Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
A new instalment in our series from Bossuet's Elevations on the Mysteries, 1.5: Who hath wrought and done these things, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, I am the first and the last, (Isaiah 41:4 DRB) who in the centre of my eternity see all begin and all end. Babylon, assemble your …
Continue reading "God, His Unity and Perfection: The Foreknowledge and Providence of God"
I'm briefly interrupting my posts from Bossuet's Elevations to deal with a subject that Matt Kennedy at Stand Firm takes up: the meaning of Mark 11:23-24. I honestly think that Bossuet, "the Eagle", (who was very Augustinian) has a much more accurate and inspiring treatment of the passage. The following comes from Bossuet's Meditations on the …
Continue reading ""Man Clothed in the Omnipotence of God": Bossuet on Faith and Prayer"
Continuing in Bossuet's Elevations on the Mysteries, 1,4: Hear, Israel: the Lord your God is one God, because he is who is, he who is indivisible. All which is not perfect, degenerates from perfection. Thus the Lord your God being the perfect one is alone and there is no other God but him. All that …
Continue reading "God, His Unity and Perfection: The Unity of God"
Continuing on in Bossuet's Elevations on the Mysteries, in this case 1,3 (the previous one is here): I AM WHO AM. HE WHO IS, hath sent me to you. It is so that God defined himself. It is to say that God is he in which non-being has no place, who thus is always, and …
Continue reading "God, His Unity and Perfection: More on the Being of God and His Eternal Beatitude"
This is from Bossuet's Elevations on the Mysteries, 1,2. The previous elevation is here. It is said: the perfect is not, it is only an idea of our spirit which goes rising from the imperfect which one sees with one's eyes to a perfection which only has reality in thought. This is the reasoning which …
Continue reading "God, His Unity and Perfection: The Perfection and Eternity of God"
I am starting another series from Jaques-Bénigne Bossuet's Elevations on the Mysteries, starting with the first one. This would be 1,1. From all eternity, God is: God is perfect: God is happy: God is one. The impious asks: why is God? I answer him: why shouldn't he be? Is it because he is perfect and …
Continue reading "God, His Unity and Perfection: The Being of God"
My church's news site recently noted a gathering down in Jamaica which was a consultation on believers' baptism. There were a couple of ministers from my church there, along with representatives of the World Council of Churches. I'm always nervous when our ministers get involved with WCC people and events. They are like young Siegfried, …
Continue reading "Why I Support the Idea of Believers' Baptism"
I must have been in an especially catty mood when I posted this on Stand Firm in Faith: Clinton stated that “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.” Clinton was only stealing a concept from Southern Baptist Eucharistic theology. I actually got a thumbs up for that. Nevertheless, it's something that's …
Continue reading "Bill Clinton's Eucharistic Theology: It Depends on What 'Is' Is"
@roddreher makes an interesting, if somewhat open-ended analysis of the subject: ...my general sense was the same I had when I lived in NYC for five years: that the region overall is cool to Christianity in a way that I have not seen anywhere else I’ve lived (except for South Florida). Needless to say, the …
Continue reading "My Thoughts on "Christianity's Decline in the Northeast""
This is the last in the Christmas series from Bossuet's Elevations on the Mysteries, in this case XV-XII. You can see the earlier post here and thread back through them. It has been a difficult year for us, and the news hasn't been the cheeriest either. For the season I have opted for something to …
Continue reading "The Silence and Admiration of Mary and Joseph"
Positive Infinity 