Zenit: Father James Schall on "Spe Salvi" (Part I)

Father James Schall on "Spe Salvi" (Part I)

Jesuit Scholar Points to Pope's Insights Into True Hope

By Carrie Gress

WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 31, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Even though the modern world talks of the hope in terms of progress and social justice, these concepts are "inhuman" aberrations of the true meaning of the theological virtue, says Father James Schall.

The Jesuit professor of political philosophy at Georgetown University is the author of "The Order of Things," and "Another Sort of Learning," both published by Ignatius Press.

In Part 1 of this interview with ZENIT, Father Schall comments on how Benedict XVI, in his encyclical "Spe Salvi," defends the theological virtue of hope by showing that without God human fulfillment and happiness is impossible.

Part 2 of this interview will appear Friday.

Q: Why do you think that this consideration of the theological virtue of hope is particularly timely?

Father Schall: We might state the issue briefly, but with some irony, by saying that in fact the secular world is itself full of "hope." However, the intellectual origins or implications of the ideas it uses for hope are no longer recognized. The modern words used instead of hope are "progress," or "making the world safe for democracy," "social justice," or the "scientific" eradication of suffering and evil. The theological background for this "secularization" of hope comes from Joachim of Flora and Francis Bacon, among others.

The modern idea of hope always means dissatisfaction with the present in the light of some presumed future that is not only better, but is the man-made answer to what we mean by complete happiness.

Even the word "education" has overtones of hope. Stress on education as a solution also has a Socratic background. Socrates evidently thought that at the origin of all the human disorder we find "ignorance." Thus, education, both general and universal, comes to be considered a universal "cure" for the moral disorders manifest in human nature wherever and whenever it appears in our experience. If we can just eliminate "ignorance," it is "hoped," we will eliminate evil.

This view clearly presupposes that we know and define properly the nature of the evil that we seek to eliminate. Perhaps no ideology is more stubborn than this educational one. The fact is that it is not primarily ignorance that causes evil. Education as an ideology always refuses to face the core problem of evil, its relation to free will, virtue and grace.

Aristotle was clear that, while intelligence was indeed a major factor, there was a recurring element of "wickedness" in human nature. The most intelligent and well-educated were often the ones closest to the greatest evil. The classical tractates on tyranny always presupposed this relationship of the greatest evil to the greatest finite intelligence, angelic or human. Lucifer is one of the most intelligent of the angels, which is why he is so dangerous.

Following Augustine and Aquinas, we understand the place of will, free will, in our lives. Evil is not located outside of us. Aristotle had recognized that virtue and vice are acquired habits based on repeated choices. We do not become virtuous or vicious simply by knowing what virtue or vice is. We have to "do" them repeatedly.

Behind this emphasis on will, we find the doctrine of original sin with its relation to pride.

My point here is simply this: The billions of dollars of wealth that sundry modern states and private charities pour into education in order to improve the world are almost always justified by a version of hope that essentially maintains that what causes human ills is lack of knowledge. Since the whole story of human disorder includes more than knowledge, we must recognize that this modern enthusiasm for "knowledge alone" betrays utopian overtones of a this-worldly solution of ultimate human problems.

The point is not to abandon the valid aspect of education in our lives. No religion -- or philosophy -- is more dedicated to intelligence than Catholicism. The point is to put it in proper order. We should seek and know the truth. But it does not automatically follow that those who seek education necessarily choose to live by the truth.

What this Pope is able to do, in an almost revolutionary manner, is to sort out the unrecognized theological strands of hope that exist within the secular order.

Modernity's very search for its own self-sufficiency is charged with Christian overtones that exist in the culture, but are not recognized. One of the results of the loss of faith, itself a choice, is the sense of no longer knowing how Christian themes were implicit in the culture.

Students and faculties today, including often those in Catholic institutions, have little notion of the Christian origins and limits of their favorite enthusiasms. Ever since we stopped studying heresies as heresies, we have often adopted them in enthusiastic terms whose origins we no longer recognize. There is not only ignorance, but a willed ignorance.

We do not want to know that our most basic desires are best explained by a reasoned faith, which we have uncritically, without examination and virtue, rejected as untenable.

Q: You have made a connection between Eric Voegelin's phrase "immanentize the eschaton" and the encyclical. What does this phrase mean? How do what connection do you see?

Father Schall: Eric Voegelin was a German political philosopher who came to the United States during the Nazi period. He had begun a distinguished academic career in Germany that he continued at Louisiana State and Stanford Universities. His voluminous and profound writings are published by the Louisiana State University Press and the University of Missouri Press.

After long studies in philosophy, language, scripture, history and theology, Voegelin concluded that the main motivating force behind modern philosophic movements was their effort literally to achieve the transcendent goals found in classical philosophy and Christianity, such as heaven, happiness, but within this world. He called these efforts at systems "ideologies." He explained that their effort was to "immanentize the eschaton."

Realist philosophy and Christian theology are not, in this sense, "ideologies," though this is what they will often be called in universities. This is why, from a Catholic view, the defense of philosophy and revelation as such is so important. Their realism is what distinguishes them from ideologies. Neither philosophy nor revelation is merely a projection onto reality of humanly concocted ideas that have no further justification other than the construct in the mind of some thinker now transformed into political action.

The word "eschaton" refers to the last things. We traditionally call them: death, purgatory, hell, and heaven. We will quickly notice that these are the four things to which Benedict XVI addresses himself in "Spe Salvi." We are so used to writing off any serious consideration of these topics that we can't easily appreciate the depth of what the Pope is about. As I often like to point out, Catholicism is an intellectual religion. We had better be prepared to understand why.

I know the expression "immanentize the eschaton" sounds formidable. It is something only a German academic mind could drum up, I suppose. But it is apt. It has the advantage of accurately identifying what is going on in the modern mind as it seeks to find a human meaning outside of a realist philosophy to which revelation is addressed in a coherent fashion. In other words, it means that modern thought does not escape Christianity even when it tries to do so. What it does is to strive to relocate it within the world as a rejection of Christianity.

The brilliance of the Pope's encyclical is that he is also a German philosopher and reads German philosophy. He knows that the great German thinkers, upon whom, in fact, most of modern thought depends, simply bring back in Christian ideas, only now in some distorted form. They try to locate "eternal life" down the ages. They try to escape death by projecting ages of man to 200 years. They try to imitate paradise by ecological fantasies of eternal earth.

Q: Can you briefly philosophic sketch how our contemporary world has distorted the vision of man? How does this idea of "progress" fit into the Pope's analysis?

Father Schall: In the beginning, modern ideology often proposed a humanism that was supposedly independent of revelation. Now, classical philosophy is independent of revelation, even though, as the Pope said in the Regensburg Lecture, that already in the Old and the New Testaments we find ideas of philosophy and revelation that are directly related to each other, the principle ones being the notions of truth, love, being and happiness.

What revelation argues in the face of modern thought and politics is that "humanism" has gradually become more and more "inhuman." Chesterton often predicted this would happen. The concepts of the length of human life in terms of years, of love in terms of sex, of happiness in terms of individual creation of its own ends are aberrations, much like those found in book five of Plato's "Republic," which in the name of justice sought to eliminate the family and to produce perfect children by a combination of genetics and state education.

"Progress" is an idea coming from post-Enlightenment thought. J.B. Bury's famous book "The Idea of Progress" reads like a book on salvation history. I like your expression, "How our contemporary world distorted the vision of man."

The theological virtue of hope, the subject of this encyclical, is precisely the virtue that most directly involves modern philosophy whose main claim to fame is that it can in fact produce a better "humanism." Taking it at its own word, the Pope systematically shows that without God it is impossible, really, to give actual human men and women any hope for themselves and their kind.

The Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the body, something that has intimations in Aristotle's notion of friendship, is the only real doctrine that addresses itself to the salvation of each individual in his own particular being, but within the notion of a community of love and friends, which is what we all want. What we hope for in the Christian sense is precisely that we see God "face to face." We already seek to know one another '"face to face." There is no guarantee that this condition can ever be realized outside of the hope that God exists and has saved us. We must include our sins and destiny.

The Pope reestablishes the importance of purgatory as a sensible position precisely because he knows, as we do, that few of us die with absolutely pure souls. There is nothing irrational about this much-maligned doctrine that alone addresses the fact of sins of the past and their proper atonement.

One almost has to laugh at this encyclical that boldly takes the eschatological doctrines -- heaven, hell, death, purgatory -- and shows us that they have direct meaning on our lives and culture. The encyclical is called "hope" but it is also "bold." It is bold precisely because it is intelligent and aware of the meaning of modern ideologies. Modern thought is, as was much of ancient thought after the Resurrection, an effort to avoid the truth of revelation. We cannot ever prevent anyone from rejecting this truth. Nor do we want to do so. This is what free will is about. The truth of God and of his purpose for man in the world must be chosen as well as understood.

What "Spe Salvi" does is spell out in lines too clear to miss the implications of rejecting the "eschaton" as it is presented in Christian faith. It is no doubt true that these doctrines must be understood accurately. Much of the heresy in history arises from a misunderstanding of what is actually taught.

This encyclical is a representation of what is actually taught. This is why it is so astonishing and revolutionary in itself.

Our eyes have not seen what our ears have heard because we do not want to receive what we are as a gift. We want to make what we are. And when we do, we find that we create mostly monsters. The Pope also sketches the monsters in this encyclical.

Theories of secession

some resources compiled by Carol Moore @ Vermont Commons

Michael Pakaluk responds to some objections

The objections:

The following difficulties were sent by a friend. I'll reply later.

"(1) Your parenthetical reference to 1114b27 suggests you think the definition in II.6 only states the genos of virtue. This is problematic. At the end of II.5 Aristotle claims to have stated what virtue is in respect of its genos, namely that it is a hexis. Then, at the beginning of II.6, he claims that this isn’t enough: we also, he insists, need to say what sort of hexis virtue is, and he then proceeds to discuss the Milo example, etc. Then, notably, shortly after the definition in II.6, he claims that the definition provides virtue’s substance (ousia), i.e. (epexegetic kai) the account that states the essence (ton logon ton to ti ên einai legonta) (1107a6-7). He certainly seems to think he has given a definition that supplies the essence, not merely the genos.

"(2) I don’t agree that ‘what counts as too much or too little?’ has not been raised (as you claim in the previous post). That seems to me to be the force of the Milo example. When read as Lesley Brown wisely guides us to read it, i.e. that it is the trainer who aims at the mean, not Milo, we can see that there has already been a tacit reference to the phronimos: just as how much Milo should eat would be determined by the trainer who follows right reason, so too what is intermediate for us (as human beings) is determined by the moral expert (sc. the phronimos) who follows right reason. But, on your account, the phronimos determines the definition of virtue, not anything about what is intermediate.

"(3) In fact, the account of virtue that is given at 1114b26ff is prima facie problematic for you, since Aristotle there claims that part of the account he has already provided is that virtue is ‘as right reason states’ (29-30). But, on your account of the definition, he hasn’t mentioned this at all, since you take the ROT’s ‘this being determined by reason’ to mean: ‘when virtue is marked out by its formal definition’."

And the response:

My replies to the three difficulties sent by a friend.

A couple of general points. First, I don’t claim that interpretations of the passage offered in the past are impossible; I claim simply that my alternative is more elegant, makes sense of everything, and 'clicks'.

If what I have proposed is correct, then the earlier interpretations of the bracketed words should be put aside, then, on the precise grounds that they are based on a complete misunderstanding of what those words are meant to say. --A misunderstanding is not a less preferable interpretation.

(By the way, this is not to say that other texts in NE, apart from the 'definition', aren’t relevant for figuring out the role of reason or phronēsis in moral virtues.)

Second, of course orthos logos gets mentioned before the definition, and I overstated the point if I suggested that this was not so. However, I would count the definition’s reference to virtue as an ‘intermediate trait’ (mesotēs) as sufficiently capturing this, i.e. insofar as virtue is being defined as a trait and not with respect to particular actions.

Some specific points.

1. My mention of genos was in reply to an anticipated objection. Someone might have said that if the bracketed bits are interpreted as being about the definition, rather than within it, this would make the definition too general, and perhaps, then, not serviceable as definition at all. I simply wanted to point out that later Aristotle, when he restates just these elements of this 'general' definition, calls it a definition of a genos, suggests that it needs greater determination, and then proceeds to do so through an examination of the particular virtues. (The two uses of genos wouldn't be inconsistent, because that is a relative term.)

2. As regards the use of the term phronimos, note that it costs Aristotle much labor in book VI to get clear about what this term means. One might wonder, then, whether he thought himself in a position to employ it in a somewhat technical sense ('a man who possesses the virtues of practical reason of phronesis') in book II. On the other hand, in its only other occurrence before book VI (I.5.1095b28), it is used in a non-technical sense ('someone with good insight into character and virtue').

3. See my point above about my appearing to overstate something. As regards 1114b27-30: note that there orthos logos is assigned a role only in relation to actions, not traits of character (consistent with Gomez-Lobo's observation about that it is said to 'state' or 'order' or 'dictate' the meson of an action, not the mesotes which is a virtue). So that later passage is actually consistent with my interpretation of the II.6 definition and tends to support it, rather that count against it.

(Something else that might be mentioned is Aristotle’s consistent use elsewhere of terms such as legei and keleuei for the activity of logos or orthos logos. That it play a role of defining the mean seems not to be acknowledged elsewhere. Admittedly ‘determine’ may in English be used in the sense of ‘discover’—but I take it that that is not the natural or obvious sense in the II.6 definition.)

Suppl(e)mental

website started by Fr. Powell, OP for his seminar on post-metaphysical theologies.

So is the problem one of logic, a stubborness to recognize the validity analogical naming and a preference for pure univocity?

Msgr. McCarthy on Genesis

IS THE GENESIS ACCOUNT OF CREATION LITERALLY TRUE?

by John F. McCarthy

Dr. Pakaluk's Solution

The Solution to the Well-Defined Problem

My advice for how to interpret that difficult passage in Nic. Eth. II.6? Simply continue reading beyond the passage-- since then it becomes clear, I think, that the words which I place in brackets below are not meant to be part of the definition at all, but rather a comment upon the definition:

Ἔστιν ἄρα ἡ ἀρετὴ ἕξις προαιρετική, ἐν μεσότητι οὖσα τῇ πρὸς ἡμᾶς [ὡρισμένη λόγῳ καὶ ὡς ἂν ὁ φρόνιμος ὁρίσειεν].

If we bracket those words for the moment, then the definition of virtue given here (which is said, btw, to state the genos only, at 1114b27), is of a trait (ἕξις) which disposes someone to choose in a certain way (προαιρετική), and which is intermediate (ἐν μεσότητι οὖσα) as between two other states, in a manner relative to us (τῇ πρὸς ἡμᾶς). As Taylor points out in his commentary, that and precisely that is what Aristotle had established in his discussion which precedes the definition.

But what is the reason for the bracketed words? They comment upon the definition, and Aristotle gives the sense of that comment in the lines that immediately follow.

First Aristotle clarifies his definition with a couple of glosses:

μεσότης δὲ δύο κακιῶν, τῆς μὲν καθ' ὑπερβολὴν τῆς δὲ κατ' ἔλλειψιν· καὶ ἔτι τῷ τὰς μὲν ἐλλείπειν τὰς δ' ὑπερβάλλειν τοῦ δέοντος ἔν τε τοῖς πάθεσι καὶ ἐν ταῖς πράξεσι, τὴν δ' ἀρετὴν τὸ μέσον καὶ εὑρίσκειν καὶ αἱρεῖσθαι.

It is a trait intermediate between two vices one of which is so by excess and the other by defect. And they are so because they either fall short of or exceed what they should, in emotions or in actions, whereas virtue identifies and chooses the intermediate mark.

The sentence which next follows is, I think, a gloss as well on the bracketed words:

διὸ κατὰ μὲν τὴν οὐσίαν καὶ τὸν λόγον τὸν τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι λέγοντα μεσότης ἐστὶν ἡ ἀρετή, κατὰ δὲ τὸ ἄριστον καὶ τὸ εὖ ἀκρότης.

That is why, with respect to its nature and the definition that states its essence, virtue is an intermediate trait, whereas with respect to what is best and what is excellent, it is a high point.

The reason for this last gloss is that Aristotle is perfectly well aware that, to anyone who has actually striven to be virtuous, it will seem strange and even paradoxical to say that virtue is something intermediate. Rather, from the point of view of someone striving to be good (κατὰ δὲ τὸ ἄριστον καὶ τὸ εὖ), virtue looks like a nearly unattainable pinnacle. (Think, e.g. of the Congressional Medal of Honor, awarded it is said to "the bravest of the brave", for those who distinguish themselves "…conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty...". Nothing intermediate about that! And there are lots of other examples.)

So Aristotle thinks that he has to defend his definition. He therefore says that, in fact, as regards the nature of a virtue, and considering it formally (i.e. with a view to its logos), each virtue, it turns out, falls between two opposing vices. Someone immersed in the task of trying to act well might not notice this; yet this will be how a discerning person will define it.

And this is exactly what he had said in the bracketed words, and so the text should be translated:

Virtue is a trait (ἕξις) which disposes someone to choose in a certain way (προαιρετική), and which is intermediate (ἐν μεσότητι οὖσα) as between two other states, in a manner relative to us (τῇ πρὸς ἡμᾶς)-- that is, when virtue is marked out by its formal definition (ὡρισμένη λόγῳ ), and in the way that a person with insight into practical matters would mark it out (ὡς ἂν ὁ φρόνιμος ὁρίσειεν).

This explains perfectly the reading of the codices -- the key is to see that the problematic words are not in the definition but about the definition--

-- and it also shows why all of those dozens of articles on the passage should quietly be pushed aside and forgotten.

Michael Pakluk's solution

The Solution to the Well-Defined Problem

Michael Pakaluk, More on the Problem

More on the Problem

John Médaille, Distributism and Henry George

Distributism and Henry George

Michael Pakaluk introduces the problem of virtue and the mean

A Well-Defined Problem

An introduction to Georgism

by Lindy Davis, the Program Director of The Henry George Institute and an editor of The Georgist Journal, for Distributist Review

Rick Sarkasian on Catholic Answers livw

I first posted about him here.

Here's his bio from CA:

BIOGRAPHY: Rick Sarkisian, Ph.D. was born and raised in Fresno, California, an area rich in farming and agriculture. He is founder and president of Valley Rehabilitation Services, Inc. specializing in vocational and career guidance since 1976. He earned his BS and MBA in Business Administration from California State University- Fresno, and his MA and Ph.D. in Education from the University of California at Berkeley.

He is author of LIFEWORK: FINDING YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE, THE MISSION OF THE CATHOLIC FAMILY, THE LIFEWORK INVENTORY, THE DRIVE FACTOR, THE LIFEWORK JOURNAL, NOT YOUR AVERAGE JOE – THE REAL ST. JOSEPH AND THE TOOLS FOR REAL MANHOOD IN THE HOME, THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD, TOOLS FROM JOSEPH’S WORKSHOP and THE LIFEWORK WORKBOOK. He has produced a number of Catholic videos, including JOSEPH – THE MAN CLOSEST TO CHRIST and COMPLETELY CHRIST’S – THE RADICAL CALL OF THE CONSECRATED LIFE. He also writes for various Catholic publications, including Religious Life, Lay Witness, Guardian of the Redeemer and Vocations and Prayer magazine.

He has been active in Catholic scouting and works closely with the Oblates of St. Joseph, California Province, promoting devotion to St. Joseph as well as the Institute on Religious Life in helping to form a culture of vocations.

Rick has appeared on EWTN in "The Abundant Life" series hosted by Johnnette Benkovic and "The Carpenter Shop" with Steve Wood and has been a guest on a number of Catholic radio programs. He is also a conference speaker on vocations, life-purpose, families and St. Joseph.

Rick and his wife Cheryl have been married 26 years and have five children.

Audio:

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I'll have to listen and see if this is the popularization of the NNL for which I saw an an/book.

John Zmirak, Brain Science and Morality

Brain Science and Morality

Zenit: Vatican Aide: Heart of Ecumenism Is Prayer

Vatican Aide: Heart of Ecumenism Is Prayer

Father Lombardi Comments on Christian Unity

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 20, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Ecumenism is prayer, the director of the Vatican's press office said in commenting on the theme of 100th Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi analyzed the theme "Pray Without Ceasing" on the most recent episode of the Vatican Television weekly program "Octave Dies." The week of prayer ends Jan. 25.

In these 100 years, he explained, "the ecumenical movement has followed a long path, but its innermost soul always remains prayer -- because the unity of Christians can only be a gift of God, to be asked for with constancy and insistence."

The priest continued: "Prayer gives us the strength to let ourselves be formed by the action of God, which purifies us and gives us his grace to obey his plan for salvation.

"Prayer changes our mentality and it helps Christians to consider the other brothers, sons of the same Father. Prayer educates and accompanies, proposes and transmits the truth, the light, the life, the love that is Christ, Savior of humanity."

"Observing the week in January has become a common practice of all the Christian confessions," he added, "and it is of great importance for reconciliation, brotherhood and unity among Christians, realizing the prayer of Jesus: 'that all be one.'"

Father Lombardi said the theme "makes it clear that the life of the Christian community is really exultant and prospers only through a life of prayer, which contributes to its spiritual, moral, social and cultural growth, and constructs bridges of love, of peace and of hope."

"A deeper and more true union with God," he added, "is the surest way to rediscover and recreate union among all the believers in Christ."

Zenit: Pray Without Ceasing for the Conversion of Hearts

Pray Without Ceasing for the Conversion of Hearts

Meditation for Day 3 of Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 19, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is the commentary prepared jointly by the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity and the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches for Sunday, the third day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.


* * *


"Admonish the idlers, encourage the faint-hearted" (1 Thessalonians 5:14)

"The repentance of Nineveh" (Jonah 3:1-10)
"Create a pure heart in me" (Psalms 51:8-15)

"Encourage the faint-hearted" (1 Thessalonians 5:(12a)13b-18)
"A house of prayer" (Mark 11:15-17)

Commentary

In the beginning and at the heart of the ecumenical enterprise can be found a pressing call to repentance and to conversion. We sometimes need to know how to call each other to task within our Christian communities as Paul invites us to do in the first epistle to the Thessalonians. If one or the other causes division, he should be rebuked; if some are afraid of all that a difficult reconciliation could imply, they should be encouraged.

Why hide the fact? If divisions between Christians exist, it is also through a lack of will to be committed to ecumenical dialogue and even, simply, to prayer for unity.

The Bible tells us how God sent Jonah to rebuke Nineveh and how the whole city repented. In the same way, Christian communities must listen to the Word of God and repent. In the course of the last century, we have not been lacking in prophets of unity who have made Christians aware of the unfaithfulness manifest in our divisions and reminding them of the urgency of reconciliation.

In the image of the vigorous intervention of Jesus in the temple, the call to Christian reconciliation can seriously call into question our narrow self-understanding. We too have a great need of purification. We need to know how to rid our hearts of all that prevents them from being a true house of prayer, concerned for the unity of all peoples.

Prayer

Lord you desire truth deep-down within us: in the secret of our hearts, you teach us wisdom. Teach us to encourage each other along the road to unity. Show us the conversion necessary for reconciliation. Give to each of us a new, truly ecumenical heart, we pray you. Amen.

Zenit: Pray Always, Trusting God Alone

Pray Always, Trusting God Alone

Meditation for Day 2 of Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 18, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is the commentary prepared jointly by the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity and the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches for Saturday, the second day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
* * *

Give Thanks in All Circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5: 18)

"The Lord indeed is God" (1 Kings 18:20-40)
"The Lord is my shepherd" (Psalm 23)
"Give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5: (12a)13b-18)
"Father, I thank you for having heard me" (John 11:17-44)

Commentary

Praying is rooted in the trust that God is powerful and faithful. God alone is the one who holds all in his hands, the present and the future. His word is credible and truthful.

The story of Elijah in 1 Kings impressively demonstrates the oneness of God. Elijah berates the apostates who worship Baal, who is not answering their prayers. Yet when Elijah prays to the one God of Israel, the response is immediate and miraculous. Realizing this, the people turned their hearts back to God.

Psalm 23 is a profound confession of trust. It depicts a person who believes that God guides him and stays with him also in the darkness of life and in situations of desolation and oppression.

We may find circumstances that may be difficult, even turbulent. We may have moments of despair and resignation. Sometimes we feel that God is hidden. But he is not absent. He will manifest his power to liberate in the midst of human struggle. Thus we give thanks to him in all circumstances.

The raising of Lazarus from the dead is one of the most dramatic scenes recorded in John’s gospel. It is a manifestation of Christ’s power to break the bonds of death and an anticipation of the new creation. In the presence of the people Jesus prays aloud, thanking his Father for the mighty deeds he will do. God’s saving work is accomplished through Christ so that all will come to believe.

The ecumenical pilgrimage is a way in which we realize the wondrous deeds of God. Christian communities which have been separated from each other come together. They discover their unity in Christ and come to understand that they are each part of one church and need one another.

The vision of unity can be darkened. It is sometimes threatened by frustrations and tensions. The question may arise whether we Christians are truly called to stay together. Our continuous praying sustains us as we look to God and trust in him. We are confident that he is still at work in us and will lead us to the light of his victory. His kingdom begins with our reconciliation and growing unity.

Prayer

God of all creation, hear your children as we pray. Help us keep our faith and trust in you. Teach us to give thanks in all circumstances, relying on your mercy. Give us truth and wisdom, that your church may arise to new life in one fellowship. You alone are our hope. Amen.

B16 on faith and reason

17.1.2008
The University of Rome Closes its Doors to the Pope. Here's the Lesson They Didn't Want to Hear
A group of teachers and students forced Benedict XVI to cancel his visit to "La Sapienza." But the professor pope did not give up: he made public, a day early, the address that he had written for the occasion. It is the follow-up to the formidable lecture in Regensburg, on the ultimate questions of faith and reason

Go to link for the text of the pope's address.

Zenit: That We May Be One, and Never Lose Heart

That We May Be One, and Never Lose Heart

Meditation for Day 1 of Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 17, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is the commentary prepared jointly by the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity and the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches for the first day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which begins Friday.

* * *

Pray always,
"Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Isaiah 55:6-9 "Seek the Lord while he may be found"
Psalm 34 "I sought the Lord, and he answered me"
1 Thessalonians 5:(12a), 13b-18 "Pray without ceasing"
Luke 18:1-8 "To pray always and not to lose heart"

Commentary

Paul writes, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." His epistle is written to a faithful community that is anxious about death. Many good and believing brothers and sisters have "fallen asleep" before the Lord's return to bring all into his resurrection. What will happen to these faithful dead? What will happen to the living? Paul assures them that the dead shall be raised with the living and exhorts them to "pray without ceasing." What does it mean to pray without ceasing? We find insights to answer this question in today's readings. Our whole lives are to be a seeking of the Lord, convinced that in seeking, we shall find.

In the midst of the exile, when all seemed hopeless and dry, the prophet Isaiah proclaims, "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near." Even in exile, the Lord is near and urging his people to turn to him in prayer and to follow his commandments so that they may know his mercy and pardon. Psalm 34 affirms the prophetic conviction that the Lord will answer those who call upon him, and adds praise to the call to pray without ceasing.

In Luke's gospel, Jesus teaches his disciples with the parable of the widow seeking justice from a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. The story serves as a reminder of the need for constancy in prayer -- "to pray always and not to lose heart" -- and for confidence that prayer is answered: "Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?"

As Christians in search of unity, we reflect on these readings to find "the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." It is Christ who lives within us. Our call to pray without ceasing becomes part of his eternal intercession to the Father: "That all may be one, ... that the world may believe." The unity we seek is unity 'as Christ wills' and the 'octave' observance of Christian prayer for unity reflects the biblical notion of completion, that some day our prayer will be answered.

Unity is a God-given gift to the church. It is also a call of Christians to live out this gift. Prayer for Christian unity is the source from which flows all human endeavor to manifest full visible unity. Many are the fruits of 100 years of an octave of prayer for Christian unity. Many are also the barriers that still divide Christians and their churches. If we are not to lose heart, we must be steadfast in prayer so that we may seek the Lord and his will in all we do and all we are.

Prayer

Lord of unity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we pray without ceasing that we may be one, as you are one. Father, hear us as we seek you. Christ, draw us to the unity that is your will for us. Spirit, may we never lose heart. Amen.

Latest Proceedings of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas

I hadn't been to Thomistica.net for a while, but on my last visit I found this post:
Proceedings of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas

The address of the PAST: Casina Pio IV, 00120 Città del Vaticano, Email:past AT acdscience.va

Doctor Communis n.s. 10/1-2 (2007)

• G. Cottier, Loi naturelle et Décalogue
• R. Cessario, Saint Thomas and the Enculturation of the Natural Law : Doing Moral Theology on Earth
• U. Galeazzi, Sulla prossimità spirituale a Tommaso d’Aquino nel pensiero di Charles Tayler. Aspetti antropologici ed etici
• F. Jacques, Thomas d’Aquin et Emmanuel Kant: Loi naturelle et impératif catégorique. Et après ?
• J. Merecki, La visione etica di Karol Wojtyla
• R. Hittinger, John Rawls : The Basis of Social Justice and Intercultural Dialogue in a Globalized World
• H. Seidl, Etica di responsabilità in D. Hume e H. Jonas
• R. McInerny, Ethics and Virtue Ethics
• L. Clavell, Verità e libertà
• R. Ferrara, Legge naturale e legge nuova nel recente Magistero e nelle teologia di San Tommaso
• B. Mondin, Cultura e valori per una società globalizzata
• V. Possenti, Stato, diritto e religione. Il dialogo tra J. Habermas e J. Ratzinger
• I. Biffi, Gesú Cristo “misura” dell’ uomo in Tommaso d’Aquino
• M. Beuchot, La polémica de Las Casas con Sépulveda. Su dependencia respecto de la Escuela de Salamanca

Roger Scruton

Roger Scruton - Writer and Philosopher
Roger Scruton: Internet Bibliography
Archive of Roger Scruton's publications


Roger Scruton on Immigration, Multiculturalism and the Need to ...
Why I became a conservative by Roger Scruton
Right Reason: The Joy of Conservatism: An Interview with Roger ...
What Ever Happened to Reason? by Roger Scruton, City Journal ...
A Righter Shade of Green
Kitsch and the Modern Predicament by Roger Scruton, City Journal ...
Essays: 'The sacred and the human' by Roger Scruton | Prospect ...
'The sacred and the human', Prospect Magazine issue 137 August ...
Salon Feature | On good authority
Art, Beauty, and Judgment

Michael Oakeshott, On Human Conduct

On Human Conduct by Michael Joseph Oakeshott - 1975 - 342 pagesbooks.google.com - About this book - More book results »

Oxford University Press: On Human Conduct: Michael Oakeshott
Amazon.com: On Human Conduct (Clarendon Paperbacks): Books ...

Home Page of the Michael Oakeshott Association
Michael Oakeshott: An Introduction: The Independent Review: The ...
Michael Oakeshott - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michael Oakeshott and the Political Economy of Freedom - The World ...

Indian logic

Indian logic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Indian Logic Forum :: Index
Logic and Ontology in Ancient India. A survey of Contemporary Readings
The Hindu : Studies in Indian logic
E-sangha, Buddhist Forum and Buddhism Forum -> Indian Logic Forum
Formalisation of ancient logics: Dignaga
ILKB home
Nyaya-kosa - Dictionary of Indian Logic
Indian Logic: A Reader - Google Books Result
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Amazon.com: Universals: Studies in Indian Logic and Linguistics ...
Staal, Frits: Universals
A System of Indian Logic: The Nyana Theory of Inference - Google Books Result
Logic, Language, and Reality: An Introduction to Indian ... - Google Books Result
Reason and Tradition in Indian Thought: An Essay on the Nature of ... - Google Books Result
Indian Logic: A Reader
A System of Indian Logic: The Nyana Theory of Inference
Is Indian logic nonmonotonic? Philosophy East and West Find ...
Formal structures in Indian logic
Amazon.com: The Character of Logic in India (Suny Series in Indian ...
Internet Archive: Details: A Primer Of Indian Logic
A History of Indian Logic : Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Schools
A History of Indian Logic : Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Schools ...

[FOM] Chinese and Indian logic
Phenomenology East and West Journal Indian Logic Forum
IngentaConnect Indian Logic and Indian Syllogism

Friedrich August von Hayek

Biography of FA Hayek
Friedrich August von Hayek - Curriculum Vitae
Friedrich von Hayek
Friedrich Hayek - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
PBS: Think Tank: Transcript for "Freidrich Hayek"
Freidrich von Hayek / The Use of Knowledge in Society
Hayek Page -- The Friedrich Hayek Scholars' Page (Hayek Center for Multdisciplinary Research)
FRIEDRICH AUGUST VON HAYEK
THE POLITICAL THOUGHT OF FRIEDRICH A. HAYEK
Why I Am Not a Conservative by F. A. Hayek
Why I Am Not a Conservative - Institut HAYEK

Find "The Principles of a Liberal Social Order."


The Road to Serfdom
The Road to Serfdom
The Illustrated Road to Serfdom
IEA Road to Serfdom
Friedrich Hayek : The Road to Serfdom by Aruni Mukherjee
Reason Magazine - The Road from Serfdom
Hayek, F. A.: The Road to Serfdom

Hoppe, Hans-Hermann
Hans-Hermann Hoppe: Archives

Avery Cardinal Dulles, Who Can Be Saved?

From the February 2008 issue of First Things

Who Can Be Saved?
by Avery Cardinal Dulles

The separation of right from good

Not right, ius, but right, rectus, as in "right reason," "That action is right," and the opposite of wrong.

Often relativism arises when one begins to doubt one's standards for right action, or fails to understand why an action is deemed to be right, how "rightness" is tied to good. The meaning of rectus is straight. So an action is right (or good) if it achieves the good that we should be aiming at, and thus is "straight."

Alisdair MacIntyre, following Elizabeth Anscombe, offers a different explanation of how this separation came to be, by looking at the history of moral philosophy. While there may be some value in his approach, I do question whether the musings of a select few really had that much of an impact on the populace. (Still, his explanation of the purpose of deontologists (primarily Kant)
to find some sort of basis of right in how reason works or applies itself to human action does make sense.)

I tend to think that this separation in the general population can be explained rather by an incomplete moral development, and the loss of tradition and obedience to the proper teaching authority(-ies). When we are growing up, we are told that certain things are right and wrong, and we act in accordance with the rules that we have been given by others. But as we mature we seek the reasons behind these standards, and if we do not get the answers, then some may be tempted to reject them as being "irrational" and not binding.

Now some may be able to intuit that some actions are right and wrong because they lead to or away from some good, and they can do this without the need for moral science. But if they do not understand moral reasoning, they may be lead astray when confronted with consequentialism, failing to see how right reason is not the same as consequentialist reasoning.

If the virtue of obedience is emphasized, and tied to charity, then a society can continue to flourish, even if most people are not educated in moral science or moral theology. But once the teaching authority of the Church is rejected, the value of tradition separate from authority cannot prevent those who are more daring from supplanting traditional norms with their own desires.

More on this topic to come, perhaps...

Frank Purcell, Libertarians in Heaven

Libertarians in Heaven
Is Rosmini a liberal? And if he is, does that mean liberalism is reconcilable with Catholic teaching or traditional or classical politics?

Zenit: Benedict XVI's Homily on World Day of Peace

Benedict XVI's Homily on World Day of Peace


"The Natural Family … Is a Cradle of Life and Love"




VATICAN CITY, JAN. 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the homily Benedict XVI delivered in St. Peter's Basilica on Jan. 1, Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and the 41st World Day of Peace.

* * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today, we are beginning a new year and Christian hope takes us by the hand; let us begin it by invoking divine Blessings upon it and imploring, through the intercession of Mary, Mother of God, the gift of peace: for our families, for our cities, for the whole world. With this hope, I greet all of you present here, starting with the distinguished Ambassadors of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See who have gathered at this celebration on the occasion of the World Day of Peace. I greet Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, my Secretary of State, and Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino and all members of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. I am particularly grateful to them for their commitment to spread the Message for the World Day of Peace whose theme this year is: "The human family, a community of peace".

Peace. In the First Reading from the Book of Numbers we heard the invocation: "The Lord... give you peace" (6:26); may the Lord grant peace to each one of you, to your families and to the whole world.
We all aspire to live in peace but true peace, the peace proclaimed by the Angels on Christmas night, is not merely a human triumph or the fruit of political agreements; it is first and foremost a divine gift to be ceaselessly implored, and at the same time a commitment to be carried forward patiently, always remaining docile to the Lord's commands.

Inspired by family values
This year, in my Message for today's World Day of Peace, I wanted to highlight the close relationship that exists between the family and building peace in the world. The natural family, founded on the marriage of a man and a woman, is "a "cradle of life and love'" and "the first and indispensable teacher of peace". For this very reason the family is "the primary "agency' of peace", and "the denial or even the restriction of the rights of the family, by obscuring the truth about man, threatens the very foundations of peace" (cf. Nos. 1-5).
Since humanity is a "great family", if it wants to live in peace it cannot fail to draw inspiration from those values on which the family community is based and stands. The providential coincidence of various recurrences spur us this year to make an even greater effort to achieve peace in the world.

Sixty years ago, in 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations published the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights"; 40 years ago my venerable Predecessor Paul VI celebrated the first World Day of Peace; this year, in addition, we will be commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Holy See's adoption of the "Charter of the Rights of the Family". "In the light of these significant anniversaries" -- I am repeating here what I wrote precisely at the end of the Message -- "I invite every man and woman to have a more lively sense of belonging to the one human family, and to strive to make human coexistence increasingly reflect this conviction, which is essential for the establishment of true and lasting peace" [No. 15]. 
Our thoughts now turn spontaneously to Our Lady, whom we invoke today as the Mother of God. 
It was Pope Paul VI who moved to 1 January the Feast of the Divine Motherhood of Mary, which was formerly celebrated on 11 October.

Indeed, even before the liturgical reform that followed the Second Vatican Council, the memorial of the circumcision of Jesus on the eighth day after his birth -- as a sign of submission to the law, his official insertion in the Chosen People -- used to be celebrated on the first day of the year and the Feast of the Name of Jesus was celebrated the following Sunday.
We perceive a few traces of these celebrations in the Gospel passage that has just been proclaimed, in which St Luke says that eight days after his birth the Child was circumcised and was given the name "Jesus", "the name given by the Angel before he was conceived in [his Mother's] ... womb" (Luke 2:21). Today's feast, therefore, as well as being a particularly significant Marian feast, also preserves a strongly Christological content because, we might say, before the Mother, it concerns the Son, Jesus, true God and true Man.

Mary's immense privilege

The Apostle Paul refers to the mystery of the divine motherhood of Mary, the "Theotokos," in his Letter to the Galatians. "When the time had fully come", he writes, "God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law" (4:4).
We find the mystery of the Incarnation of the Divine Word and the Divine Motherhood of Mary summed up in a few words: the Virgin's great privilege is precisely to be Mother of the Son who is God.
The most logical and proper place for this Marian feast is therefore eight days after Christmas. Indeed, in the night of Bethlehem, when "she gave birth to her first-born son" (Luke 2:7), the prophesies concerning the Messiah were fulfilled. 
"The virgin shall be with child and bear a son", Isaiah had foretold (7:14); "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son", the Angel Gabriel said to Mary (Luke 1:31); and again, an Angel of the Lord, the Evangelist Matthew recounts, appeared to Joseph in a dream to reassure him and said: "Do not fear to take Mary for your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son" (Matthew 1:20-21).

The title "Mother of God", together with the title "Blessed Virgin", is the oldest on which all the other titles with which Our Lady was venerated are based, and it continues to be invoked from generation to generation in the East and in the West. A multitude of hymns and a wealth of prayers of the Christian tradition refer to the mystery of her divine motherhood, such as, for example, a Marian antiphon of the Christmas season, "Alma Redemptoris mater," with which we pray in these words: "Tu quae genuisti, natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem, Virgo prius ac posterius -- You, in the wonder of all creation, have brought forth your Creator, Mother ever virgin".
Dear brothers and sisters, let us today contemplate Mary, ever-virgin Mother of the Only-Begotten Son of the Father; let us learn from her to welcome the Child who was born for us in Bethlehem. If we recognize in the Child born of her the Eternal Son of God and accept him as our one Saviour, we can be called and we really are children of God: sons in the Son. The Apostle writes: "God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons" (Galatians 4:4).

Same but different Child

The Evangelist Luke repeats several times that Our Lady meditated silently on these extraordinary events in which God had involved her. We also heard this in the short Gospel passage that the Liturgy presents to us today. "Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). 
The Greek verb used, "sumbállousa," literally means "piecing together" and makes us think of a great mystery to be discovered little by little. Although the Child lying in a manger looks like all children in the world, at the same time he is totally different: he is the Son of God, he is God, true God and true man. This mystery -- the Incarnation of the Word and the divine Motherhood of Mary -- is great and certainly far from easy to understand with the human mind alone. Yet, by learning from Mary, we can understand with our hearts what our eyes and minds do not manage to perceive or contain on their own. Indeed, this is such a great gift that only through faith are we granted to accept it, while not entirely understanding it.

And it is precisely on this journey of faith that Mary comes to meet us as our support and guide.
She is mother because she brought forth Jesus in the flesh; she is mother because she adhered totally to the Father's will.
St Augustine wrote: "The divine motherhood would have been of no value to her had Christ not borne her in his heart, with a destiny more fortunate than the moment when she conceived him in the flesh" ("De Sancta Virginitate," 3, 3). And in her heart Mary continued to treasure, to "piece together" the subsequent events of which she was to be a witness and protagonist, even to the death on the Cross and the Resurrection of her Son Jesus.

Dear brothers and sisters, it is only by pondering in the heart, in other words, by piecing together and finding unity in all we experience, that, following Mary, we can penetrate the mystery of a God who was made man out of love and who calls us to follow him on the path of love; a love to be expressed daily by generous service to the brethren.

May the new year which we are confidently beginning today be a time in which to advance in that knowledge of the heart, which is the wisdom of saints. Let us pray, as we heard in the First Reading, that the Lord may "make his face to shine" upon us, "and be gracious" to us (cf. Numbers 6:24-7) and bless us. We may be certain of it: If we never tire of seeking his Face, if we never give in to the temptation of discouragement and doubt, if also among the many difficulties we encounter we always remain anchored to him, we will experience the power of his love and his mercy. May the fragile Child who today the Virgin shows to the world make us peacemakers, witnesses of him, the Prince of Peace. Amen!

[Translation of the Italian original by L'Osservatore Romano]

Mind in the Heart

an Orthodox blog

From the post An Introduction to the Russian Orthodox Church by Fr. Andrew Louth, Fr. Louth's introduction

Fr. Wallace on the Dominicans and the Intellectual Life

From the Dominican House of Studies on Blip TV:

The Dominican Order and the Intellectual Life
Wednesday, January 02, 2008, 7:43:38 PM
An interview with Father William Augustine Wallace, O.P., a Dominican priest of the Province of St. Joseph (Eastern Province) filmed in 1982 at the Dominican House of Studies. Video shot by Dr. Gavin Colvert, nephew of the interviewer, Fr. Antoninus Wall, O.P., a friar of the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, the Western Dominican Province. Edited at the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D.C.

Comments
Dhspriory-TheDominicanOrderAndTheIntellectualLife919.mov

Related:
Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D.C.
for more on their building campaign: Theological Library and Academic Center
Priory of the Immaculate Conception, The Dominican House of Studies
Dominican Province of St. Joseph - Home
Province of St. Joseph blog

Rudolf Voderholzer, "The Cardinal"

on Henri de Lubac

Magister's latest

The Cardinal Writes, the Prince Responds. The Factors that Divide the Pope from the Muslims
The contrast is not only one of faith. It also concerns the achievements of the Enlightenment: from religious freedom to equality between men and women. The Catholic Church has made these its own, but Islam has not. Will they be able to discuss this, when Benedict XVI and the Muslims of the letter of the 138 meet together?