Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
Never gave this much thought, but from the "Ite ad Thomam" site: So stealing from a church is actually two sins, theft and sacrilege? Or is it still one – sacrilegious theft? Two sins. And both have to be confessed. In other words, it's not enough to say merely "I stole something from a building," …
Continue reading "When One Steals From A Church, One Sins Twice"
Like in this, from A.B. Bruce's The humiliation of Christ, about Eutyches, the Monophysite fanatic: It is plain from those representations that Eutyches had no distinct definite conception of the constitution of our Lord's person. He felt rather than thought on the subject of Christology. He did not pretend to comprehend the mystery of the …
Diving for stuff in a discard bin isn’t the classiest way to spend one’s time, but for the academic diving in the free book bin at the used book store can be a true adventure. (Diving in the dumpster may be a necessity for the adjunct academic, and the new overtime rules don’t help a …
Pope Francis isn't much of a fan of things American these days, but his visit to this country was a revelation: Prior to his election Francis had never set foot in the United States, making him the only pope in the last eighty years other than St. John XXIII who had never been to America …
Recently my wife and I ventured to Regent University for me to deliver a paper. While there we got the chance to view one of the University's new acquisitions, namely a Torah scroll from Yemen.The fact that a Christian university could acquire such a donation is a sign of the times: Evangelicals are about the …
Continue reading "You Really Can Do Biblical Preaching From a Lectionary"
Educating new Christians in the basics of the faith has always been an important task of the Church. A few years back I featured a series on Cyril of Jerusalem's Catechetical Lectures, which date from the fourth century. Evangelical churches can be very casual about the whole business, their reputation for dogmatism notwithstanding. With Roman …
Continue reading "Revisiting the Catholicism of "Christ Among Us""
If you listen to Catholic commentators--especially conservative ones--you'll hear about the obligation of the faithful not only to vote but to vote for the proper person, i.e., one that is pro-life, etc., and that it's a sin to fail to do so. But there was a time when the Church had a less roseate view …
Continue reading "When the Catholic Faithful Were Not Allowed to Vote"
His Holiness has done it again with Amoris Laetitia, his latest encyclical on the family. The traditionalists tell us he's betrayed basic Roman Catholic Doctrine. The loyalists (to the Church) say it really doesn't say anything new. And the revisionists fell a "thrill up their leg" while reading it. Given all of that, I'm reposting …
Of all of Jesus Christ's post-resurrection appearances, this one is, in many ways, the most intriguing: Meanwhile Mary was standing close outside the tomb, weeping. Still weeping, she leant forward into the tomb, And perceived two angels clothed in white sitting there, where the body of Jesus had been lying, one where the head and …
Continue reading "After the Resurrection, Did Our Lord Need Purification?"
If I had to pick a favourite Bible verse or passage, it would be this: The bodies of those animals whose blood is brought by the High Priest into the Sanctuary, as an offering for sin, are burnt outside the camp. And so Jesus, also, to purify the People by his own blood, suffered outside …
Continue reading "The Meaning of Outside the Camp: A Good Friday Reflection"
Positive Infinity 