Rome and Moscow as Allies

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 11:29 am By Henry Karlson

Once, the Russian Orthodox Church was very weary of the Catholic Church. Both Orthodox and Catholics were responsible for this sentiment. After the Fall of Constantinople, Moscow built itself up as the “Third and Final Rome,” claiming God’s judgment on the “heresies” of Rome and Constantinople led to their downfall. Russian triumphalism required a negative image of Catholicism; it based itself upon the most uncharitable representation of Catholic history and theology possible. Catholic triumphalism led to a similar response against... Read more

Economics and the Educational Imagination

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 11:28 am By Sam Rocha

[Previous posts: I. Economics and the Vocational Imagination; II. Economics and the Political Imagination] The etymlogy of education (educere) describes education as a form of “drawing out.” The history of pedagogy reveals a dramatic shift in how this drawing-out happens. While schooling has existed in many different forms throughout human history, the past two centuries reveal a vastly different vision of schooling: compulsory schooling. This is a complicated evolution that has beautiful and ugly aspects. Nonetheless, what is remarkable about the rise of modern schools is... Read more

Friendship Leads Us Out of Ourselves and Into the World

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 11:29 am By Henry Karlson

A friend and reader of Vox Nova, Apolonio Latar, is now a seminarian of the Fraternity of St. Charles, and has written an interesting article on charity: Drawing Near to Others. In it, he discusses how he and his fellow seminarians visit a children’s hospital every week, sometimes receiving positive reactions, sometimes receiving negative reactions from those they visit: We try to visit every room to talk to the children and their parents. We then invite them to pray and... Read more

Economics and the Vocational Imagination

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 11:28 am By Sam Rocha

What began as a general frustration with economics and politics, has now given me motivation to try and extend things a bit further. What will follow in this post, and the ones to come, will be descriptions of the ways that—in my view—‘economics’ has captured the human imagination in different domains of life. After I feel that I have made a descriptive case worth taking seriously, then, I will try to draw-out some conclusions and see where that gets us.... Read more

Dawkins, Derrida, and the Location of Hope

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 4:47 pm By Nathan O'Halloran, SJ

One of the central theses of Richard Dawkins and his “new atheist” confreres is that God is a delusional projection of the human psyche. This is no new argument, but is an especially pervasive one that carries a lot of weight in our psychological age. To a vaguely curious and interested listener, it offers a certain plausibility. To be clear, this is by no means Dawkins’ only or even most important argument. In his preface to The Blind Watchmaker he... Read more

Quote of the Week: Gerald O’Collins, S.J.

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 9:23 pm By Henry Karlson

Chapter 3 observed the way in which Balaam, a Mesopotamian diviner, was somewhat unfairly vilified in the NT. In the full story about him (Num. 22:1-24: 25), he clearly exemplifies how an ‘outsider’, who never joins the people of God, can pronounce genuine prophecies about the destiny of Israel, its royal leader, and Jesus himself. Could we imagine such prophetic activity continuing today among those who do not belong to the Church? One might readily think here of ‘positive’ figures... Read more

Looking Back with Bart Stupak

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 11:33 am By Morning's Minion

Via Grant Gallicho, Bart Stupak looks back at his role in healthcare reform. In my book, Stupak is a hero – his dual commitment to the unborn and to universal healthcare was unwavering, and he fought an extremely tough fight to secure an expansive healthcare reform that kept its distance from abortion. It is because of him and his band of pro-life Democrats that we got healthcare reform, and we got reform that is more pro-life than anybody could have possibly... Read more

So, It’s An “Obscure” Part of the Law?

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 11:29 am By Henry Karlson

I find this ironic and yet very telling: Abortion Opponents Capitalizing on New Health Care Law An obscure part of the law allows states to restrict abortion coverage by private plans operating in new insurance markets. Read the rest on FoxNews. This aspect of the law was consistently brought out in the debates, and it was shown how this law actually was incrementally better than the status quo. It was only “obscure” because several ideologues tried to obscure it so... Read more

Economics and the Political Imagination

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 11:28 am By Sam Rocha

I find economics very difficult to understand. By ‘economics’ I do not limit myself to the field or discipline of economics pure and simple. I am referring to the ways people in the modern world think and feel about money, capital, and themselves. In many ways, I am more comfortable thinking about an ‘economy,’ about transactions that boil down to relationships between people and things that they care about. There is no doubt that many economists understand ‘economics’ in this... Read more

Good news and a book

Last updated on: April 26, 2017 at 11:28 am By Sam Rocha

As many of you already know, I have been seeking employment for the upcoming academic year. Thankfully, I landed a job at Wabash College as the Owen Duston Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Teacher Education. (I am sure that this is the longest title for any one-year position in the world!) Many of you have been very supportive and I thank you for that. Another self-indulgent tid-bit is that a book edited by one of my mentors (Timothy Leonard)... Read more

Who interpreted dreams for a Pharaoh and a baker?