What vices can be tolerated for the sake of the common good?

In ST II II 96, 2:

I answer that, As stated above (90, A1,2), law is framed as a rule or measure of human acts. Now a measure should be homogeneous with that which it measures, as stated in Metaph. x, text. 3,4, since different things are measured by different measures. Whereforelaws imposed on men should also be in keeping with their condition, for, as Isidore says (Etym. v, 21), law should be "possible both according to nature, and according to the customs of the country." Now possibility or faculty of action is due to an interior habit or disposition: since the same thing is not possible to one who has not a virtuous habit, as is possible to one who has. Thus the same is not possible to a child as to a full-grown man: for which reason the law for children is not the same as for adults, since many things are permitted to children, which in an adult are punished by law or at any rate are open to blame. In like manner many things are permissible to men not perfect in virtue, which would be intolerable in a virtuous man.

Now human law is framed for a number of human beings, the majority of whom are not perfect in virtue. Wherefore human laws do not forbid all vices, from which the virtuous abstain, but only the more grievous vices, from which it is possible for the majority to abstain; and chiefly those that are to the hurt of others, without the prohibition of which human society could not be maintained: thus human law prohibits murder, theft and such like.

Could a case be made that abortion should be tolerated, because to prohibit it would lead to greater evils? (Moral evils, or just evils as in bad consequences?) And abortion is not of the same gravity as murder, in so far as it does not undermine society (peace and relations between citizens) as much as murder does?

Is there a difference between directly legislating "a right to abortion" and merely tolerating it? Is it correct to say that Roe v. Wade establishes this right through the right to privacy

If we take Aquinas as a guide, it would seem that the gravity of abortion is enough that it should be prohibited, and that it is something that can be avoided by the majority. As for any bad consequences that might arise from banning it, I do not see how they outweigh the injustice that is done through abortion.

Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John II have said that abortion is both a crime against the child and against society, and it undermines social life. I do wonder if the social impact is as great as murder--there is the subjective culpability of the women who have abortions to take into consideration, as well as their recognition (or lack of) of the humanity of the conceptum. Abortion does not seem to destroy peace in the same way as murder--though its acceptance can further the decline and eventual self-destruction of society. It does not seem to be an exaggeration to say that lust can have this much of an effect.

Hubert Van Zeller, The Gospel Priesthood
(doc)

available from Roman Catholic Books

Sandro Magister: Transplants and Brain Death. "L'Osservatore Romano" Has Broken the Taboo

Zenit: Interview With Mariologist Mark Miravalle, Part 2

The Mariology Gap

The Mariology Gap

Interview With Mariologist Mark Miravalle (Part 2)

By Irene Lagan

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio, SEPT. 4, 2008 (Zenit.org).- After the Second Vatican Council there was a gap in interest in Mariology, one that Mariologist Mark Miravalle has sought to fill with a comprehensive compilation of the Church's teaching on Mary.

Mark Miravalle, professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, is the editor of "Mariology: A Guide for Priests, Deacons, and Seminarians, and Consecrated Persons" (Queenship Publishing).

He will also be a speaker at the 22nd International Mariological Marian Congress, to begin Thursday in Lourdes.

The congresses, held every four years, are sponsored by the Pontifical International Marian Academy. This year's theme is "The Apparitions of the Most Holy Virgin Mary: Between History, Faith and Theology."

In part two of this interview with ZENIT, Miravalle comments on how the gap in Mariology came about, and how Pope John Paul II was key to filling it.

Part 1 of this interview appeared Wednesday.

Q: What is the purpose of the book?

Miravalle: The intention of this work is to compile a postconciliar, single volume on Mariology that would be helpful for priests, deacons, religious, seminarians, and consecrated persons (as well as for educated laity).

Before the Second Vatican Council, the U.S. Mariologist, Father Juniper Carol, produced a three-volume work on Mariology in which he essentially assigned a chapter to a respected theologian in the systematic study of the theology of Mary. Unfortunately there has not been a similar work done in English since the Council.

Over the years, many priests and religious have mentioned that they felt a certain "gap" in their previous formation with regard to the theology of Marian dogma and devotion, either during their seminary instruction or their religious formation. Our first intention with this work was therefore to serve clergy and religious as well as consecrated persons in filling that gap with a rich and a contemporary Mariology within the obvious limits of a single volume work.

I therefore contacted Mariologists from a diversity of countries, including Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, and the United States, and as well from different universities and Mariological societies, and asked each to contribute one chapter concerning a dogmatic, doctrinal, liturgical or devotional truth about the Mother of the Lord, which would be in complete conformity with the directions of the Second Vatican Council, as well as conveying the Church's sublime tradition on the Mother of Jesus.

The work reflects what Pope Benedict would call a "hermeneutics of continuity" with the rich Mariology before the Council, coupled with the inspired Mariological insights of the Council and postconciliar magisterium, especially the extraordinary contributions of John Paul II. Hence, the work seeks to present the best of Classical Mariology, but also provide a contemporary theology of Mary as a result of the Second Vatican Council.

Q. How do you account for the lack of Mariological studies since the Council?

Miravalle: It is interesting that theologians like Cardinal Ratzinger have made reference to the years following the Council as a "decade without Mary." This is certainly not due to the Council's authentic Mariological teachings, but to various erroneous interpretations of the council that the council fathers as a whole sought to de-emphasize the role of Mary in the Church. The generous and genial Mariology of the "Totus Tuus" Pontiff, Servant of God John Paul II, was the greatest single corrective in returning Mariological trends back to the best of both classical Mariology and conciliar Mariology.

Q. What gave you the inspiration for this book?

Miravalle: Apart from the aforesaid need to fill in gaps of authentic Mariological study for some members of today's clergy, religious, and consecrated persons, was the papacy and person of John Paul II. Once again, I believe John Paul II single handedly directed a course of both Christo-typical (or Christ-centered) Mariology and ecclesio-typical (or Church-centered) Mariology at a time when it appeared theologians felt compelled to choose either one or the other.

John Paul's Mariology manifested the perfect harmony of appreciating how Our Lady uniquely participates as co-redemptrix in the redemption brought by Jesus Christ, and her subsequent role of maternal mediation and advocacy in service to humanity; and at the same time, how the Immaculate Mother of God is the perfect model for the people of God as co-redeemers and intercessors for each other and for all humanity. Hence, John Paul II's "both and" approach to understanding Mary's unique role with Jesus and being the perfect model in the life of the Church really points to the correct hermeneutic for understanding Mariology today.

Recently in August, Pope Benedict offered profound comments regarding the sufferings of John Paul II in his later life, sufferings which our present Holy Father said released a "redeeming force" of love through the "passion" of his Totus Tuus predecessor. That's precisely being a co-redeemer in Christ after the model of Mary Co-redemptrix.

The co-redemptive sufferings of Mary with Jesus become a perfect model of Christian co-redemption for every member of the Church.

Looking first at Mary's uniqueness in relation to Jesus will never take away from her relevance to the Church. As we see that we, as the People of God, did not give birth to Jesus; are not immaculately conceived; that we will not be immediately assumed into heaven at the end of our earthly life, and that we do not mediate grace for humanity as she does, should make clear to us the primacy of Mary as not simply the eldest daughter of the Church but as "Mother of the Church" and she holds perfections and subsequent roles beyond all others in the body of Christ.

At the same time, we are called to follow her example in the way we are called to suffer our daily crosses as members of the Church and unite them to the sufferings of Jesus and Mary for the redemption of others -- as did our co-redemptrix -- to be instruments of intercessory prayer for each other. As we battle on this earthly pilgrim journey for our own heavenly crowns, we can still revere her as the unique and unparalleled Queen of heaven and earth.

Q. Is there a particular emphasis in the book?

Miravalle: The challenge of the council fathers to theologians given in "Lumen Gentium" paragraph 54 was to continue the work regarding Mariological questions that still called for further study.

Foremost in this category would be how Mary shared in the saving mission of Jesus Christ, or the Mariological genus of what John Paul commonly termed, "maternal mediation." This is why there is a particular emphasis in these essays on Marian co-redemption and mediation.

Actually, several times already this year, Pope Benedict XVI has offered the same emphasis on Mary's role with Jesus in the historic redemption of humanity. For example, in his Feb. 11, 2008, letter on the World Day of the Sick -- so closely associated with Lourdes -- the Holy Father teaches Mary's unique sharing with Jesus in the redemptive passion at Calvary, and as well makes reference to Our Lady's sharing in the sufferings of her earthly children in the midst of their trials and crosses of today.

In his prayer composed for the people of China, the Pope addresses our Lady of Sheshan by recalling Mary's saving "Yes" at the annunciation in connection to her unique suffering of Calvary. The words of the prayer make explicit the connection between Mary's fiat and her cooperation in the work of redemption, ultimately allowing the sword of pain to pierce her own soul at Calvary.

So it appears that Pope Benedict is likewise contributing to "complete" the study and recognition of Our Lady's co-redemption and mediation for humanity.

Q: Does this volume seek to support the Church's efforts for a new evangelization?

Miravalle: As I mentioned previously, the book is intended to be a service to clergy, religious, and consecrated lay persons and all those who wish to gain a deeper understanding of what John Paul II used to call "the whole truth about Mary." But it's also a work for lay evangelists who find that preaching the truth about Mary is the best preparation for a full acceptance of Christ in the fullness of his Church.

The first great evangelization started with a "yes" from the Virgin of Nazareth. The second great evangelization at Guadalupe, which lead to the largest Catholic continent in the world, began by sending the Mother to prepare the way for the Son.

For the present third great evangelization, we should follow the same format as God the Father used for the first two: Prepare the way through the Virgin Mother of God.

The whole truth about Mary is the best means to teach the whole truth about Jesus and the truth about his saving incarnation, redemption and his Church. Teaching about Mary leads to belief in the real Jesus, both God and man. The uncompromised teaching of the full truth about Mary will always safeguard the full truth about Jesus, and hence serve to be the most efficacious and effective guiding star and mediating force for the present new evangelization.

--- --- ---

On the Net:

Miravalle's "Mariology": www.queenship.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=6568

Office for Social Justice, St. Paul and Minneapolis

Zenit: Interview With Mariologist Mark Miravalle, Part 1

Why Mary Appears

Why Mary Appears

Interview With Mariologist Mark Miravalle (Part 1)

By Irene Lagan

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio, SEPT. 3, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Private Marian apparitions serve to remind mankind that God exists, and to provide an opportunity to conduct a "global examination of conscience," according to Mariologist Mark Miravalle.

The professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville will be a speaker at the 22nd International Mariological Marian Congress, to begin Thursday in Lourdes.

The congresses, held every four years, are sponsored by the Pontifical International Marian Academy. This year's theme is "The Apparitions of the Most Holy Virgin Mary: Between History, Faith and Theology."

Benedict XVI named Cardinal Paul Poupard, retired president of the Pontifical Councils for Culture and Interreligious Dialogue, as his special envoy to the Marian conference. The Pope will visit the shrine later this month for the 150th anniversary of the Marian apparitions.

Miravalle, author of "Mariology: A Guide for Priests, Deacons, and Seminarians, and Consecrated Persons" (Queenship Publishing), discusses in the first part of this interview with ZENIT the significance of the congress and the importance of Marian apparitions for our times.

Part 2 of this interview will appear Thursday.

Q. What is the significance of this congress, one week before the Pope's visit to Lourdes, and what is the significance of Benedict XVI's Lourdes pilgrimage?

Miravalle: The Holy Father does not hesitate to celebrate authentic Marian private revelation nor does the Church, as is evidenced by his Lourdes visit. Pope Benedict is quick to acknowledge one of the world's most renowned Marian fonts of conversion, grace and healing that has flowed to the five continents through the true apparitions of the Immaculate Conception at Lourdes.

Pope Benedict XVI, as did John Paul II before him, also acknowledges the organic connection between the Lourdes apparitions and the particular trials of the sick throughout the world, which is recognized every year on the Lourdes anniversary of Feb. 11, now designated as the World Day of the Sick.

This Holy Father is very much following the course of John Paul II in highlighting Our Lady's co-redemptive role with Jesus as the perfect model for the people of God on how we should patiently "offer up" our sufferings and illnesses in union with Christ for the mysterious release of grace for others, making us co-redeemers as well.

Hopefully, the anticipatory Mariological-Marian congress can help prepare for the Pope's visit by presenting and articulating the theology of the Church regarding Marian private revelation.

Q. What is the purpose of this congress?

Miravalle: I believe the purpose of the conference is to theologically and scientifically examine the domain of Marian private revelation, in its nature, its history, and its contemporary relevance.

As Rene Laurentin summarized, the Church essentially examines the three criteria of message, phenomena and spiritual fruits when discerning a reported revelation.

Laurentin also mentioned once that if Lourdes happened today it would probably not be accepted in light of the heightened scepticism and rationalism of our times. In this age of greater rationalism, materialism, consumerism and humanism, the possibility of the supernatural seems more and more diminished for the common person.

And yet, God continues to "interfere" in human history by sending the Mother of Jesus, particularly in times when a more rationalistic vision has made acts of Christian faith more difficult. The human family needs to be reminded, sometimes in a dynamic and supernatural way, that God exists, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a universal call, that we all will be held responsible for our human choices, and that, over all, the world could benefit from a type of "global examination of conscience" on how well we are responding to the ubiquitous invitations from the "Hound of Heaven," as the poet [Francis] Thompson refers to God, for personal salvation and for world peace. But it remains up to us to respond.

The Church is appropriately both cautious and open to the domain of private revelation. She can never run the risk of losing credibility as guardian of public revelation by a too hasty confirmation of a reported private revelation, let alone something false. And yet, we can see the sublimely generous fruits of authentic Marian private revelation, which is but a heavenly spark to compel the world to living the saving message of the Gospel in the fullness of the Church, and as well to assist the Church's ongoing mission of evangelization.

Imagine the 16th century without Guadalupe, or the 19th and 20th centuries without Rue du Bac, Lourdes and Fatima. While always remaining obedient to the Church's definitive judgment on a given revelation, we should thank God for the tremendous graces and blessings brought to the world through the avenue of authentic Marian apparitions.

Q: Are there more reported and approved Marian apparitions in this age than in other ages?

Miravalle: There have been more apparitions approved in the contemporary era than in any other era in the Church's history. We must keep in mind that the nature and purpose of private revelation is never to replace public revelation contained in Scripture and Tradition, but rather to accentuate the more challenging aspects of the Gospel. For example, the call to be more generous in prayer, to fasting regularly, and to committed conversion, which alone leads to a spiritual peace of heart.

If true Marian apparitions are on the increase in our times, it means our age is in greater need of encouragement to live generously the prayer and sacramental life of the Church. We should be grateful, but we should also, as Blessed Pope John XXIII said in his Feb. 18, 1959, Lourdes address, "listen attentively to the salutary warnings of the Mother of God," which seek to "guide us in our conduct."

Q: What topic will you be discussing at the Lourdes congress?

Miravalle: My presentation will be on the theme of Mary's unique cooperation in the redemption as it appears in the 19th- and 20th-century approved Marian apparitions.

In the apparitions of the "Miraculous Medal" in 1830, Lourdes in 1858, Fatima in 1917, Amsterdam in 1945, and Akita, Japan, in the 1970s, the theme of Our Lady's co-redemption, as well as the Marian call for Christian co-redemption by the people of God is a pronounced, consistent theme.

The Mother of Jesus uniquely shared as "Co-redemptrix" with Jesus in accomplishing the world's redemption. But we are all called to offer prayer and penance to God in reparation for sin and for the conversion of sinners throughout this Marian message to the modern world.

Bernadette echoed Our Lady's call for "penance, penance, penance." Our Lady of Fatima asked the children visionaries to daily pray the rosary for conversion of sinners and world peace, to "make of everything you can a sacrifice," and Our Lady appeared as "Our Lady of Sorrows" during the Oct. 13, 1917, apparition of the solar miracle.

The statue of the Lady of All Nations at Akita, Japan, wept 101 times and the apparitions and phenomena were declared supernatural by Bishop [John] Ito of Niigata after consultation with Cardinal [Joseph] Ratzinger in 1984. The apparitions of the Lady of All Nations, approved by Bishop [Joseph] Punt of Amsterdam as authentic in 2002, furthered the call for Christian co-redemption as well as for the solemn definition of Mary as co-redemptrix, mediatrix and advocate.

It should be no surprise that the truth of Our Lady's unique role with Jesus in redemption as taught explicitly by the magisterium during the last two centuries is mirrored in the domain of ecclesiastically approved private revelation from the same historical time period.

Q. The theme of Mary as co-redemptrix is also the subject of discussion concerning a possible fifth Marian dogma. What would be the potential benefits of proclaiming this dogma at this time for the Church?

Miravalle: I believe a papal definition would have numerous positive effects for the Church. It would articulate this perennial doctrine of Our Lady's unique role, which is entirely dependent on Jesus Christ, divine and human redeemer of all, with the greatest possible scriptural and theological clarity. It's hard to think of a more a capable pontiff for such a definition than our own genial Pope-theologian, Pope Benedict, if he would so desire to make this proclamation.

I also believe that this dogma would serve the ecumenical mission of the Church by assuring other Christian traditions that the Catholic Church does distinguish between Jesus Christ as the divine and human Redeemer upon whom all redemption depends, and the unique participation of his immaculate human mother in the history of salvation.

The dogma would also focus the people of God upon their Christian duty to participate in the salvation of others. Would this not be the antidote to the isolation and loneliness of so many? Is this not answering the call to the new evangelism, and the call of Our Lady of Fatima to pray and do penance for the conversion of sinners? It would in fact be a clear answer on the part of the Church for all those who fear that suffering is meaningless. On the contrary, for the Christian, human suffering is always supernaturally and eternally redemptive.

--- --- ---

On the Net:

Miravalle's "Mariology": www.queenship.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=6568

A new blog: Philosophia Perennis

The origin of same-sex attraction

For some, not for all?

I am familiar with some of the stuff that has been published online and through Ignatius Press.
There are organizations like NARTH and Courage.

It's been a while since I've read the models presented in those books--I was thinking about the lack of affection from a father and the lack of security in one's self-image, coupled with the flexibility of human desire (in the will), and when it is subverted by emotional needs. Add to this a feedback loop (the use of pleasure)--self-abuse with pornography--would it not be possible to reinforce certain desires as a result? And if one is not clear on the distinction between love and affection and sex, could not one project a same-sex attraction back into memories of childhood? A desire for affection from others as a part of friendship is rather normal--it isn't the same as a desire for sex, though some think that the use of sex as a sign of affection justifies any sort of sex.
So one's own psychological need for affection, coupled with sexual appetite--could this not lead to same-sex attraction and temptations?

Because of the feedback loop, isn't it possible that anything can turn human beings on, with the right sort of stimulus-pleasure-reinforcement loop? What then of the promptings ab malo?

Is there a similar genesis in some women? New fact sheet.

I have read that babies who are not touched will become depressed and may even die. Human beings need to be touched as a part of their normal psychological development--and it seems to me that the sense of touch really is the most basic in communicating affection and perceiving it. The senses are tied to the development of psychic life and emotional well-being, and we should not be surprised that as animals, things can go haywire during emotional development, subverting reason, as it were, later in life.

In many cultures where the ideal for males is not to express themselves through their body may still be able to compensate through fathers who communicate affection through their words. But it is only one step away from the father who does not communicate his affection at all.


Dr. Joseph Nicolosi on Catholic Answers, August 25, 2008--mp3, Real.
I caught the last 10 minutes on Monday; Dr. Nicolosi talked about displaced affection.

B16: On the Pope's Mission

On the Pope's Mission

"To Make Present Among Men the Peace of God"

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 24, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered today before reciting the midday Angelus with several thousand people gathered in the courtyard of the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo.

* * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters!

This Sunday's liturgy addresses the twofold question that Jesus one day posed to his disciples, to us Christians, and to every man and woman. First he asks them: "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They told him that for some he was John the Baptist come back to life, for others, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Then the Lord directly asked the disciples: "Who do you say that I am?" Peter speaks decisively and with enthusiasm on behalf of all: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." A solemn proclamation of faith that the Church has continued to repeat ever since.

We too today desire to proclaim with deep conviction: Yes, Jesus, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God! We do this knowing that Christ is the true "treasure" for which it is worth sacrificing everything; he is the friend who never abandons us, because he knows the most intimate longings of our heart. Jesus is the "Son of the living God," the promised Messiah, who has come to earth to offer salvation and to satisfy the thirst for life and love that inhabits every human being. How much humanity would gain by welcoming this proclamation that brings joy and peace with it!

"You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." In response to this inspired profession of faith from Peter, Jesus says: "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. To you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven."

This is the first time that Jesus speaks of the Church, whose mission is the actuation of the great design of God to gather the whole of humanity into one family in Christ. The mission of Peter, and of his successors, is precisely to serve this unity of the one Church of God made up of pagans and Jews; his indispensable ministry is to make sure that the Church never identifies herself with any particular nation or culture, but that she be the Church of all peoples, to make present among men -- who are marked by countless divisions and contrasts -- the peace of God, the unity of those who have become brothers and sisters in Christ: This is the unique mission of the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, the successor of Peter.

Before the enormous responsibility of this task, I feel more and more the obligation and importance of the service to the Church and the world that has been entrusted to me. Because of this I ask you dear brothers and sisters to support me with your prayer, so that, faithful to Christ, together we can announce and bear witness to his presence in our time. May Mary, whom we confidently invoke as Mother of the Church and Star of Evangelization, obtain this grace for us.

[Following the Angelus, the Pope said the following:]

The growing tensions around the world in recent weeks is cause for lively concern. We must note, with bitterness, the threat of a progressive deterioration in the climate of confidence and cooperation that should characterize relations between nations. In the present circumstances, how can we not measure the difficulty with which humanity strives to form that common awareness of being the "family of nations" that John Paul II indicated as the ideal to the general assembly of the United Nations? We must deepen the awareness of being united by a common destiny, that, in the final analysis, is a transcendent destiny (Cf. "Message for the World Day of Peace," Jan. 1, 2006, No. 6), to avert the return to nationalistic conflicts that in other historical periods have had such tragic consequences.

The recent events have weakened the confidence in many that such experiences had been consigned to the past. But we must not give in to pessimism! We must instead actively commit ourselves to reject the temptation to confront new situations with old systems. Violence must be repudiated! The moral force of law, equitable and transparent negotiations to settle controversies, beginning with those linked to the territorial integrity and self-determination of peoples, fidelity to the word given, pursuit of the common good: These are some of the principal routes to take, with tenacity and creativity, to build fruitful and sincere relations and to guarantee to present and future generations times of concord and moral and civil progress!

Let us transform these thoughts and these desires into prayer, so that all the members of the international community and those, in particular, who have been given great responsibility, will work with generosity to re-establish the superior motivations of justice and peace. Mary, Queen of peace, intercede for us!

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

[Then the Holy Father greeted the people in several languages. In English, he said:]

I am happy to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present for this Angelus prayer. Today's Liturgy reminds us that as Christians we profess with Simon Peter that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. As members of the Church may we always find the courage to live faithfully and bear witness in word and deed to Christ our Lord and Saviour. I wish you all a pleasant stay in Castel Gandolfo and Rome, and a blessed Sunday!

© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Michael Liccione on the nature/grace question: Backward Christian soldiers

Pertinacious Papist has an interesting excerpt from a book written by Joseph Ratzinger in the mid-60s: Revisiting Pope Benedict on Ecumenism & Ecclesiology

Umberto Eco's homepage
Umberto Eco: Porta Ludovica - Author Homepage

Google Books: A Theory of Semiotics, Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages, more

AFP: Japanese create stem cells from wisdom teeth (via Drudge)

First skin, now wisdom teeth... what else will turn out to be a source of stem cells?

Scientists Use Skin To Create Stem Cells
Making Skin Cells Into Stem Cells Minus the Cancer | Wired Science
Human Skin Cells Reprogrammed Into Embryonic Stem Cells
Scientists Reach Stem Cell Milestone - TIME

From 2005: Stem Cell Breakthrough: No More Need to Destroy Embryos?

Avery Dulles, The Assurance of Things Hoped For

Google Books

Within the formal object some Scholastic theologians, seeking additional precision, distinguished the objectum formale quod (the formal object which is attained, and by reason of which the material object is attained) from the objectum formale quo (that by virtue of which the formal object is attained). They hold that the formal object “which” (quod) is attained in faith is God himself, the Creator and Lord, and that the formal object “by which” (quo) God’s authority becomes accessible is God’s action in revealing. Thus the formal object, completely stated, is the “authority of the revealing God.”

St. Thomas and others who emphasize the intellectual aspect of faith frequently characterize the formal object as the First Truth (prima veritas). Thomists frequently express the formal object “by which” (objectum formale quo) as “the authority of the First Truth in revealing” or “the truthfulness of God in speaking.” (188)

From the current issue of Humanitas: Phillip W. Gray, Political Theology and the Theology of Politics: Carl Schmitt and Medieval Political Thought

Michael Nielsen's project: Book: "The Future of Science"
Six Rules for Rewriting

Translations of Logica--Niggardly Phil's blog, Analytics Free for All

CDF, Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation

Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation
Replies to Certain Questions of the Day

Cassiodorus

James J. O'Donnell's biography of Cassiodorus is available online. His Cassiodorus page.


Iirc, I've read reviews critical of his biography of St. Augustine, so I don't know if his biography of Cassiodorus is worth reading. But there do not seem to be many books about him.

James J. O'Donnell: Augustine of Hippo

UPenn site for Dr. O'Donnell. FM Interviews.

Other links:
CE
The Letters of Cassiodorus by Senator Cassiodorus - Project Gutenberg
Google Books: Cassiodorus: Explanation of the Psalms
Variae
Societas internationalis pro Vivario
Latin Library

Benedict XVI: ZENIT - On Boethius and Cassiodorus

David Gordon, Going off Rawls

Going off Rawls

He offers an ingenious substitute for utilitarianism. Instead of directly advancing a theory of his own, Rawls asks what we can do when faced with the fact that people do not agree on a common conception of the good. He answers that even if people do not agree on the good, they can accept a fair procedure for settling what the principles of justice should be. This is key to Rawls’s theory: whatever arises from a fair procedure is just.

But what is a fair procedure? Rawls again has an ingenious approach, his famous veil of ignorance. Suppose five children have to divide a cake among themselves. One child cuts the cake, but he does not know who will get the shares. He is likely to divide the cake into equal shares, an arrangement that the children, no doubt grudgingly, will admit to be fair. By denying the child information that would bias the result, a fair outcome can be achieved.

Rawls’s veil of ignorance generalizes the point of this example. He asks that we imagine a situation, which he calls the original position, in which people do not know their own abilities, tastes, and conceptions of the good. Under this limit, individuals motivated by self-interest endeavor to arrive at principles of justice. People behind the veil of ignorance are self-interested but in crucial respects ignorant.

Rawls thinks that everyone, regardless of his plan of life or conception of the good, will want certain “primary goods.” These include rights and liberties, powers and opportunities, income and wealth, and self-respect. Without these primary goods, no one can accomplish his goals, whatever they may be. Hence, individuals in the original position will agree that everyone should get at least a minimum amount of these primary goods. This is an inherently redistributionist idea, since the primary goods are not natural properties of human beings. If someone lacks these primary goods, they must be provided for him, if necessary at the expense of others.

Concretely, Rawls thinks that people will agree to two principles of justice. The first calls for the greatest liberty for each person, consistent with equal liberty for all. Surely, he suggests, even if you lack information about your actual goals, as the veil prescribes, you will want to be free to pursue whatever these goals turn out to be. Not only will people want liberty, Rawls thinks, they will give this principle priority over the other one, the principle of difference, which in part deals with distribution of economic goods. The two principles cannot be “traded off” against each other: economic equality, for example, cannot be achieved at the expense of liberty

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.