Steven Long on Formal Cooperation

Steven Long, The Dubious Guidance of the New Natural Law Theorists on "Formal Cooperation"

Some thoughts occasioned by Bp. Wcela’s essay on female deacons (via Fr. Z)

A canonical treatment of the question, not a theological response to the ordination of [female] deaconesses in the East and explanations of the practice current in Orthodoxy.

Vengeance and Justice

Something of note: Ed Feser has written something on vengeance and its relation to justice - Justice or Revenge?

Sólo sé mí

Palamism Explained in Twelve Minutes or Less (via Byzantine, Texas) - mp3

Vatican Insider: “Vatican II is the cradle of the new evangelisation”

The theology of Abp. Joseph Augustine DiNoia, O.P. by Michael J. Miller (via Insight Scoop)

"The documents of the Second Vatican Council have lasting value because they were produced and approved by an Ecumenical Council under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The interpretations of those documents by enthusiasts who emphasized “renewal” and ignored “tradition” were not necessarily the same thing."

St. Hildegard of Bingen: A Visionary for All Time by Brennan Pursell

Shinichi Mochizuki

Proof claimed for deep connection between primes

World's Most Complex Mathematical Theory 'Cracked'
NYT

Steve Sailer on supposed Japanese unoriginality.

From 2004: Return of the Relics of St. John Chrysostom and St. Gregory the Theologian to Constantinople

Ecclesia in Medio Oriente

English (pdf) - via FT

Vatican summary

Ecclesia in Medio Oriente: Keys to understanding the new papal document


Related:
Pope's Address Upon Signing Apostolic Exhortation on Mideast [2012-09-14]
It "can be read and understood in the light of this Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross"
Pope's Presentation of "Ecclesia in Medio Oriente"
"A guide to follow the various and complex paths where Christ goes before you" [2012-09-16]
Pope's Address at Ecumenical Meeting in Beirut
"Let us work without ceasing so that the love of Christ may lead us little by little into full communion with each other

Being

James Chastek, What am I trying to signify by “being”? and Simultaneity and the First, Second, and Third Way

I've been thinking of the question of being in relation to Duns Scotus and univocity, but since my handle of metaphysics is that of a beginner, I am just jotting some notes for later reference. Can there be a concept of being without first some sort of assent that a particular thing is/exists? How can one know any sensible thing without first sensing it? While essence is not the same as existence for contingent beings, does our conception of a thing necessarily have a reference to the judgment that it has existed? Is our conception of being then dependent upon some "being" having an effect upon our senses? A being is, first, that which has acted upon our senses, either directly or via something else?

If so, can our conception of being be univocal in this way, while it is equivocal when we try to reason out how material creatures differ from immaterial beings and God? Being is univocal in accordance with this sort of preliminary definition, but equivocal with a more "scientific" definition?

Interesting, according to Vox, the OED gives a definition of torture not just as being a form of coercion but as punishment: "he action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or in order to force them to do or say something"

John Taverner: Dum transisset sabbatum

Something from 1936? Any updates in scholarship since then? St. Isidore and mediaeval science by Floyd Seyward Lear

Fr. Uwe Michael Lang's book, "The Voice of the Church at Prayer", reviewed by Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J.

Zenit: POPE'S MESSAGE ON 10 COMMANDMENTS
"God has given us the Commandments to educate us to liberty and genuine love"

Some discussion of women in the diaconate at ByzCath. Both men and women can serve others - but is it the case that women deacons were raised to Holy Orders? Does the deacon have a place in the hierarchy of authority? (Or is it the case that the diaconate, for both men and women, is a separate Holy Order from that of the presbyterate, as one commentor claims?)

While it may convince some that the priest is male because he represents Christ, what about the question of why is Christ male? Arguing that He is male because He is the Bridegroom while the Church is the Bride may be sufficient for some, but isn't the difference in role not something accidental?

Tomás Luis de Victoria, Ave Regina Caelorum

Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) Ave Regina caelorum a 8


Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) Missa Ave Regina caelorum

Vatican Diary / The conversion of bishop-theologian Bruno Forte

Forte's joining the fray is significant, and in some ways surprising.

It is significant because he is one of the best-known Italian bishops, including at the international level, and enjoys a substantial following among his brother bishops, who in fact appointed him as their representative at the worldwide synod on the new evangelization that will be held in Rome in October. Of the four selections he is the only one without the scarlet, the other three being all cardinals: Angelo Bagnasco, Giuseppe Betori, and Angelo Scola.

It is surprising because Forte has always been considered a theologian of the progressive camp, the camp that most opposes, and not only in Italy, the passage from "for all" to "for many."

At the memorable ecclesial conference in Loreto in 1985, which marked the ascent in the leadership of the Italian Church of then-auxiliary bishop of Reggio Emilia Camillo Ruini, Forte was fighting for the other and the winning side, together with the president of the episcopal conference at the time, Anastasio Ballestrero, and Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini. And it was he who gave the introductory theological presentation.

This is why he has not rarely ended up in the crosshairs of his more conservative theologian colleagues.

For example, in a 2004 article Fr. Nicola Bux, an adviser – both then and now – to the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, singled out Forte as one of the "promulgators" of a "weak and derivative theology" concerning the resurrection of Jesus, reduced "to an 'etiological legend,' or an artifice in support of the worship that the Judeo-Christians were conducting on the site of Jesus' burial."

But Forte's taking the field is even more surprising because it marks in him a change of judgment with respect to the past.