Joseph Pieper, discussing the irrationality of sin writes:
“Sin is something contrary to reason, an actus contra rationem, a kind of ‘craziness.’ Yet despite that, sin is no something diseased, certainly not a ‘disease’ in the ordinary sense of what people mean by that word: something that simply comes upon a person without any choice in [...]

The following passage is from Berkouwer and is the second part of a two-part post on “Human Freedom.” Again, my desire in posting this is not polemical, but rather as a clarification and hopefully a helpful elucidation of the Reformers’ position regarding human freedom. In my experience with both Protestants and Catholics in discussing this [...]

The following passage is from Berkouwer and is part I of a two part post on “Human Freedom.” My desire in posting this is not polemical, but rather as a clarification and hopefully helpful elucidation of the Reformers’ position regarding human freedom. In my experience with both Protestants and Catholics in discussing this topic, there [...]

A warm thanks to Dr. Michael Hanby for passing on this information. It looks like a great conference, and I plan to attend.
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2006 Pruit Memorial SymposiumandLilly Fellows Program National Research Conference
The World and Christian Imagination
Thursday, November 9—Saturday, November 11Baylor University, Waco, Texas
Call for PapersSt. Paul exhorts Christians to take [...]

We had a great time at the SCP conference at Notre Dame this past week. We were particularly encouraged by Dr. Merold Westphal’s and Dr. William Wainwright’s lectures (two of the plenary speakers), as well as a paper presented by Dr. David Burrell of Notre Dame. All three professors presented views that embrace mystery, seeing [...]

It is likely that I won’t be posting for the next few days (though I’ll be checking email), as I will be at the midwest SCP conference presenting a paper. (See info below). If you happen to be at the conference or a student at Notre Dame, please drop by and say, “hello.”

Midwest Regional Meeting [...]

Herman Dooyeweerd (1894-1977), a Dutch Reformed philosopher of the continental flavor, has discussed at length what he calls the critique of the pretended autonomy of philosophical thought. According to Dooyeweerd, all philosophical or more broadly speaking theoretical accounts of the world are in fact rooted in a religious starting point or using Dooyeweerdian terminology, a [...]

Not only does Balthasar see a Trinitarian acting in the Word becoming flesh, but Ridderbos does as well (here focusing specifically on the Father and the Son). In his commentary on the Gospel of John, Ridderbos writes, commenting on John 3:16,
“Here we read not of the Son of man but of God’s only-begotten Son (cf. [...]

“That the Redeemer is solidary with the dead, or, better, with this death which makes of the dead, for the first time, dead human beings in all reality–this is the final consequence of the redemptive mission he has received from the Father. His being with the dead is an existence at the utmost pitch of [...]

Today was the big day for deciding which offer to accept in regard to doctoral programs of study. Of the six schools to which I applied, three came back negative, two positive and one a “maybe” (i.e., I was placed on a waiting list for admission for the Fall). For a number of reasons that [...]

Addressing the common allegations of a flesh and Spirit opposition as a hermeneutic key to understanding the Fourth Gospel (e.g., Bultmann’s gnostic interpretation), Ridderbos offers a different take. First, reveiwing briefly Bultmaann’s position, according to his view “flesh” and “spirit” denote “the radical opposition between two mutually exclusive metaphysical principles, which he then “demythologizes” and [...]

For a delightful and provactive series of posts on the Song of Songs in light of Benedict’s encyclical, visit Jo’s blog.
HT to Ben M. at “Faith and Theology,” for bringing this to my attention.

At the end of a wonderful section entitled, “The ‘Word of the Cross’ and its Logic,” Balthasar writes,
“If theology is to be Christian, then it can only be a theology which understands in dynamic fashion the unsurpassable scandal of the Cross. Certainly, such a theology will understand the Cross as a ‘crisis’, but it will [...]

Below are excerpts from Milbank’s article, “The Future of Love: A Reading of Benedict XVI’s Encyclical Deus Caritas Est,” that I found particularly interesting and encouraging. First, Milbank describes the relationship between faith and reason as the “yearning of reason towards faith.” E.g., Milbank writes:
“[the Pope’s] thoughts are in continuity with those of [...]

The following article by Professor John Milbank, “The Future of Love: A Reading of Benedict XVI’s Encyclical Deus Caritas Est,” has been posted by our friends at TheoPhenomenon.

Jeremy Begbie makes the interesting observation that “in music, structure is built primarily on relations based not upon difference or contrast but on attraction” (Theology, Music, and Time, pp. 158-159). Music of course utilizes sameness and difference, and repetition is largely responsible for the sameness. Yet unlike other art forms, music “tends toward the pole [...]

Yet another delicious morsel from Balthasar:
“What is necessary today, after long experience of the history of theology is an effort at an authentic theological deepening of the particular mysteries of salvation in their incarnationally concrete character–without surrendering thereby to an untheological historicism interest, and, above all, without losing to view the Trinitarian background and so [...]

The following three “tunes” are from my senior recital (I’m not going to give the year, so don’t ask : ). The quartet consists of Manuel Castenada on alto/soprano saxophone, Kerry Wilson on bass, Joey Carter on drums, and me on guitar. (Unfortunately, the sound quality is fairly poor because I had to record the [...]

Having discussed various attempts to incorporate Hegelian insights in order to explicate the Kenosis doctrine, Balthasar writes,
“these speculations lead nowhere; their only result is to bring to our attention in striking fashion how deep the mystery of the Kenosis lies. Just as the ancient ontic theology was impotent to render credible the idea [...]

I recently came across a fascinating passage in Augustine’s Confessions, in which he seems to say that even in our seeking autonomy, we are imitating God (although in a distorted way). As Augustine explains,
“All those who wander far away and set themselves up against you are imitating you, but in a perverse way [recalling [...]