Book Reviews – February 2023

The Church and the Age of Reformations (1350-1650): Martin Luther, the Renaissance, and the Council of Trent. Joseph T. and Barbara A. Stuart. Reviewed by Argene Águila Clasara. (skip to review) Forming Fathers: Seminary Wisdom for Every … [Read more...]

Lord, Liar, or Lunatic?

Aquinas on the Divinity of the Johannine Christ

In his Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus, the noted Jewish historian of the first century, described Jesus of Nazareth as a “wise man [sophos anēr] . . . a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure.”[1. “sophos anēr . . . didask … [Read more...]

Book Reviews – March 2019

Servant of All: Status, Ambition, and the Way of Jesus By Craig C. Hill. Reviewed by Matthew K. Minerd, PhD. (skip to review) The Priestly Blessing: Rediscovering the Gift By Stephen J. Rossetti. Reviewed by Fr. John Cush. (skip to … [Read more...]

A Spirituality of Advent

Advent is a time of preparation. It has many parallels to Lent: we don the purple, we suppress the Gloria (awaiting the angels to sing it again for the first time at Midnight Mass), and we are given weeks to allow the Holy Spirit to prepare … [Read more...]

Two Knights for Truth

The Ethics of C.S. Lewis and Dietrich von Hildebrand

C.S. Lewis and Dietrich von Hildebrand would agree that the great intellectual catastrophe of modern times is the value-subjectivism that has invaded not only universities, but society at-large. It is now universally assumed that categories … [Read more...]

Sexuality and Spirituality

An Attempt at Integration for Sexual and Spiritual Health

Abstract: This paper attempts to show the relationship between sexuality and spirituality, and ways to attain profound union between husbands and wives. Incorporating spirituality with sexual behavior enhances the capacity for satisfaction … [Read more...]

Spring Reading for March 2015

Arriving at Amen: Seven Catholic Prayers That Even I Can Offer. Leah Libresco (Notre Dame, Indiana: Ave Maria Press, 2015) 192 pages; $12.12. (Reviewed by Fr. David C. Paternostro, SJ) --------- Master Thomas Aquinas and the Fullness … [Read more...]

How to Read Christology and Still Keep Your Faith

“Christology” is everywhere. That is, if we take its basic etymology and understand it simply as “speech concerning Christ.” People can utter his name flippantly, even blasphemously. Popular films and novels can be “christological.” And ther … [Read more...]

Pope Benedict XVI’s Theology of Beauty and the New Evangelization

“I have often affirmed my conviction that the true apology of Christian faith, the most convincing demonstration of its truth…are the saints and the beauty that the faith has generated.”[1. Joseph Ratzinger, “The Feeling of Things, the Conte … [Read more...]

Religious Freedom, Slavery, and Usury

Three Challenges to the Hermeneutic of Continuity

Early on in his pontificate, Benedict XVI laid down the challenge of reading the Church’s teaching according to a hermeneutic of continuity, rather than according to what he characterized as a hermeneutic of rupture.[1. Benedict XVI, A … [Read more...]

Why Do Priests Need Philosophy?

When he (Aquinas) was not sitting, reading a book, he walked round and round the cloister, and walked fast and even furiously, a very characteristic action of men who fight their battles in the mind. (G. K. Chesterton, St. Thomas Aquinas.) … [Read more...]

Pope Francis and Islam

...with all the headlines, and all the ugly truths surrounding ISIS, and other Islamic factions, how is a Christian to think of such a religion which is seemingly intent on destroying Christians and the Gospel of Jesus?  Pope Francis … [Read more...]

The Side Effects of the Pill: Why the Church Has So Much to Say about Contraception

The Church pays special attention to the issue of contraception ... because so many of the modern errors in moral theology converge in this particular question of conjugal morality. There is an impression out there–in the world and even w … [Read more...]

Toward a Theology of Infertility: The Trinity in Richard of St. Victor

Richard of St. Victor explores an understanding of the Trinity based on an understanding of the nature of interpersonal love ... in which God is viewed as a community of persons ... he conceives of the Holy Spirit ... as a third person: the … [Read more...]

“La Petite Voie” of Thérése of Lisieux

Here was one of the most brilliant popes the Church has ever seen declaring that little Thérése Martin was to be studied and analyzed alongside the great Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Robert Bellarmine!  St. Therese of Lisieux: as a ch … [Read more...]