Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
Look, now, at the great virtue called fortitude. Is not its very function—to bear patiently with misfortune—overwhelming evidence that human life is beset with unhappiness, however wise a man may be? It is beyond my comprehension how the Stoics can boldly argue that such ills are not really ills, meanwhile allowing that, if a philosopher …
Continue reading "The Ultimate Good in Life, the Stoics, and the New Atheists"
The city of man, for all of the width of its expansion throughout the world and for all of the depth of its differences in this place and that, is a single community. The simple truth is that the bond of a common nature makes all human beings one. Nevertheless, each individual in this community …
In the case of Cain and Abel, there was no rivalry in any cupidity for the things of earth, nor was there any envy or temptation to murder arising from a fear of losing the sovereignty in both were ruling together. In this case, Abel had no ambition for domination in the city that his …
Continue reading "Evil men hate those who are good for no other reason than that they are good"
Something Anglicans need to remember: Heretics are those who entertain in Christ's Church unsound and distorted ideas and stubbornly refuse, even when warned, to return to what is sound and right, to correct their contagious and death-dealing docrtrines, but go on defending them. When they leave the Church they are ranked as enemies who try …
Continue reading "What Heretics Are For: A Reminder for the Anglicans and the Rest of Us"
Spengler's article on this subject is especially cogent: Like many Jewish prayers, Tevye's prayer to be un-chosen also has become popular among some Catholics. The Catholic Church holds itself to be Israel, the People of God descended from Abraham in the Spirit. But many Catholics, including some in leading positions in the Roman Curia, think …
Continue reading "Pope Benedict Finds Jettisoning Replacement Theology Harder Than It Looks"
N.T. Wright thinks that the Bible can put a new zest into ecumenism, in part because of this: The synod (of Catholic bishops in Rome) was, in effect, inhabiting more fully the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, particularly the document Dei Verbum. Many bishops at the Synod spoke excitedly of the effect of Bible …
Continue reading "N.T. Wright: The Tricky Part Isn’t in Allowing Them to Read the Bible"
Not me, for one. But Damian Thompson obviously does: The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has decided to recommend the Traditional Anglican Communion be accorded a personal prelature akin to Opus Dei, if talks between the TAC and the Vatican aimed at unity succeed, it is understood. The TAC is a growing …
Continue reading "Pope Offers “Personal Prelature” for the TAC. Who’d Have Thunk It?"
In the present "lovefest" climate that's surrounding Barack Obama's inauguration, it's good to remember that there's more to finding peace and happiness than racial unity and "equality:" I have already said, in previous Books, that God had two purposes in deriving all men from one man. His first purpose was to give unity to the …
Continue reading "The Two Cities: The Really Important Source of Division in Our World"
Something just hit me about this topic. During my first visit to the UK, I went to Westminster Cathedral (the central cathedral for the Roman Catholic Church in the UK.)Â I think it was there I read the lists of the main archbishops who presided over the "holy Catholic and Apostolic Church" in England, at …
Continue reading "A Thought on Episcopal and Anglican Churches Leaving"
Kevin Walker had an excellent post on The Language of Salvation, which dealt with a passage from N.T. Wright. His response to my comments was as follows: Thanks for commenting Don. I just started reading N.T. Wright, and I'm enjoying his work. My only beef is, like you said in your comment, that he almost …
Continue reading "Reply to Kevin Walker on Salvation, the Nature of the Church and N.T. Wright"
