Sandro Magister, The Theologian and the Cardinal. An American Story

The censure of a book about God provokes not rupture, but dialogue. The progressive magazine "America" holds out the olive branch. A lesson by Pope Benedict on what "true" theology is

What gives?

Oh really?

NYT: Internet Use Affects Memory, Study Finds

"The subjects were significantly more likely to remember information if they thought they would not be able to find it later. “Participants did not make the effort to remember when they thought they could later look up the trivia statement they had read,” the authors write."

How much money was spent on exploring what should be obvious? After all, memory does involve some volition, it's not "automatic."

Note: How do the virtues modify the powers? And is this the key to understanding the relationship between the infused virtues and the acquired virtues?

(See St. Thomas on courage? Example of fasting? Almsgiving/beneficence vs. magnanimity.)

James Chastek: "The physical sciences are based not just on measurement, but measurement of a rationalized continuum, which means that there is no possible measurement without a definite numerical value."

His discussion of facts.

The latest issue of Nova et Vetera has an article by Angela McKay Knobel on Aquinas's treatment of the infused and acquired virtues. It does pose a good puzzle about the exact relationship between the two.

There's a name I haven't seen in a while

Thomistica.net: Dr. Jeremy Wilkins Appointed Director of the Lonergan Research Institute at Regis College, University of Toronto

OpStJoseph: A Biographical Essay on Fr. Benedict Ashley, O.P.

Radical Orthodoxy: An Interview with John Milbank and Catherine Pickstock

More finger-pointing at Duns Scotus for what ails Western culture.

mp3

Rome Reports: Who is Saint Benedict, according Pope Benedict XVI

The theology of creation and the theology of the Resurrection (which includes and ratifies Incarnation) demand that prayer should be expressed in a bodily form, involving all the dimensions of bodily expression. The spiritualization of the body calls for the embodiment of the Spirit, and vice versa. Only in this way can man and the world be 'humanized', which means that matter is brought to its spiritual capacity the Spirit is expressed in the wealth of creation. (The Feast of Faith, 71)

St. Thomas doesn't explicitly discuss the use of bodily gestures in prayer? But his teachings could be accommodated to it.

Tomas Luis de Victoria - O Vos Omnes

Another from ARIAS:

Sandro Magister, Six Years on the Throne of Peter. An Interpretation

Oxford: Modern polar bears descended from extinct bears from Ireland

First Things: The Married Lifestyle by Gabriel Torretta

OP Vocations: "The Intellectual Life and the Dominican Vocation" with Fr. Gilles Emery OP (which links to OpStJoseph)

“A Carnal Love of Concepts or a Work of Mercy? The Intellectual Life and the Dominican Vocation” from The Lumen Christi Institute on Vimeo.

I can understand why some might think the center of the soul is in the head or brain, given the position of the eyes and the importance of sight in our encounter with reality. Even the blind who rely on the developed senses might think of the head as being the important part. What are the reasons for believing that the soul is centered elsewhere, like the gut or the heart?

Daniel McInerny has a blog. He has introduced a Virtual Summer Circle of Thomistic Studies.

A reminder that we should thank God for good health.

Simon Lewis: Don't take consciousness for granted

Pope's Prayer for 60th Anniversary

Zenit

Beautiful in its use of biblical metaphors.

Papal Address to Ratzinger Prize Winners

Zenit

Papal Address to Ratzinger Prize Winners

"The Real Question": "Is What We Believe True or Not?"

VATICAN CITY, JULY 1, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Beneedict XVI gave Thursday when he conferred the Ratzinger Prize on its first three winners. The prize recognizes work in theology.