I have been reading City of God online edition lately, and I was pretty concerned upon starting that the thing was going to be an epic slog through swampy jargon-infested waters. I have read the first five books (out of…
The Catechism has this to say about Providence and the natural powers of the creatures that God has made: God has not willed to reserve to himself all exercise of power. He entrusts to every creature the functions it is…
Christians of every stripe (and especially Protestants, and I do not mean this as a criticism at all) want to know God’s will for their lives, so that they can do it. This is a perfectly rational question for those…
Presbyterians and other Reformed folk like to use the acronym TULIP as a thumbnail for certain views they hold which are at least somewhat unique among Protestants (at least when held together). The I refers to their belief in Irresistible…
In his final encyclical, Benedict XVI has this to say about religious freedom: Religious freedom does not mean religious indifferentism, nor does it imply that all religions are equal. (§55) Saying such a thing sounds outlandish, maybe, to the modern…
we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain. (2Co 6:1) Two or three points come to mind: Grace must be accepted. This means that our free choice to accept it is necessary, contrary to what Calvinists…
’Nuff said. Or maybe not. I found this observation to be humorous, and I certainly mean no disrespect to Frank Sinatra. But there is no question that doing things my way was the very root of Adam’s sin, and it…
In Veritatis Splendor §4 Pope John II writes concerning truth and freedom: Today, however, it seems necessary to reflect on the whole of the Church’s moral teaching, with the precise goal of recalling certain fundamental truths of Catholic doctrine which,…
In our last episode, we saw that St Augustine identified evil desires as that which causes an action to be evil. Now in chapter iv he begins to refine that answer. He observes that life without fear is a good…
Having rejected the idea that man becomes evil because of something external to him, St Augustine pursues in On Free Choice of the Will Book I, chapter iii what he admitted (in chapter ii) is a difficult question: namely, why…
Aquinas, Etc. 