Category: Catholic
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Eye of the Needle
Imagine a drowning man. Head barely above the water, arms flailing, his efforts to reach the shore growing feebler by the minute. You watch, helpless, unable to swim yourself, and discover to your great surprise that one of your friends is standing beside you. An experienced swimmer, he watches calmly as the man begins to…
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A Confutation on Circumcision
This article is a continuation of the discussion Zach, Anisha and I are having concerning whether circumcision is efficacious, a proposal that we both think has strong implications for Baptism. I want to revisit Zach’s most recent article and respond to its claims. At the beginning of Zach’s article, he problematically states that “Efficacy entails…
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So that No Man may Boast
Oftentimes in conversations with Christians of the reformed tradition, a discussion of the goodness of man and how that relates to the divine plan of salvation will arise. During these conversations I have found that a difference in definitions to be harmful to actually discussing the issues at hand. Add to the differing nomenclature palates…
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St. Ignatius and Opportunity Costs
For millennia the family craft would dictate one’s career. The son of a farmer is expected to be a farmer, the son of the fisherman will become a fisherman, and the son of the carpenter will become a carpenter. Within the past century a new model of choosing your own career became the norm. You…
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The Danger of Systematic Theology
I am Catholic and a strong supporter of using the scholastic wisdom of Aquinas in our own lives. I do not think systematic theology is bad and I think it can and has brought a large number of people closer to God. However there are serious issues that arise when approaching systematic theology without any…
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A Protestant’s Reflections on Notre Dame
This bit comes from the journal of a Protestant reflecting on his first impression of the Notre Dame in Paris. I walked through Paris, taking some wrong turns but generally going in the right direction, noticing the old, pretty facades that make this city a bit of a wonderland, the aftermath of the previous night’s…
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Freedom From Yourself
The Oxford English Dictionary defines freedom as “The state or fact of being free from servitude, constraint, inhibition, etc.; liberty.” Growing up and living in the US, I am constantly exposed to this definition of freedom, a definition in terms of license–a freedom to do whatever you want. By this understanding of freedom, one is…
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The Crescent Moon and the Church of the Nones
Then God said: Let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good. God then separated the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:3-4) God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God. (Nicene Creed) A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the…
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Justice, Politics, and Thomas Aquinas
A 2017 Gallup Poll found that Americans are becoming more and more partisan on a number of issues. The two parties are as far apart as they have ever been in the past half a century. More alarming is the separation between parties on a large variety of issues. In the past when party tensions…
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Four Reasons to be a Theology Major
Recently I have been working on putting together a portfolio all theology majors need to arrange in order to graduate from Loyola University Chicago. Part of the process is to look through the best of my papers and post a few of them demonstrating I have attained the different knowledge areas. In addition, I had…
