Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
In the Communion Gospel this Sunday from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, we have this in part: And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom …
Continue reading "The Baptism of John and the Baptism of Jesus Christ"
On 03 March 1845, the German mathematician Georg Cantor was born in St. Petersburg. In 1862, he entered the Federal Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, eventually becoming a member of the mathematics department. At the death of his father, he left Zurich for Berlin where, in addition to his mathematical interests, he began to study philosophy …
It's that time of the decade again. As I noted ten years ago, fifty years ago today (on the Feast of Christ the King no less): On a very nice South Florida November afternoon, I took my baby blue Pinto on the very short drive to St. Thomas More Parish and, with just me and Fr. Connolly there, I took …
Continue reading "Fifty Years Ago, Swimming the Tiber Was Good. Now…"
A few years back, in my post If You Really Want to Get Into Trouble, Read the Mediaevals, I quoted Carl Boyer's A History of Mathematics as follows: The son Georg (Cantor) took a strong interest in the finespun arguments of medieval theologians concerning continuity and the infinite, and this militated against his pursuing a mundane …
Continue reading "The Challenge from Aquinas That Changed Mathematics"
In this week Bossuet shows the nature of Jesus Christ from a human standpoint. Many of the earlier elevations discuss his divine origins, but now Bossuet connects him with Israel’s institutions: its monarchy, its priesthood, and its own bloodline, which were necessary preparations for his mission. The elevations: Anointing of Jesus Christ. His Royalty. His […]Anointing …
Following this reading from the Gospel: Luke 2:41-52 The Boy Jesus in the Temple 41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And… Continue reading → In Celebration of the Ordination of Calvin Robinson – a brief catechesis following St Luke- Gavin Ashenden.In Celebration of the Ordination of Calvin Robinson – a brief catechesis …
From Bossuet's Elevations on the Mysteries: To publish the Gospel law, he renewed these four things, but in a much more excellent way. The work began with a great noise: but it was neither the violence of thunder, nor the sound of trumpets, as we hear in a fight; the noise which God sent was …
Continue reading "The Contrast Between the Giving of the Law and the Coming of the Holy Spirit"
On Saturday mornings my youngest daughter (who was at Beaulieu as a teenager) and I have taken to having zoom calls with coffee, so we… … 13 more wordsWhy They Should only Hate a Few Old White Men — Gavin Ashenden
In this series of elevations Bossuet explores Jesus’ time in the wilderness, his fast and his encounter with Satan, who tempted him. It includes his …The Fast and Temptation of Jesus Christ
Today Charles de Foucauld is being canonised. The Frenchman who turned away from God and then back toward him in a way that led to his martyrdom in Algeria in 1916 will now be known as St. Charles de Foucauld. I've noted my own contact with Muslims over the years, but in the case of …
Positive Infinity 