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...]
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...]
The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony
I'm getting tired of pretending I'm an evangelical. My whole family are Baptists and while they know their bibles a fair bit, they are completely ignorant (save my brother) of Church History and Systematic Theology. So everytime we get together I mention something from history or theology or church history that goes against the Neo-Con Evangelical mold, and it causes a really … [Read more...]