I find that every time I read a theologian or philosopher who brilliantly defends the Roman Church against Protestantism and has a real flair, I later find out that our Mother Church has rewarded them with condemnation. Cornelius Jansen and Blaise Pascal for sure, and to a lesser extent, Peter Kreeft, Hans Urs Von Balthasar. I think it's almost like they're just Augustinians … [Read more...]
Work Ethic – Why I Like Marxism
"The work ethic has become obsolete. It is no longer true that producing more means working more, or that producing more will lead to a better way of life. The connection between more and better has been broken; our needs for many products and services are already more than adequately met, and many of our as-yet- unsatisfied needs will be met not by producing more, but by … [Read more...]
Childermas / Feast of the Holy Innocents
St. Stephen is called the protomartyr, meaning first martyr, but today's feast day seems to call that into question.I first read about today's feast day in Charles Dicken's "Hard Times" (which I only got to about p. 10 in... but I'm still doing good in that course) it's today (according to my Liturgy of the Hours book), and I found it a fascinating feast.It is in commemoration … [Read more...]
How Philosophy Changes Our Lives
I was taught as a teenager the Worldview of C.S. Lewis, for which I am grateful, as there are many worse starting points. I think my view of faith and reason as well as the neo-Platonism of Lewis that we learned in philosophy allowed me to fit well into the Catholic faith. Unlike the nominalists (anti-rationalists) Luther and Calvin, Lewis fell more closely to the Angelic … [Read more...]
Mass-ive Disasters, Modernism, and Tradition
"Now I praise you, brethren, that in all things you are mindful of me and keep my ordinances (tradidi) as I have delivered them to you." - 1 Corinthians 11:2 (Douay-Rheims)After listening to a standard Pietistic sermon at my parents Baptist ecclessial community on Christmas Eve my mom - being the 'genius' she is - decided to bring up the Perpetual Virginity of Marriage. This … [Read more...]