Aug
21
Freedom and Human Dignity
August 21, 2006 | Leave a Comment
In another very interesting post, Chris Blosser takes issue with Mark Shea’s claim that neoconservatives subscribe to a kind of idolatry of democracy. Blosser quotes Irving Kristol at some length in rebuttal of Shea’s idea, and one paragraph in particular stood out for me as especially thought-provoking:
There is, however, an older idea of democracy - [...]
Aug
19
A Pacifist Pope?
August 19, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Chris Blosser offers an extremely helpful assessment of the situation at Against the Grain in this post. The answer, it would seem, is a qualified “no”.
Aug
19
Against Pointless Reduction
August 19, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Theoretical reduction–the reducing of one theory to the postulates and theorems of some other theory from which it can be logically derived–is possible in lots of areas, but it is not always advisable. Biology, for example, can be reduced to particle physics, but it is not clear what the motivation would be for translating talk [...]
Aug
18
When Pontificating is a Good Thing
August 18, 2006 | Leave a Comment
Fr. Kimel has an excellent post up at Pontifications about Jonathan Bonomo’s account of the Calvinist view of the Real Presence. As usual, the writing is clear, concise, thoughtful, charitable, and orthodox. I would say that, in general, Pontifications is one of the best religious blogs I have seen.
Adding to the overall value of the [...]
Aug
17
The Oasis
August 17, 2006 | Leave a Comment
When we returned from our vacation in Holland, Michigan, to Ann Arbor, I attended Mass for the Assumption at the parish of St. Thomas the Apostle. It is a lovely old church, completed in 1899 and lacking the kitchy art of many 19th century churches. Instead it has tasteful stained glass windows, beautiful Italian marble [...]
Aug
16
Our Utilitarian Times
August 16, 2006 | Leave a Comment
In James Taranto’s blog, Best of the Web Today, there is a story from the London Guardian regarding the probable use of torture to thwart last week’s terror plot in the UK (Taranto’s piece; the Guardian piece). Taranto agrees that “the claim of torture seems at least plausible” and raises the question
it is possible that [...]
Aug
10
Ignoratio elenchi
August 10, 2006 | Leave a Comment
That’s a fancy Latin slogan that means, basically, not knowing what the question at issue is when having an argument. I’m reminded of the slogan by an interesting post at Maverick Philosopher on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict. Bill writes:
Not every armed conflict is a war. The ‘war’ against Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations is more like [...]
Aug
10
The More Things Change…
August 10, 2006 | Leave a Comment
There’s a rather famous essay by Richard Cartwright called “On the Logical Problem of the Trinity” (available online here). In it, Cartwright argues that the doctrine of the Trinity as enunciated in the Athanasian Creed cannot be made sense of using ordinary intuitions about identity and difference, genus and species. The Maverick Philosopher gave the [...]
Aug
9
Fr. Kimel on Justification
August 9, 2006 | Leave a Comment
There’s a great post up at Pontifications on the problem of justification. Joe Bob says check it out.
Aug
9
But He Is A Really Nice Guy
August 9, 2006 | Leave a Comment
From a 9 July Los Angeles Times column by Charlotte Allen:
As if to one-up the Presbyterians in jettisoning age-old elements of Christian belief, the Episcopalians at Columbus overwhelmingly refused even to consider a resolution affirming that Jesus Christ is Lord. When a Christian church cannot bring itself to endorse a bedrock Christian theological statement repeatedly [...]
