Much of the talk today about “faith and reason” is sloppy and inadequate. It discounts the effects of the Fall and improperly separates the natural law from the order of grace, where it fits within a hierarchy of divine helps … Continue reading
Category: Philosophy
The Problem with ‘Catholic’ Evolution
For many years, I have made it a practice to challenge my children and grandchildren with questions about philosophy and the Faith. Sometimes, I can hear their teeth grind with angst or I catch the subtle roll of the eyes … Continue reading
Misreading the Book of Nature: Intelligent Forests?
“Then shall the trees of the wood give praise before the Lord: because he is come to judge the earth.” — I Par. 16:33 Trees of different species, acrobatic bugs, and hunter-gatherer fungi all form a sort of underground “brain,” … Continue reading
One of the Great Paradoxes of Catholicism
The philosophical definition of truth is “the conformity of the mind to reality.”1 Truth is, therefore, a conformity. And as the etymology of that word suggests, it is the mind being “shaped,” — or bent into the shape of — … Continue reading
Attitude is Everything
(Warning to the reader: This article may be boring. It is a consideration of ideas, the process of getting them and how they are used to interact with the world. It is decidedly uncreative and entirely self-indulgent, written for my … Continue reading
Dr. Edward Feser on the Proofs of God’s Existence
Dr. Edward Feser is an accomplished Catholic philosopher whose work is worthy of attention. While preparing a class on the proofs of God’s existence, I happened upon a great piece he wrote for his blog, as well as this interview … Continue reading
A Brief Primer on the Virtue of Justice
Justice, in its most foundational meaning, is “rendering to the other what is his due.” When the “other” is a fellow man or the State, there are three specific parts of justice that pertain: commutative justice, distributive justice, and legal … Continue reading
Lessons to Learn from Clerical Scandals
It is not my custom to write about the latest scandal. There are good reasons for this. The world is fallen and scandals abound, even in the best of times. To dwell on them risks losing sight of the good … Continue reading
Science, Technology, and God
One of the two major reasons that people become atheists is that secondary causality is, so they think, sufficient to explain all that exists without any reference to God. This and the existence of evil are the two objections to … Continue reading
A Christian Soldier Under Caesar? Was it Licit?
And the soldiers also asked him, saying: And what shall we do? And he said to them: Do violence to no man; neither calumniate any man; and be content with your pay (Matthew 3:14). Then Jesus saith to him: Put … Continue reading
Joseph Ratzinger on the Priesthood and on the Resurrection
In the latter part of 2006, after the April 2005 installation of Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI, I had occasion to tell a professor friend of mine confidentially that I have always had difficulties reading with understanding the varied … Continue reading
A Remedy for Young Turks and Old Fools
There is an excellent fourteen-minute sermon called “The Error of Juvenilism” available online for the hearing. It is much worth a careful listen. The observations of the preacher, and the questions that arise in his wake, provide us with a … Continue reading
Enough With the Monkey Business
Concerning human evolution, the Church has a more definite teaching. It allows for the possibility that man’s body developed from previous biological forms, under God’s guidance, but it insists on the special creation of his soul. Pope Pius XII declared … Continue reading
Thomas Jefferson, a Devotee of Epicurianism
The Witherspoon Institute, Public Discourse, Aaron Alexander Zubia: In the interpretation of at least one of the Founders, Thomas Jefferson, American political institutions are not constructed to direct citizens toward virtue, but simply to direct them toward ease, convenience, and … Continue reading
From the Mail: Your ‘Truth’ and Mine: Philosophy or Delusion?
A reader of this site and listener to Reconquest named Erik sent me an email question, the answer to which I think may be of general interest, so I post the correspondence here: Dear Brother Andre Marie, I recently encountered … Continue reading
