). Long before Christian conservatives were called “American Taliban” by secular progressives, and long before the United States had to wrestle with controversies surrounding its Muslim citizenry, American Catholic Christians were confronted by a truly vile form of bigotry and suspicion that was embraced by both elite and popular culture. Catholics... Read more
That’s the title of my latest piece on The Catholic Thing. Here’s how it begins: In 2007, when I was prayerfully thinking about returning to the Catholic Church, there were four theological issues that were deal breakers forme: justification, penance, transubstantiation, and apostolic succession. I have already discussed penance, transubstantiation, and justification. Here, I offer a brief account of how I became convinced that the Catholic Church is also right about apostolic succession. Catholicism holds that if a Church claims to be Christian it... Read more
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