Some posts on pre-Vatican 2 treatments of marriage in moral theology. Have we really lost a lot in our understanding of sexual morality since the council? Do popular treatments of theology of the body pale by comparison?

Original Sin

Idle and Rambling Speculations on Original Sin By Joseph Wood


The biological transmission of original sin has puzzled me, but it seems to have been taken seriously by the medievals. St. Thomas talks about the tranmission of sin and the infection of the powers of the soul. corruption of nature. What does that mean though, merely that because they are descendents of Adam that they are therefore subject to the providential order which he has caused through his sin? According to St. Thomas, no -- it is not merely a privation. So what is the corruption of nature, according to St. Augustine and St. Thomas? I need to read the relevant questions more carefully, but it may be that up to this point I have not been able to understand what St. Thomas has written because I was assuming an erroneous dualistic account of human nature, one that lead me to spiritualize original sin too much.

The Anti-Church of Antonio Gramsci by George J. Marlin

More from Medievalists.net on the medieval university.

The Medieval University

Some objections to a proposed Catholic view of the universe
Disputed question on the key premise in the fourth way

Mark F. Johnson, On the future of Thomistica.net

The great news is that the site will remain sure-footed under the direction and support of the people at The Aquinas Center at Ave Maria University, will in fact have a larger base of fine and diverse contributors, and will assuredly expand its viewership to an ever-widening audience of those interested in the academic study of St. Thomas Aquinas. Roger Nutt will be overseeing the site, with help of Michael Dauphinais and Joseph Trabbic. The new contributors will include Fr. Matthew Lamb and Steven Long of Ave Maria and Christopher Malloy of the University of Dallas and Fr. Timothy Bellamah of the Dominican House of Studies.

Wolfgang Smith, The Quantum Enigma

Edit. The videos are not of Wolfgang Smith, but someone giving a presentation on Smith. His book, The Quantum Enigma.





Response to the talk

Wolfgang Smith: Science and Myth, The Hidden Connection, The Plague of Scientistic Belief

profile for Wolfgang Smith
Sacred Web
The Foundation for Traditional Studies
Sophia Perennis

Nigra sum, sed formosa - Tomás Luis de Victoria

Zenit: Papal Message on Liturgy as Source of Catechesis
"The Liturgy Is Not What Man Does, But What God Does"

Zenit: Papal Message to Rimini Meeting
"Man Cannot Live Without the Certainty of His Destiny"

Sandro Magister, After Madrid. How Benedict XVI Has Innovated the WYD
There are at least three innovations that characterize the World Youth Days with this pope: moments of silence, the very young age of the participants, the passion to witness to faith in the world

Certain traditionalists remain critical.

Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology:

Papal Theologian's Talk

Tuesday, September 20, 7:30 pm
DSPT Galleria

DSPT will have the honor of hosting Fr. Wojciech Giertych, OP, a Dominican friar of the Polish Province who is the Theologian to the Papal Household. Fr. Giertych will speak on "Virtuous human action-- an icon of God. Aquinas's vision of Christian morality." Download flyer for the Papal Theologian Talk

Ite ad Thomam: Berry: Ecumenical Councils are Not Entirely Infallible

MoJ: Natural Law, "positivism", judging, etc.

The post links to a paper by Michael Baur on the interpretation of the law by judges.

Hrm... how does the separation of powers play out? Would it be possible to give judges the authority to rule as to whether a law was just or not?

Pope Benedict meets with Women Religious(ENGLISH dub.)WYD 2011

Zenit: Holy Father's Words to University Professors
"You Provide a Splendid Service in the Spread of Truth"

Rorate Caeli: Religious "fervor" and the outcome of the First Session of the Second Vatican Council

Salve Regina

Harry Christophers and the Sixteen

The Church Impotent

I have not yet started The Church Impotent by Leon Podles, but in reading the description of the book  I question the support for his thesis. Is he overreaching in his genealogy?

"In an original and challenging account, he traces this feminization to three contemporaneous medieval sources: the writings of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the rise of scholasticism, and the expansion of female monasticism."

After all, St. Bernard was instrumental in the creation the Christian knight and the military orders. Thus, I am a bit baffled. There will be an element of the "feminine" in Christian spirituality, for both males and females, in so far as we are the recipients of God's grace. (The Song of Songs) But what men should o when enlivened by charity and grace will be different from what women do, as grace builds upon nature.

As for the criticism of the scholastics... I will have to see what he says. Could his criticisms not also be applied to the monastic theologians?

I think it would suffice to locate the breakdown of Christian spirituality with the destruction of Christendom and the rise of the modern-state, and to look at Church-state relations and how the Church has fared.