Aquinas as Biblical Exegete

His Interpretation of Paul’s “Thorn in the Flesh”

No doubt Thomas Aquinas is most famous as a systematic theologian who made great use of philosophical sources such as Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Nevertheless, when Aquinas first taught at the University of Paris, he held the title of Magister … [Read more...]

The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture Series

A Review Essay

The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS) series is structured with the intention of meeting the need of the universal Church in studying Sacred Scripture in a manner that is both informative and insightful, while staying faithful … [Read more...]

Minister in the Sanctuary

Christ’s High Priesthood in the Letter to the Hebrews

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.” – Hebrews 4:14 The author of the Letter to the Hebrews advocates a novel manner of approaching th … [Read more...]

My Jesus, Where Do You Live?

John 1:38 and the Trinitarian Intimacy of Christian Discipleship

Introduction In John 1:38, Andrew and another disciple pose the following question to Jesus: “Rabbi, where do you live [Gk. méno]?” What do they mean? Certainly, on one level, they want to indicate their desire to come under the tutelage of … [Read more...]

A Brief History of Embracing the Song of Songs

I. Introduction The intended meaning of the Song of Songs has been a matter of contention since well before the second century after Christ, when it was first accepted into the Jewish canon of scripture. The poem’s focal point, a blatantly … [Read more...]

The “Hour” According to Saint John

This article consists of a study of the development of the theme of Our Lord's hour, as used in the Fourth Gospel by the evangelist; its use is inclusive of His Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, considered as a unit, a single … [Read more...]

Early Fall Reading

The Concept of Woman: Volume III: The Search for Communion of Persons, 1500-2015. By Sister Prudence Allen, R.S.M., Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016. 546 pages. Reviewed by Joshua M. Evans, Ph.D. Revelation. Catholic Commentary on Sacred … [Read more...]

The Prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane in the Monothelite Controversy

In this article, originally published in French in the Actes du Symposium sur Maxime le Confesseur (1982), François-Marie Léthel shows how the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane factored into the monothelite controversy. Léthel first focuses on t … [Read more...]

“Do You Love Me more than … These?”

Introduction The catch of exactly 153 fish in the closing chapter 21 of John’s Gospel has been an exegetical challenge for a very long time. “So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fift … [Read more...]

A Vast Depth of Meaning: The Sea in Luke and Acts

The sea has a special appeal to the human heart. It has occupied our imaginations since the earliest myths: Odysseus, tossed about on the sea; Aeneas, exiled by Juno's hatred across the deep; and the destructive, yet life-giving cycle of … [Read more...]

God’s Beauty Evokes Our Joy

God’s manifestation of his beauty/glory is both a grace, expressing his self-giving generosity, and a call to his joy. Beauty, a relational aspect of created or uncreated excellence, is always the self-manifestation or communication of e … [Read more...]

How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian

The Problem of Divine Violence as Considered in Recent Curial Documents

Introduction If God exists, he is not the God of the Christian Bible. At least this is the conclusion drawn by many prominent authors and cultural commentators in our society today. The rise of agnosticism and atheism in contemporary … [Read more...]

Kneeling Ban: Good Liturgy or Loss of Religious Freedom?

Some religious leaders in the Latin Rite are pressuring Catholics not to kneel at the Consecration, or to genuflect at their reception of the Eucharist. This trend has gained a great deal of traction in recent years, and is causing alarm … [Read more...]