Required reading for today, from The Distributist Review: Three Strategies for Evasion, Thomas Storck. It (conveniently!) confirms many of my own intuitions about “dissent-talk” in Catholic circles. Read more
Required reading for today, from The Distributist Review: Three Strategies for Evasion, Thomas Storck. It (conveniently!) confirms many of my own intuitions about “dissent-talk” in Catholic circles. Read more
I have often cautioned against making the argument that we are superior because we are smarter, better looking, more cultured, or deeper thinkers. Today is the day to condemn a similar style of argument, people in the past were smarter, better looking, more cultured, and deeper thinkers. The impetus for writing this is much of the commentary on the riots in England. First, I will offer small compliments. Whereas typically arguers of this type will not offer a demarcation point... Read more
Introduction and Part II “Intelligence is the servant of the intellect: whatever the intellect wills, the intelligence conceives and expresses.”[1] The intellect is capable of seeing all things, including things in heaven.[2] “Nothing darkens it except sin. To the pure intellect nothing is incomprehensible, just as for the intelligence nothing is beyond expression.”[3] We are mortal because we have a body, we are immortal because we have intelligence and an intellect.[4] “Through silence you come to understanding; having understood, you... Read more
Let me begin by answering my own question: yes, I think it is. Below, I hope to make clear why I believe this to be the case. But first, let me begin with some careful definitions. Climate change, also known as (anthropogenic) global warming is the scientific theory that as the result of the burning of fossil fuels for the past 200 years (and particular since the beginning of the 20th century) the natural carbon cycle of the Earth has... Read more
Matthew 15: 21-28 At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyreand Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. Jesus’ disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep... Read more
Martin Luther had three problems with Catholic Eucharistic theology and practice. On two of them, withholding the cup from the laity and understanding the Mass as a sacrifice, he was vociferous. (I took on the sacrifice question in ecumenical dialogue here.) On the third, transubstantiation, he was much more sanguine. According to Luther, transubstantiation was one possible explanation of Eucharistic presence. But he did not himself find it to be the best one and he wished that it not be... Read more
Maximus of Tyre, in his dissertation on the question “Whether injuries are to be returned?” can be seen as providing a Hellenistic complement to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus, of course, gives an answer to the question which transcends the one of Maximus. Nonetheless, Maximus can be shown as providing the philosophical foundation for the Christian rejection of vengeance. Maximus tells us that one who returns injury commits an offense and can no longer be seen as innocent and... Read more
In response to a circuit court of appeals’ decision that the individual mandate component of health care reform is unconstitutional (at odds with the results of another circuit), a TPM reader sent in the following on-the-mark response: “I’m a lawyer. It’s hard to explain just how outside the mainstream this kind result would have been just 5-10 years ago.I graduated a top law school in ’02. If you had written something like this on your 1L Con Law exam you... Read more
A cluster of recent experiences have got me thinking about the strangeness of our Western civilization, and made me look differently at the Church’s participation in it. First: reading about evolutionary theory of sex, the gist of which suggests that early hominids, including homo sapiens, might have lived in relatively small groups, engaging in various kinds of sexual experiences, sharing parenting. Certain indigenous peoples around the world manifest this kind of pattern even in the modern era. (Source: Sex at... Read more
You know, I am sure that the kingdom of heaven is promised and given by the Lord only to the poor (cf. Mt 5:3): for he who loves temporal things loses the fruit of love. Such a person cannot serve God and Mammon, for either the one is loved and the other hated, or the one is served and the other despised (Mt. 6:24).[1] They say behind every good man, there is a good woman, the one who holds them... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In