A puzzle regarding Faith and authority

Aquinas on unbelief:

Unbelief may be taken in two ways: first, by way of pure negation, so that a man be called an unbeliever, merely because he has not the faith. Secondly, unbelief may be taken by way of opposition to the faith; in which sense a man refuses to hear the faith, or despises it, according to Isaiah 53:1: "Who hath believed our report?" It is this that completes the notion of unbelief, and it is in this sense that unbelief is a sin. (ST II II 10, 1)

and

Unbelief, in so far as it is a sin, arises from pride, through which man is unwilling to subject his intellect to the rules of faith, and to the sound interpretation of the Fathers. Hence Gregory says (Moral. xxxi, 45) that "presumptuous innovations arise from vainglory." (ST II II 10, 1 ad 3)

The puzzle that I would like to work on: What is the exact relationship between authority and Tradition and the supernatural virtue of Faith? If the content of the Faith is communicated through Sacred Tradition, can one reject the divinely-given authority of the Church and still have the true theological virtue of faith? And is it possible to accept that there is a divinely-instituted authority while misidentifying who holds that authority? In other words, is that error compatible with the virtue of faith? Can someone who truly believes in sola scriptura have the virtue of faith?

Aquinas on the hatred of God:

As shown above (I-II, 29, 1), hatred is a movement of the appetitive power, which power is not set in motion save by something apprehended. Now God can be apprehended by man in two ways; first, in Himself, as when He is seen in His Essence; secondly, in His effects, when, to wit, "the invisible things" of God . . . "are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made" (Romans 1:20). Now God in His Essence is goodness itself, which no man can hate--for it is natural to good to be loved. Hence it is impossible for one who sees God in His Essence, to hate Him.

Moreover some of His effects are such that they can nowise be contrary to the human will, since "to be, to live, to understand," which are effects of God, are desirable and lovable to all. Wherefore again God cannot be an object of hatred if we consider Him as the Author of such like effects. Some of God's effects, however, are contrary to an inordinate will, such as the infliction of punishment, and the prohibition of sin by the Divine Law. Such like effects are repugnant to a will debased by sin, and as regards the consideration of them, God may be an object of hatred to some, in so far as they look upon Him as forbidding sin, and inflicting punishment. (ST II II 34, 1)

Now if someone knows that a commandment is divinely revealed, and refuses to follow it (and the matter is grave, etc.), that is a mortal sin. Perhaps it is possible to be in invincible ignorance even concerning some of the 10 commandments (broadly understood). However, if one knows that a precept is taught by the Church, and denies the validity of that precept by denying the authority of the one teaching it, is that a sin? Can a Catholic have 'legitimate' doubts about the authority of the Church and still have Faith? Would God move such a doubter through grace towards remedying his error?

Faith is not infused knowledge--it seems that God first move someone to believe in Him (this is easier if he has been baptized and received the infused virtue of Faith). And then, in order for him to receive what God has revealed to us, he must be moved to accept that there is an authority to impart this.

The Bible certainly teaches us certain truths--but is it enough? And does it claim to be the ultimate authority given to us here in this life? Someone who is ignorant of the Magisterium may be moved to accept various truths taught in the Bible through Faith. But certain misunderstandings or even errors may nonetheless remain, and cannot be purged until he is confronted with doubts or arguments against what he accepts on human faith.

Is the Bible so transparent that it can be understood apart from the Rule of Faith? It seems not...
The eunuch was looking for someone to explain the scriptures to him, recognizing (through grace?) that he needed a teacher. By what authority do bible teachers, scripture scholars or commenators teach the meaning of Sacred Scripture?How can their explanations be accepted on anything but human faith?

I was skimming through Cardinal Ratzinger's God's Word: Scripture, Tradition, Office. I should read through it when I have some time...

Energeia

ἐνέργεια

Western theology could appropriate ἐνέργεια-talk in reference to the acts of the 'new man' and say that they are 'divine'; the question is what is the primary analogate? God Himself? Or something other than God, the Divine Energies?

Brother André Marie’s Theology Weblog

hmm

Sandro Magister: The Pope Theologian Says: The Proof of God Is Beauty

The beauty of art and of music. The wonders of sanctity. The splendor of creation. This is how Benedict XVI defends the truth of Christianity, in a question-and-answer session with the priests of Brixen

A question regarding the theological virtue of faith

I remember writing a paper on the question of theological faith for a class at the seminary; in it I believe I wrote that it is possible for a non-Catholic to possess the virtue of theological faith and yet also hold to certain errors (on the basis of his own will and not through faith). I don't remember the details of that essay. I was reading through the Summa tonight on faith, and came across II II 5, 3. But is it not the case that a sincere Protestant believes that his church is the One True Church of Christ, and assents to the teachings of his church accordingly? A Protestant who does not knowingly and culpably reject the Catholic Church as the true Church, and is unaware that it is the Catholic Church which teaches the truths of the faith.

Through imperfect faith, he can believe in the more important truths (as embodied, for example in the Nicene Creed), which can sustain charity and a Christian spiritual life, and at the same time be ignorant that other 'less important' truths, which he rejects as being 'non-Christian,' actually have been revealed by God?

Faith is not the same as infused knowledge, but is mediated through human beings who have the divinely-given authority to teach. One must believe in God and that He has given authority to His Church to hand on what He has revealed... the error is not in his believing that there is such an authority, but in his identification with a particular person or group of people?

But perhaps the conclusion of this speculation is wrong. I will have to think of some objections when I have time.

What has caused the crisis?

At this thread over at NLM, Pontifical High Mass, Merton College, Oxford, "anonymous" has cited Geoffrey Hull's The Banished Heart in defense of his assertion that the Counter-Reformation was bad for the Church: "The direct chain of causation between the corrosive aspects of the counter-reformation and the current disaster are well-documented: The Banished Heart, G. Hull."

He goes on to write later:

the counter-reformation was merely the latest episode in the runnning battle those manichean/neo-platonist forces in the church (including, unfortunately, many of the church fathers - which does not mean that absolutely everything St Jerome wrote, for instance, was corrupted by these errors), usually but not exclusively comprising members of religious orders, have been waging against the secular clergy for centuries. It is important to note that the flashpoint is usually related to the fact that we are humans rather than angels (i.e., sex), and specifically the issue of clerical marriage amongst the diocesan clerics. The counter-reformation was merely by far, courtesy of the seminary system, the most successful attack by these forces.

Dr Hull notes in The Banished Heart how this radical change in spirituality in the latin church - which I would argue is essentially an attempt to monasticise the entire latin church to the extent possible - helped lead to the apostasy of complete nations - the latin countries of Europe. Then, we in the English-speaking world had to put up with Jansenism imported from Ireland. The net result of this was that by the 1950's, the church was ready to explode.

THe abuses in religious houses and seminaries that the corrupt spirituality of the c-r precipitated are well documented in many accounts of life in those institutions. In Australia, one can refer to "Cassocks in the Wilderness" and "The Priest Factory" by Christopher Geraghty, or with regard to England, "Seminary Boy" by John Cornwell. These two authors might well be lapsed catholics, but their accounts of pre-conciliar seminary life rang chillingly true when compared with my own (and others')largely appalling experiences in a post-concilliar traditionalist seminary, where I was refused medical treatment, and was rushed to hospital only at my insistence, when it was almost too late. I suppose, I was meant to "offer it up", and "exercise heroic virtue" or some similar nonsense.

The attempt to meld orthodoxy with heteropraxis which was the c-r was foredoomed to fail. Grace builds on nature, it doesn't destroy it. This is a reality that church of the c-r forgot, with the direst consequences.


Some forther reference works for those interested:

Married Priests and the Reforming Papacy: The Eleventh-Century Debates by Anne Llewellyn Barstow

(Good for the purposes of bibliography, and primary sources. Her attempts to seem to argue for a changing dogmatic theology in relation to the priesthood at the time of the Gregorian reforms are flawed. One thing that reading the primary sources should do is convince people that even saints - here St Gregory VII and St Peter Damian - are capable of making mistakes, and quite disastrous ones, too. But that's NOT in relation to the question of the emperor v. the pope).

Celibacy: Gift or Law? Heinz-Jurgen Vogels.

The theological and legal underpinning of the case for clerical marriage. The by-product is the undermining of the spirituality of the c-r. Very Thomistic in approach, without even citing St Thomas Aquinas.


A comprehensive study on this question, even exploring the connexion between the mediaeval heretics such as the Cathars, and the spirituality of the c-r is waiting to be writing by some student attempting a doctorate in theology.

The above is only the most rudimentary scratching of the surface. I haven't even dealt with the role of the Jesuits both for good and bad, and particularly with regard to the latter, the exaggerated and abusive notions of obedience propagated by them (also a significant cause of the current crisis).

A provocative narrative, but where is the evidence? How do we explain the Church's discipline on clerical celibacy, which goes back to the first millenium? And what is the "spirituality of the Counter-Reformation"? As for what happened to the Catholic countries of Europe--should we not focus instead on the conflict between the Church and the state and other forces opposed to the Church?

RORATE CÆLI: Authority and Recognition
Traditional Anglican Chaplaincy in France

International Society for MacIntyrean Philosophy

International Society for MacIntyrean Philosophy

Abstracts for the 2nd annual conference. I hope Michael Baur's paper will be published somewhere. Information on the third international conference. (Whoa! Dr. MacIntyre is turning 80!?! Wiki confirms it--he looks very good for his age!)

The special issue of Analyse & Kritik with the revised papers for this conference, Alasdair MacIntyre's Revolutionary Aristotelianism, has been published.

Google Books: Kelvin Knight, Aristotelian Philosophy: Ethics and Politics from Aristotle to MacIntyre (Polity)

Fr. Lev Gillet, “The Immaculate Conception and the Orthodox Church”--Parts 3 and 4

Are Organ Transplants Ever Morally Licit?

A commentary on the address of Pope John Paul II to the XVIII International Congress of the Transplantation Society

By Bishop Fabian Wendelin Bruskewitz, Bishop Robert F. Vasa, Walt F. Weaver, Paul A. Byrne, Richard G. Nilges, and Josef Seifert


Thanks to Sarge for bringing this to my attention.

Ordination of deaconesses

From EWTN, author unknown: Women Priests?
A Brief History of the Permanent Diaconate

Then there are these developments:
Church of Greece votes on female diaconate
Female Diaconate restored by Greek Holy Synod
Oriental Orthodox-Roman Catholic Theological Consultation
Introduction to Liturgical Theology
Women in Orthodoxy, Past & Present: A Conference - The Byzantine Forum
A Chronology of the Diaconate
OrthodoxNews: Women
St. Nina Quarterly: "Orthodox Women and Pastoral Praxis"
The Historical Orthodox Deaconess
Orthodox Women's Network

see Canon 15 of the Council of Chalcedon: The Council of Chalcedon - 451 A.D.

So there's a claim that women were actually ordained at the altar, with the imposition of hands, and so on. (Or there are texts with such rituals.) But can there be an ordination without sacramental orders? (What is the word used in Latin and Greek to refer to the Sacrament of Order in the early Chruch? Do the Latins speak of Ordo?)

From Miriam-Webster:
ordain
1: to invest officially (as by the laying on of hands) with ministerial or priestly authority

So one can ordain in the sense of giving someone the authority to act in a certain ministerial capacity. But are deacons just ministers, or do they participate in the priesthood of Christ? (There is also a claim that the diaconate is regarded by [some of?] the Eastern churches as being a ministry only, and not a sacramental order. Trent on the Sacrament of Order.) Speaking of women's ordination can be misleading--what we should be focusing on is the Sacrament of Holy Orders instead. (Even if those women who are attempting to become priests and failing understand them to be linked.)

Female diaconate in the early church - Monachos.net Discussion

And some reaction from the Orthodox Information Center:
Women in the Orthodox Church
Deaconnesses

We also hear the claims that deaconesses carried the Sacrament of Holy Communion to many outside of the temple. Let us also remember that, in the early Church, all of the people took the Body and Blood of our Lord to their homes to commune during the week. The fact that records show deaconesses having a type of "ordination" was specifically to enable them to carry Holy Communion to women who were "shut-ins". Since, as we have made clear, it was forbidden for a male to go into a single womans home, there was an obvious need for this holy service to be done by a woman, hence, the deaconess. The ordination, or blessing, was to allow her to carry Holy Communion to those women who could not attend the Liturgy.

Hmm... Christian Dress and Grooming

Eirenikon has posted two parts of Fr. Lev Gillet's “The Immaculate Conception and the Orthodox Church.” Part 1 and Part 2.

AGORA METAPHYSICA

Was Einstein Wrong?
hmm

PB edition of Jesus of Nazareth coming out on Sept. 15

along with a study guide from Ignatius Press: "Jesus of Nazareth" study guide

Msgr. William B. Smith on finis operis and finis operantis

Msgr. William B. Smith on finis operis and finis operantis

Monsignor William B. Smith, STD by John Janaro

Université Thomiste

I haven't really explored the website...

Cosmos Liturgy Sex: Not to Beat a Dead Theologian, But…

Fr. Guy Mansini on 5 theses of Henri De Lubac, S.J.

Thesis One: Attention to the order of pure nature, which began in the 16th century, has had a malign impact on the Church both speculatively and practically. This is so because of the way that the doctrine of pure nature has developed historically. Either a) nature was conceived of in such a way that it needed grace (as with the theologian Baius) or b) it was supernaturalized. This latter way of thinking about pure nature postulated a natural intuition of God or a natural friendship with God. This latter position is the cause of “extrinsicist” accounts of grace, for which it is thought that human nature can have perfect contentment in its own order.

Thesis Two: God has never ordained for man anything more than a supernatural end. There is an intrinsic unity to the economy of salvation, and modern theology was not always sufficiently attentive to this fact.

Thesis Three: Human nature is what it is because it is ordered to a supernatural end, and would not be what it is if it were otherwise ordered.

Thesis Four: The fourth thesis, as Mansini presents it, is complex. It is a thesis in three parts. First, the natural desire to see God must be foremost in our attention in speculative theology, otherwise we do not recognize the unity of the economy of salvation, and we get mixed up on the relationship between philosophical anthropology and theological anthropology, between knowledge and faith, and between philosophy and theology. Second, the natural desire to see God is both sign and effect of our being ordered to possession of beatific vision. Third, because the human “natural desire to see God” is inherently of the supernatural order, it must be understood to be a necessary and absolute ordination and not conditioned – yet, we must not deny that grace is truly gratuitous.

Thesis 5: There follows from theses 1-3 a prohibition: it is useless to consider in the speculative order the condition of our nature aside from its supernatural ordination.

“Henri de Lubac, the Natural Desire to See God, and Pure Nature” from the 2002 Gregorianum (vol. 83, 1): 89-109.

See also these other posts at the same blog:
Nova et Vetera Contra Henri De Lubac
An Essential Difference Between Thomism and Augustinianism

Magister, From the "New World" Symphony of Benedict XVI. An Anthology

From the "New World" Symphony of Benedict XVI. An Anthology

In Sydney, at World Youth Day, Joseph Ratzinger preaches a "new age" of the Spirit to renew the face of the earth. Three years ago, to the young people gathered in Germany, he had proposed a "revolution." The historic hope of the pope theologian

IEP entry on St. Thomas's moral philosophy

I could write an evaluation after I've finished my own work, but what would the point be? How many people consult the IEP entries?

Zenit: Water More Than an Economic Good, Says Pope

Water More Than an Economic Good, Says Pope

Sends Message to International Expo Under Way in Spain

VATICAN CITY, JULY 15, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is calling for solidarity and responsibility in national and international policies on water, saying water is a right and profit should not be the only reason to protect it.

There is a "right to water," based on the dignity of the human person, and it is not simply an "economic good" the Pope affirmed in a message to the international exposition on "Water and Sustainable Development," under way in Zaragoza, Spain.

The Holy Father sent his message through Cardinal Renato Martino, the Holy See's representative at the expo.

"Because of the […] pressure of multiple social and economic factors, we must be conscious of the fact" that today "water must be considered " a good that must be especially protected through clear national and international policies, and used according to sensible criteria of solidarity and responsibility," the Pontiff exhorted.

"The use of water, which is regarded as a universal and inalienable right, is related to the growing and urgent needs of people who live in destitution, taking into account the fact that limited access to potable water has repercussions on the wellbeing of an enormous number of people and is often the cause of illnesses, sufferings, conflicts, poverty and even death," the message added.

In regard to the right to water, the Holy Father also stressed that it is "a right that is based on the dignity of the human person." It is "from this perspective that positions of those who consider and treat water only as an economic good must be carefully examined," Benedict XVI continued. "Its use must be rational and solidary, fruit of a balanced synergy between the public and private sector."

Religious meanings

The Pope went on to mention that water is not just a material good, as it also has "religious meanings that believing humanity, especially Christianity, have developed, assigning it great value as a precious immaterial good, which always enriches man's life on this earth."

"How can one not recall in this circumstance the thought-provoking message that has come to us from sacred Scriptures, treating water as a symbol of purification -- cf. Psalm 50,4; John 13:8; and of life -- cf. John 3:5; Galatians 3:27," he noted. "The full recovery of this spiritual dimension is the guarantee and implication for an adequate approach to the ethical, political and economic problems that affect the complex management of water on the part of so many interested individuals, both in the national and international realm."

A concert was held in homage to the Pope on Monday night in the Mozart Hall of the expo auditorium, which was attended by some 1,000 people.

Proceeds from the sale of tickets will be allocated by "Manos Unidas," a Catholic charitable institution, to water management projects for agricultural purposes in India.

Eirenikon: Zizioulas on Love for Unity and the Russian Church

The Ecumenical Patriarch on the Eastern Fathers and Theology

The lecture by the Ecumenical Patriarch at the Pontifical Oriental Institute.

Chiesa: The Encyclical on Hope Commented by Two Non-believing Thinkers
They are the professors Aldo Schiavone and Ernesto Galli della Loggia, on the front page of the newspaper of the Holy See. Pope Joseph Ratzinger knows them, and has read them. Will he respond?

A new puzzle

Regarding equality and justice--just when I thought I was making progress, I find that I need to find the basis for making a return or requital--the precept to make a return or requital when one receives a benefit seems to be more than just the precept to love others, no? But does Aquinas explicitly discuss how the former is derived from the latter?

Just when I thought I had gone as far as I needed, something pops up that I had not considered before. While this may be good philosophically, it's not so good for getting a dissertation done as soon as possible...

More stuff on the Filioque

John Paul II: The Spirit and the Filioque Debate
Fr. Z: Benedict XVI and Bartholomew I: together the Creed in Greek
The Clarification: The Father as the Source of the Whole Trinity: The Procession of the Holy Spirit in Greek and Latin Traditions
Nicene Truth: The Vatican Clarification on the Filioque

One Single Source: An Orthodox Response to the Clarification on the Filioque
(by Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon)

De unione ecclesiarum: On Anastasius the Librarian

Eirenikon: Filioquextravaganza

From First Things:

N.T. Wright Responds to Richard John Neuhaus

The Anglican bishop of Durham takes issue with the editor in chief of First Things—and vice versa.

Philosophy is not intellectual history

Even if some departments seem to have reduced the philosophical enterprise to it, usually to avoid inter-departmental debate and to adopt a liberal/PC/or relativist attitude towards what thinkers actually hold. As I have written before, inquiring into reality is not the same as doing intellectual history, even if intellectual history may be a useful way to gather the opinions of others. But in the end, one must still evalute those opinions and judge them by what one knows of reality.

Also, what philosophers sometimes forget is that arguments about the origins of ideas need to be framed (and evaluated) not as philosophical arguments but as historical arguments. I was thinking about this yesterday as I was reading through Kirkpatrick Sale's The Human Scale--he does not put forth any genealogy, but I could see some enthusistic undergraduate or even graduate student jump in and say, "The desire to dominate nature has its origins in Descartes" or Francis Bacon. But is it not part of the fallen human condition to assume a wrongful dominion over creation, making it serve man's disordered appetites and without any regard for the consequences or the future? It is one thing to say that the writings of Descartes or Bacon reflects this disordered desire; it's another to say that they are the intellectual progenitors of this desire, which could be named some appropriate '-ism'.

Too often philosophers try to establish their intellectual credibility by looking for the origin of ideas and locating it in some supposed focal figure in the past. While the texts may show that the author did indeed share such ideas, this is not conclusive in itself--what must be done is to show that the ideas were desseminated through him, and had an impact on society at large. This is rarely done, and usually cannot be done.

On the other hand, perhaps some notiosn of rights can be traced back in history to certain people, but the introductory texts that I have read so far have not persuaded me of this--precisely because they have not discussed the educational system of the time--what books were being read and studied in universities and law schools, and what was being cited in other texts, and so on.

At this point in time I think that ius as a subjective active right can be found not inly during the medieval period, but before, in Roman law. But this does not mean all medievals or all Romans held to a conception of right as a manifestation of dominion or property. For the medievals at least it seems clear that there were several theories of subjective active rights, not just one.

It is better to look at the purpose that subjective active rights served within law, and to draw up an undnerstanding of rights based on that, rather than creating an a priori theory about what rights are (within ethics or politics), and then reading this into legal texts.

LT: A Neo-Patristic Approach to Biblical Inerrancy
by John F. McCarthy

WWWTW: Not the Common Good

See also Southern Appeal, Heller in a nutshell

Fr. Z: For students of St. Augustine, a great tool in paperback

Wow!

The Writings of Charles De Koninck
Volume One
Charles De Koninck
Edited and translated by Ralph McInerny

The Writings of Charles De Koninck, Volume 1, introduces a projected three-volume series that presents the first English edition of the collected works of the Catholic Thomist philosopher Charles De Koninck (1906–1965). Ralph McInerny is the project editor and has prepared the excellent translations.

The first volume contains writings ranging from De Koninck’s 1934 dissertation at the University of Louvain on the philosophy of Sir Arthur Eddington, to two remarkable early essays on indeterminism and the unpublished book “The Cosmos.” The short essay “Are the Experimental Sciences Distinct from the Philosophy of Nature?” is also included and demonstrates for the first time De Koninck’s distinctive view on the relation between philosophy of nature and the experimental sciences. A comprehensive introductory essay by Leslie Armour outlines the structure and themes of De Koninck’s philosophy. The volume begins with a biographical essay by De Koninck’s son, Thomas.

Charles De Koninck was on the faculty of Québec’s Université de Laval and was Director of Laval’s philosophy faculty from 1939 to 1956. He determined the course of philosophy at Laval and in much of French Canada through his publications and his connections with the Roman Catholic Church. He lectured frequently in the United States, as well as in Latin America, Europe, and Canada.

“Charles De Koninck, perhaps because of his untimely death, is not as well known to English-speaking readers as Etienne Gilson and Jacques Maritain, but his work belongs to that same world-class scholarship as his notable contemporaries. It is almost an understatement to say that his contribution to the philosophy of science remains timely. Readers are fortunate that his former student, Ralph McInerny, has seen fit to collect and to translate, where necessary, some of De Koninck’s most important work for this volume.” —Jude P. Dougherty, The Catholic University of America

Amazon

A problem with saying rights are "God-given"?

In connection with the Declaration of Independence. For the moment I am ignoring the rights themselves that are enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, and the question of whether they are subjective passive rights or subjective active rights or both.)

It isn't the case that these rights have been Divinely Revealed to us, not in the form of Christian Tradition at any rate. They must then be discoverable by human reason alone, but nonetheless connected to God in some way. That is, rights [may] have their origin in Divine Law, in the form of the Natural Law, if they can be said to be "God-given."

If rights correlate to duties, then we can say that "God-given" rights correspond to "God-given" duties incumbent upon the individual or the government. But what are these duties, and of which virtues are they precepts? It is not enough to say that they are in some way derived from human nature (like the Natural Law is derived in some way from human nature -- which can be a very questionable way to explain the Natural Law)--one must talk about what goods are involved.

If the precept that is involved is one of charity, love of God and neighbor, then how can one possibly legislate concerning God-given rights, when one cannot legislate charity, which requires grace and cannot be induced through human law? One the other hand, if the rights that are spoken of are connected to justice (and thus can be an object of human legislation), is it not a bit misleading to connect them directly with God? Do we need to have the virtue of charity in order to have the virtue of justice? Perfect justice, yes, but not imperfect justice.

It is true that both human nature and its goods are given by God. Man is made in the image of God, having a spiritual side that other animals lack. But as I have written before, this principle is insufficient to explain the foundation of rights as being in justice, rather than charity. One must show how they are derived from the precepts of particular justice and legal justice. Legal justice is especially important, since it is the virtue that directly pertains to the common good of a political community. In so far as rights can be derived from the precepts of justice, which are a part of the Natural Law (or an extension of it, in human law), then they can be said to be "God-given."

We must then ask, what conception of legal justice and the common good do we find in Jefferson? How about the Anglo-American political tradition in general? Does the Anglo-American political tradition accept a more traditional notion of the common good, or does it get it from the Enlightenment or liberalism? It does not matter so much if the Natural Law in itself is ignored or even denied in this tradition, so long as the precepts and the goods they involved can be reconciled with a proper understanding of the Natural Law.

Human Rights (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Rights (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Jefferson on Politics & Government: Inalienable Rights
John Locke Foundation | John Locke: His American and Carolinian Legacy
Principle 3. Unalienable Rights From God
wiki

What is this? The Princeton Principles on Universal Jurisdiction

Rebuilt 1-22
Princeton - News - Jurists demand end to impunity
Equipo Nizkor - The Princeton Principles on Universal Jurisdiction.
Google Books: Universal Jurisdiction in Modern International Law: Expansion of National Jurisdiction for Prosecuting Serious Crimes under International Law

The International Law of Responsibility for Economic Crimes: Holding State Officials Individually Liable for Acts of Fraudulent Enrichment, by Ndiva Kofele-Kale
(Google Books)

The Orthodox on Remarriage

Some links:
GOArch
De unione ecclesiarum: Mother’s Day reflections
Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the Orthodox Church: Economia ...

I came upon this old post by Christopher Roach, Where Does the Mind End and the Soul Begin?, in which he questions the adequacy of Thomistic natural philosophy regarding the mind:

The more I study Thomistic philosophy considered in the light of modern psychology and neuroscience, the more troubled I am by the encroachment of science on the traditional idea of the soul. But these insights are real, and the more I understand about them, the more I find the traditional Thomistic and Aristotelian formulae inadequate. Under Aristotelian and Thomistic accounts of the soul dominant in the Catholic Church, the soul is the seat of reason and the intellect, as well as the animating principle of the entire unified person (including the body). The soul is evident and coextensive with the body in this account–it is its “formal cause,” from which any person or thing is by definition inseparable–but the soul is also deemed immaterial, permanent, and the reason we have the potential of eternal life.

Neuroscience has begun to demonstrate that a variety of matters traditionally thought to lay outside the realm of purely material explanation–will, decision-making, personality, moral reasoning, imagination–in fact have strong components in the brain itself, where specific areas “light up” when certain kinds of decisions are made or feelings are felt. Injuries to certain areas of the brain–like the frontal lobes–can yield irrational behavior traditionally thought of as immoral. Finally, the dramatic effects of psychopharmaceuticals in manipulating behavior suggest that we may really be much more determined materially than traditional Christian theology would suggest.

How would you respond to him? I would recommend Dr. Baars treatment of compulsive behavior as start, and perhaps the recent mult-ivolume work by Fr. Ripperger, F.S.S.P. on psychology (I will have to check and see if he deals with these sorts of phenomena, and the semblance of determinism.)

Dom Illtyd Trethowan

Downside Abbey profile

Awareness of God

He wrote some books I'd like to read, including Christ in the Liturgy, The Meaning of Existence, Mysticism and Theology: An Essay in Christian Metaphysics, and The Absolute and the Atonement.

Google Books: Certainty - Philosophical And Theological: Philosophical and ...
Philosophy and Theology in Monastery: The Thought of Dom Illtyd ...
Illtyd Trethowan, monk of Downside and Fergus Kerr

Hmm... Louis Lavelle, The Meaning of Holiness

Ignatius Press will be printing a updated and revised edition of Fr. Aidan Nichol's Rome and the Eastern Churches: A Study in Schism.

h/t to Eirenikon

W. Norris Clarke, RIP

Fr. Clarke passed away on Thursday. News via Siris. I would think that Fr. Tacelli would be going down to NYC for the funeral. Services Set for W. Norris Clarke, S.J., Professor and Thomist Philosopher.

I don't think I'd agree with his brand of metaphysics, though Fr. Clarke certainly has his admirers in the English-speaking world. I still think his acceptance of evolution as "settled" reveal his weakness as a philosopher. But may He now see He who is Truth.

The One and the Many

note: see Blackstone on Pursuit of Happiness

Anderson and Tollefsen, Enhancement Biotechnology and Natural Law

First Things:

Enhancement Biotechnology and Natural Law By Ryan T. Anderson and Christopher Tollefsen

Their article in The New Atlantis.

Rethinking the Foundations of Modern Political Thought

Cambridge University Press: Rethinking the Foundations of Modern Political Thought (edited by Annabel Brett and James Tully, with Holly Hamilton-Bleakley)
Google Books:Rethinking the Foundations of Modern Political

Hrm, also found this --
Ashgate Publishing: Juan de Mariana and Early Modern Spanish Political Thought
Google Books: Juan de Mariana and Early Modern Spanish

and McGill-Queen's University Press: Arthur P. Monahan, From Personal Duties Towards Personal Rights: Late Medieval and Early Modern Political Thought, 1300-1600
Google Books: From Personal Duties Towards Personal Rights

They all sound like interesting titles worth perusing.

Zenit: Protocol to "Fill Gap" in Rights Protection

Protocol to "Fill Gap" in Rights Protection

Holy See Says All Should be Able to Seek Justice

GENEVA, JUNE 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- A draft protocol being considered by the U.N. Human Rights Council will effectively "fill a gap" in the international human rights system, says the Holy See's permanent observer at the U.N. offices in Geneva

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi said this Wednesday to a working group of the 8th Session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, which is discussing a draft of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The protocol would establish a mechanism that would allow victims of economic, social and cultural rights violations to submit a complaint to the United Nations.

Complaint mechanisms exist for all other U.N. rights treaties, except the Convention of the Rights of the Child.

The proposed protocol would offer the same protection to those who have been evicted -- a violation of one's economic, social and cultural rights -- as a similar mechanism gives to those who have been tortured, which is covered under another U.N. treaty.

Archbishop Tomasi explained that "historically, economic, social and cultural rights were considered too vague to be justiciable and a base for an individual complaint procedure."

"In a way," he added, "they were looked at as second-rate human rights."

Right direction

The archbishop said the mechanism would be "a positive step toward a fair social and international order."

The Holy See representative told the working group that the various instruments of the United Nations "sustain [...] a culture of justice and global solidarity."

Archbishop Tomasi affirmed that the treaty on economic, social and cultural rights "serves as a major framework for the achievement of these goals," and that the "steps that have been taken to increase its effectiveness through new mechanisms are a sign of the continued determination to look at the implementation of all human rights in a balanced way."

"The universal value of human dignity requires the promotion and protection of all human rights without distinction of any kind," he added.

The archbishop called the current text "a good compromise," in that it "gives the possibility to individuals and groups to seek justice from violations, and it reinforces existing mechanisms for an effective monitoring of the activity of states."

Fr. Brock's PhD dissertation, The Legal Character of Natural Law according to St Thomas Aquinas, is now on-line.

Just Thomism: Modern Science and the Existence of Nothing, II

Schedule for this year's ISN Summer Conference

here--starts this coming Friday, June 13. Some good papers being presented. If you're in the Boston area and can drop by, please do.

Alain de Benoist

A website dedicated to him and his writings, Les Amis d'Alain de Benoist.
wiki
(Nouvelle Droite)

I haven't read anything written by him, but he has been referenced by several writers on "the Right." Is it accurate to say he is opposed to the liberal (dis-)order and some sort of communitarian? I know he's received some criticism from those on 'the Right' for changing his mind about certain things. (Or was it being too accomodating to certain demographic trends?)

Video Alain de Benoist,Propos volés - Alain, de, Benoist ...
Alain de Benoist sur Radio Bandiera Nera 1/5

The De Benoist Archive
Nouvelle Droite - New Right - English articles--
Manifesto of the French New Right in Year 2000
The Philosophical Foundations of the French New Right

Jihad vs. McWorld. An interview with Alain de Benoist | Alberto ...
The Faye-Benoist debate on Multiculturalism
Three Interviews with Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist - Stirpes
Alain de Benoist move the left? - OD Board
Alain de Benoist's 'Multiculturalism': A Problem In Defining A New ...


4/26/08

Zenit: Holy See on UN Protection of All Human Rights

Holy See on UN Protection of All Human Rights

"A Positive Step Toward a Fair Social and International Order"

GENEVA, JUNE 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is the English-language address Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See's permanent observer at the U.N. offices in Geneva, gave Wednesday to a working group of the 8th Session of the U.N. Human Rights Council. The talk addressed an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

* * *

Mr. President,

The Delegation of the Holy See associates itself with previous speakers to thank the Chairperson of the Open-ended Working Group on an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Catarina de Albuquerque for her efforts and firmness to carry out her work.

In the fight against poverty, especially extreme poverty, the international community has set for itself specific objectives like the Millennium Development Goals, which are an important road leading to a more universal development. The various "instruments of the United Nations and its specialized agencies concerning the integral development of the human being, economic and social progress and development of all peoples" (Declaration on the Right to Development, Res. 41/128 of 4 December of 1986, Preamble, 5) sustain, in fact, a culture of justice and global solidarity.

The ICESCR serves as a major framework for the achievement of these goals. The steps that have been taken to increase its effectiveness through new mechanisms are a sign of the continue determination to look at the implementation of all human rights in a balanced way.

The universal value of human dignity requires the promotion and protection of all human rights without distinction of any kind. The new Optional Protocol of the ICESCR, therefore, represents a positive step towards a fair social and international order.

Historically economic, social and cultural rights were considered too vague to be justiciable and a base for an individual complaint procedure. In a way they were looked at as second-rate human rights. Now the text presented at the 8th Session of the Human Rights Council, is a good compromise. The new Optional Protocol, through an Inquiry and Communication system, gives the possibility to individuals and groups to seek justice from violations, and it reinforces existing mechanisms for an effective monitoring of the activity of States.

The experience of other Treaty bodies shows that these procedures can help to clarify and implement the normative content of a particular provision; to lead monitoring systems to a more focused and disciplined legal approach; to concentrate on a concrete violation of human rights, keeping in mind that coherence is needed to avoid their fragmentation.

While different approaches to human rights can emerge, in the light of the "inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family" (UDHR, Preamble, 1) it would be possible to arrive at a fair agreement. In this way, differences should open the way to a more dynamic recognition, promotion and protection of human rights and not stifle their universal implementation. In this connection, there is a need to adopt a comprehensive and holistic approach under which all human rights would be covered and reservations should not be permitted.

Mr. President,

The new Protocol will fill a gap in the international human rights system. However, our work is not finished until every person will enjoy the right "to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family" (UDHR, article 25).

Thank You, Mr. President.

Dr. Médaille responds...

Chapter VI will be devoted specifically to Justice, Distributive and Corrective, although every chapter will, in its way, be about this topic. The major sources are, of course, The Nichomachean Ethics and St. Thomas's commentary on the same, as well as the Summa. But it is a case of Philosophy is easy, plumbing is hard. Distributive justice is easy to see and understand philosophically, but its implementation in the real world, its "plumbing" is very hard indeed.

Looking forward to Chapter 6!

Chapter 1 of Dr. Médaille's book, The Political Economy of Distributism, is now up: Chapter I: What's in a Name?

This is how he explains the failure of the distributivists:

The Failure of the Distributists

Although this book must be a critique of modern economics, it must start with a critique of modern distributists. I say “modern” distributists because distributism itself is nothing more than the rediscovery of an older view of economics. Until the 16^th century, there was no real dispute that economics was a colony of ethics, rooted in the political order and dependent on distributive justice. No philosopher or theologian worthy of the name, beginning with Aristotle, was without his economic commentary. He felt it merely part of his natural function to comment on the real affairs of real men, and the economic and political orders were simply part of that commentary. So very nearly the full weight of human opinion, taken as a whole, comes down on the side of the distributists. While distributism adds to modern economics precisely what it lacks to become to a real science—the science of Political Economy—distributists themselves have often been reluctant to put their case in economic terms. They have often argued from moral terms; they have placed their arguments in the necessary connection between free property and free men; they have argued on agrarian terms, on the natural rhythms of life and social order often disrupted by modern capitalism; they have argued from Catholic teaching and the social encyclicals. But on the whole, they have been unwilling or (I’m afraid) unable to enter the economic debate on purely economic terms.

and

Despite these successes in both theory and practice, however, it is too often the case that in any discussion of economics, the distributist is likely to be the least well-versed in the science; he is, too often, the one least able to place his argument in economic terms, and too ready to retreat to moral arguments. This has unfortunate consequences for distributism as a movement. First, we often fail to convince others of the economic soundness of our case. Second, those distributists who have an interest in economics find insufficient sustenance in distributism, and often drift off to Austrianism or Keynesianism or socialism, things which are nearly the opposite of distributism. Finally, we cannot recognize the similarities between our own positions and allied positions like Mutualism and Georgism. And failing to recognize these similarities, we fail to recognize our natural allies. We even fail to recognize, too often, that which is valid and useful in neoclassical and Keynesian theories. All of this gives distributism a parochial cast. We end up marginalizing our own theory, simply because we often have a marginal understanding of the theory.

But if the distributist will only enter the economic lists, he will find weapons to hand and armor enough to stand against any opponent. Our theory is competitive at the intellectual level and thoroughly demonstrated at the practical level; we fill the gaps in the science of political economy that neoclassical economics, and all its variants, cannot. We do not need to stand on the margins, but in the mainstream.

What are characteristics of modern economics?
1. Quantification of human desire and behavior, and economic "laws" expressed through mathematics
2. A lot of hypothetical reasoning -- if/then implications which could possibly be turned into syllogistic form.
3. Descriptive and predictive, rather than being normative, though the predictions yielded by economics can be used in determining public policy/legislation.

So what does it mean to formulate distributism in economic terms? Through quantification? To yield what result/formula? Let's see how the rest of the book carries out this goal.

In the comments section, Dr. Médaille also writes:

Property itself, btw, is merely a means to an end; the end is distributive justice, namely that each man (and woman) gets the just fruits of their labor. Property properly understood leads to this result; property abstracted to an absolute becomes the opposite, a substitute for work. But property is not the only way of getting a just result.

This is interesting--I had not come across distributive justice being applied to the fruits of labor as well as to common goods.

Now available from Eighth Day Books: Discerning the Mystery: An Essay on the Nature of Theology, by Andrew Louth
It's not clear to me if Eighth Day Books is responsible for the republication, or if it's another party. It was published by Oxford University Press.

Google Books: Discerning the Mystery: An Essay on the Nature ...

How does Fr. Louth's understanding of the division between the sciences and the humanities match with the Aristotelian account of knowledge the Aristotelian 'scientific method'? Is Fr. Louth critical of "Latin theology" or its method? I do not think he would fall into an equivocation like some Orthodox writers who seek to throw Latin theology into disrepute by arguing that theologia is not an acquired science, but direct experience of the Trinity/Logos.

I'll have to skim through the online copy when I get a chance, in order to ascertain whether I should buy the book or not.

Some discussion of the book over at WordPress.
The Ochlophobist: Orthodoxy has a problem with theology: louth on ...
Theology and Spirituality

Insight Scoop: Pope Benedict XVI, Theologian of Joy: An Interview with Monsignor Joseph Murphy

The interview itself.

Ignatius Insight: You often refer to Introduction to Christianity, widely considered an essential work by Joseph Ratzinger. What are some other works by Ratzinger/Benedict that you think are at the core of his large body of theological work?

Monsignor Murphy: In many ways, Introduction to Christianity is the closest Joseph Ratzinger came to producing a theological synthesis, even though it is incomplete and there are significant developments in later writings. It has to be remembered that Introduction to Christianity was first published forty years ago (in 1968), yet it remains an extraordinarily fresh work and a classic of modern Catholic theology. Introduction deals with the question of faith and belief in the modern world, before commenting in an original way on the contents of the Apostles' Creed. As my book aims to present Ratzinger's approach to the main elements of Christian belief, it is only natural that I quote and refer to it quite frequently.

It is a pity that Ratzinger's doctoral thesis, People and House of God in St. Augustine's Doctrine of the Church, has never been translated into English. It is important for a better understanding of the genesis of Ratzinger's thought as contains the basic insights on the Church in her inner nature and in her relationship to the state that he develops in his later writings. Ratzinger's Habilitationsschrift, The Theology of History in St. Bonaventure, is important for his thinking about salvation history and about the distinction between eschatology and utopia.

Regarding Ratzinger's strictly theological work, one would also have to mention Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life, which is intended as a manual for students of theology, although it is quite original in its presentation. As to other areas of theology, much of his thought is developed in a series of articles published in various journals or collections. These were often republished in books such as his important volume on fundamental theology, Principles of Catholic Theology, his recently republished meditations on the Trinity, The God of Jesus Christ, his more recent works on ecclesiology among which I would count Church, Ecumenism and Politics, and Called to Communion, his collection of articles and meditations on the Eucharist, God is Near Us, and his volume of articles on religious pluralism, relativism and faith, Truth and Tolerance. Regarding Christology, apart from the relevant chapters of Introduction to Christianity, one would have to mention his interesting attempt at developing a spiritual Christology, Behold the Pierced One, and, above all, his most recent book, Jesus of Nazareth. His liturgical writings are also very significant and already proving quite influential. In this regard, his liturgical trilogy must be mentioned: The Feast of Faith, A New Song for the Lord and, above all, The Spirit of the Liturgy.

For readers unfamiliar with the Pope's thought, an easier introductory approach could begin with his short autobiography Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977, which explains the context for much of his earlier work, and his three book-length interviews, The Ratzinger Report, Salt of the Earth and God and the World.

Ignatius Insight: What do you think is the place of Joseph Ratzinger in 20^th century theology? What are some aspects of his work that will likely to have a significant influence on theological studies and writing in the years to come?

Monsignor Murphy: It is very difficult to prognosticate how Joseph Ratzinger will be seen in the history of 20^th century theology. Now that he is Pope, many who were unfamiliar with his work previously will want to know more about his thinking. His theology is less speculative than that of Karl Rahner or Bernard Lonergan, and, largely because of his other commitments, he did not produce a monumental synthesis like that of Hans Urs von Balthasar. His thought has a lot in common with that of ressourcement theologians, like Henri de Lubac, who did much to recover the rich heritage of the Fathers and prompt a greater appreciation of the complexity, subtlety and variety of medieval thought beyond the simplifications of a large part of the manual tradition. With regard to medieval thinkers, it is true that Joseph Ratzinger is more influenced by Augustinianism and by its continuation in the Franciscan tradition found in St Bonaventure than by the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, whereas de Lubac devotes more attention to the latter. Also Ratzinger's thought has a very strong Scriptural component, as can be seen in Introduction to Christianity and even more so in Jesus of Nazareth.

I am of the view that Pope Benedict's approach to doing theology is likely to have a strong influence. In the introduction to Christ Our Joy, I outlined some of the characteristics of his theology, mentioning among other things that it is very Scriptural, profoundly rooted in tradition, especially in the Fathers, and is also both pastoral and spiritual. While the necessary distinctions must be made between Pope Benedict's personal theology and his Magisterium, we do find something of his theological approach in his official teaching. At present, following a number of General Audience talks on the Apostles and the early Church, recently published by Ignatius Press [Jesus, The Apostles, and the Early Church], the Pope is engaged in a very interesting series on the Fathers of the Church, in which he explains the key aspects of their thought and gives some indication of their relevance to contemporary debates. I believe this is likely to encourage theology students to delve into the riches of the Patristic writings and this is sure to benefit both theological reflection and preaching in the future. As a result, we can hope for a more reflective and spiritual style of theological writing, which draws on Scripture and tradition, while being sensitive to the questionings of our contemporaries.

Pobedonostsev

Henry Karlson recommends him as a anti-liberal thinker.

Konstantin Pobedonostsev - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Critique of Nihilism by Constantine Pobedonostsev: "The Ideals ...
Amazon.com: Pobedonostsev : His life and thought (Indiana ...

I don't read Russian.

General Semantics

*started on May 9*

Pete Takeshi mentioned he had been doing some reading on General Semantics and the writings of Hayakawa. I don't know anything about it; I did take a look at the wikipedia article, and I wonder if the founders of General Semantics really have a grasp of Aristotle, and aren't setting up strawmen arguments. I wish I could get my hands on this paper. Still, the school doesn't look like it's of much importance, and I don't think it has many followers in academic philosophy. At least I haven't come across any followers when browsing through department pages and the like.

Is it really anti-essentialist? And while I might agree with its goal of enabling 'clear thinking,' does it supply us with a good account of the difference between sensation and knowing, and how we use names? Aristotelians acknowledge that our use of a name does not mean that we automatically or necessarily have an adequate definition of the thing being named, and that all sorts of other things can be associated with the thing named, though their relationship to it may be contingent or necessary in different respects. Is General Semantics just trying to reinvent Aristotelian logic?

wiki

Alfred Korzybski - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
S. I. Hayakawa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
General Semantics
General Semantics -- Korzybski
general semantics
Institute of General Semantics
Institute of General Semantics
The New York Society for General Semantics
Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems ... - Google Books Result
DFW Center for General Semantics: Korzybski and Hayakawa
Bibliography of General Semantics Papers by Ralph Kenyon
General Semantics

Amazon.com: Language in Thought and Action: Fifth Edition: S. I. ...
SOME NOTES ON "Language in Thought and Action" by S I Hayakawa

A key to understanding the nature and grace debate?

Is God obligated to give us the opportunity to experience the beatific vision, not because He owes it to us, but because He owes it to Himself, out of love of Himself? Clearly, God is not obligated to create, and He does so freely. Creation does not increase His happiness. Giving intellectual creatures the beatific vision, as opposed to leading them to a natural end, would not increase His happiness either. If He creates, is he free to choose between giving creatures a supernatural end or a natural end? If not, what is the reason? What would determine Him to giving creatures a supernatural end, other than Himself and His will? What would the reason be for such a determination? How would willing His own good require Him to endow creatures with a supernatural end? By giving creatures a supernatural end, God gives of Himself more--there is a 'greater diffusion' of the good, but this does not increase His happiness, so it is not necessary in that respect.

Something to ponder more.

As for the natural desire of man to see God in relation to the 'pure nature' controversy between de Lubac and the neo-scholastics, I will have to study that more in detail.

Edit:
Does Milbank get de Lubac right? The Suspended Middle: Henri de Lubac and the Debate concerning the Supernatural

Henri de Lubac on a supernatural anthropology

Fr. Finigan praises Tanquerey

An afternoon at Parkminster

I referred to Tanquerey as the manual everyone loves to hate which raised a smile. People sometimes say that it is too systematic but I think that it is a wonderful book and must be taken for what it is: an attempt to pass on the wisdom of the saints.

Spiritual life: A treatise on Ascetical and Mystical Theology

@ EWTN, Spirituality

137. Spirituality - SLIFEIN.TXT - The Spiritual Life
Adolphe Tanquerey
Introduction; paragraphs 1-49. The Nature of Ascetical Theology, its Sources, its Method, its Excellence and Necessity and its Division. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL MYSTICAL PERFECTION HOLINESS

138. Spirituality - SLIFEIN.ZIP - The Spiritual Life
Adolphe Tanquerey
Introduction; paragraphs 1-49. The Nature of Ascetical Theology, its Sources, its Method, its Excellence and Necessity and its Division. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL MYSTICAL PERFECTION HOLINESS

139. Spirituality - SLP2.TXT - The Spiritual Life
Adolphe Tanquerey
Part 2, Preliminary remarks, paragraphs #617-634. Explains the basis of the distinction of the three ways, the purgative, the illuminative and the unitive, the practical way to employ this distinction wisely and the importance of the study of the three ways. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL MYSTICAL PERFECTION PURGATIVE ILLUMINATIVE UNITVE

140. Spirituality - SLP2B1.TXT - The Spiritual Life
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Part 2, Book 1, Intro., paragraphs 635-642. An explanation of what is meant by beginners and the end that beginners must strive to attain. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL MYSTICAL PERFECTION BEGINNERS

141. Spirituality - SLP2B1C1.TXT - The Spiritual Life
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Part 2, Book 1, Chapter 1, paragraphs 643-704. The prayer of beginners, prayer in general, principal spiritual exercises, mental prayer. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL PERFECTION PRAYER BEGINNERS

142. Spirituality - SLP2B1C1.ZIP - The Spiritual Life
Adolphe Tanquerey
Part 2, Book 1, Chapter 1, paragraphs 643-704. The prayer of beginners, prayer in general, principal spiritual exercises, mental prayer. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL PERFECTION PRAYER BEGINNERS

143. Spirituality - SLP2B1C2.TXT - The Spiritual Life
Adolphe Tanquerey
Part 2, Book 1, Chapter 2, paragraphs 705-750. The necessity and the notion of penance, the motives that should prompt us to hate and avoid sin and the motives and the means of atoning for sin. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY PERFECTION PENANCE SIN MORTAL VENIAL

144. Spirituality - SLP2B1C2.ZIP - The Spiritual Life
Adolphe Tanquerey
Part 2, Book 1, Chapter 2, paragraphs 705-750. The necessity and the notion of penance, the motives that should prompt us to hate and avoid sin and the motives and the means of atoning for sin. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY PERFECTION PENANCE SIN MORTAL VENIAL

145. Spirituality - SLP2B1C3.TXT - The Spiritual Life
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Part 2, Book 1, Chapter 3, paragraphs 751-817. An explanation of the nature, the necessity and the practice of mortification. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL MYSTICAL PERFECTION SALVATION MORTIFICATION SENSES EXTERIOR INTERIOR PASSIONS FACULTIES

146. Spirituality - SLP2B1C3.ZIP - The Spiritual Life
Adolphe Tanquerey
Part 2, Book 1, Chapter 3, paragraphs 751-817. An explanation of the nature, the necessity and the practice of mortification. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL MYSTICAL PERFECTION SALVATION MORTIFICATION SENSES EXTERIOR INTERIOR PASSIONS FACULTIES

147. Spirituality - SLP2B1C4.TXT - The Spiritual Life
Adolphe Tanquerey
Part 2, Book 1, Chapter 4, paragraphs 818-899. The struggle against the Capital Sins. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL MYSTICAL PERFECTION CAPITAL SINS PRIDE ENVY ANGER GLUTTONY LUST SLOTH AVARICE

148. Spirituality - SLP2B1C4.ZIP - The Spiritual Life
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Part 2, Book 1, Chapter 4, paragraphs 818-899. The struggle against the Capital Sins. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL MYSTICAL PERFECTION CAPITAL SINS PRIDE ENVY ANGER GLUTTONY LUST SLOTH AVARICE

149. Spirituality - SPIRLIFE.ZIP - The Spiritual Life
Adolpe Tanquerey
Manual of Spiritual (Ascetical and Mystical) Theology. Incomplete: The First Part and all but the last book of the Second Part have been scanned so far. The following 11 files are contained in this zipped file. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL AND MYSTICAL GRACE PERFECTION MORTIFICATION PENANCE SIN VICE CAPITAL SINS

150. Spirituality - SLIFE1.TXT - The Spiritual Life
Adolphe Tanquerey
Part One, Chapter One, paragraphs #49-87. Origin of the supernatural life: the raising of man to the supernatural state, his fall, and redemption. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL MYSTICAL PERFECTION HOLINESS FALL

151. Spirituality - SLIFE1.ZIP - The Spiritual Life
Adolphe Tanquerey
Part One, Chapter One, paragraphs #49-87. Origin of the supernatural life: the raising of man to the supernatural state, his fall, and redemption. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL MYSTICAL PERFECTION HOLINESS FALL

152. Spirituality - SLIFE2.TXT - The Spiritual Life
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Part One, Chapter Two, paragraphs #88-294. Nature of the Christian life: God's part and the soul's part. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL MYSTICAL TRINITY INCARNATE WORD MARY GRACE SAINTS ANGELS CONCUPISCENCE WORLD DEVIL MERIT GRACE PENANCE

153. Spirituality - SLIFE2.ZIP - The Spiritual Life
Adolphe Tanquerey
Part One, Chapter Two, paragraphs #88-294. Nature of the Christian life: God's part and the soul's part. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL MYSTICAL TRINITY INCARNATE WORD MARY GRACE SAINTS ANGELS CONCUPISCENCE WORLD DEVIL MERIT GRACE PENANCE

154. Spirituality - SLIFE3.TXT - The Spiritual Life
Adolphe Tanquerey
Part 1, Chapter 3, paragraphs #295-351. Perfection of this life: the love of God and of the neighbor carried to the point of sacrifice. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL MYSTICAL PERFECTION UNBELIEVERS WORLDLINGS DEVOUT LOVE SACRIFICE PRECEPTS COUNSELS

155. Spirituality - SLIFE3.ZIP - The Spiritual Life
Adolphe Tanquerey
Part 1, Chapter 3, paragraphs #295-351. Perfection of this life: the love of God and of the neighbor carried to the point of sacrifice. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL MYSTICAL PERFECTION UNBELIEVERS WORLDLINGS DEVOUT LOVE SACRIFICE PRECEPTS COUNSELS

156. Spirituality - SLIFE4.TXT - The Spiritual Life
Adolphe Tanquerey
Part 1, Chapter 4, paragraphs #352-406. Obligation for laymen, religious and priests to strive after perfection. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL PERFECTION RELIGIOUS PRIESTS LAYMEN

157. Spirituality - SLIFE4.ZIP - The Spiritual Life
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Part 1, Chapter 4, paragraphs #352-406. Obligation for laymen, religious and priests to strive after perfection. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL PERFECTION RELIGIOUS PRIESTS LAYMEN

158. Spirituality - SLIFE5.TXT - The Spiritual Life
Adolphe Tanquerey
Part 1, Chapter 5, paragraphs # 407-616. General means, interior and exterior, of attaining perfection. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL MYSTICAL PERFECTION KNOWLEDGE PRAYER DESIRE CONFORMITY GOD'S WILL RULE SPIRITUAL READING

159. Spirituality - SLIFE5.ZIP - The Spiritual Life
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Part 1, Chapter 5, paragraphs # 407-616. General means, interior and exterior, of attaining perfection. TANQUEREY SPIRITUAL THEOLOGY ASCETICAL MYSTICAL PERFECTION KNOWLEDGE PRAYER DESIRE CONFORMITY GOD'S WILL RULE SPIRITUAL READING