Part I. The opponents of Gnosticism did not deny the idea that some could have better knowledge than others in the world. Nor did they reject the idea that God could and would reveal himself to the world. Indeed, they would not deny the superiority of Christian revelation over any other religious tradition. They knew that God could and did show himself to the world, that revelation was not only possible but that it had been given, and God’s revelation... Read more
“According to the Preface for Christmas the ultimate goal of the Incarnation is man’s ‘divinization’: ‘You have brought about a wondrous exchange; your divine Word became a mortal man, and in Christ we mortal men receive your divine life.'[…] The Christian ideal of man’s divinization does not indicate a path of self-divinization: it is in fact man’s healing from the ‘God-complex’, from the compulsion of wanting to be like God; it is man’s healing from a view of God which... Read more
My alma mater, Franciscan University of Steubenville, is hosting an interesting conference in March 2008. The Institute for Bioethics is sponsoring “Ethical Issues in Sex and Marriage” from March 27-29, 2008. Plenary lectures will be given by Joseph Boyle, Teresa Collett, Maggie Gallagher and Andrew Trew. If you are a professor, college student or independent scholar, here is the information for submitting abstracts of papers: How should sex, marriage, and procreation be related? What role, if any, should the political... Read more
Eric Posner, Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, has an excellent post relating the practical concerns that arise from any attempt to pen a universal climate treaty for all states. This is a must-read for those who are interested in thoughtful rather than ideological reaction to the Bali conference. Read more
The other day I was asked by a Catholic family what my reaction would be if my daughter told me she wanted to be a nun. I replied that I would be ecstatic! They were really surprised and asked me “why?” I said “I would feel like I had successfully raised my daughter to love God with her whole being and to serve His Church.” I did say that I would be concerned about which order she would find because... Read more
New York. Say it with me, MM, “one of these things is not like the other.” Read more
Catholic blogger, public speaker, and writer, Dawn Eden reports on her blog that she may be diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Please keep her in your prayers and show support for her over at her blog! Read more
Benazir Bhutto, the leader of Pakistan’s opposition to Pervez Musharraf, was assassinated today along with 20 other people during a rally. This heinous act comes less than two weeks before what was turning out to be a chaotic and tumultuous election day on January 8. To his credit, President Bush has condemned the assassination as “cowardly” and the act of “murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan’s democracy.” A cold reminder that both here and abroad life is frequently... Read more
To Gnosticism’s separation of soul and body, spirit and flesh, pneumatic and animal existence, Christianity opposed the Incarnation of God. The fact that God became man, indeed flesh, proves that the redemption and resurrection of the entire earthly world is not just a possibility but a reality. Against the Gnostic separation of the old and new covenants, Irenaeus taught the unity of the testaments in Christ: they were different, because they were different stages of the one divine education of... Read more
A good read — and, it seems to me we can put aside, for now, what we think of President Bush’s policies in general — from Jay Lefkowitz: . . . We do not know enough yet to say whether, or to what degree, Bush’s refusal to allow federal funding to create new embryonic stem-cell lines played a role in compelling scientists to find a different approach to the issue. We do know that, in the aftermath of last November’s announcement,... Read more
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