Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation. Psalm 149:3-4 Debts There are certain debts that are never be paid back, that we never fully make good on.* If a woman saves my child’s life, there is no sufficient currency … Continue reading Liturgy, Religion, and the Obligation of Worship
After a delightful dinner with friends, somebody brings out a tray of cookies. I help myself to one, and then to another. I am now full, but I still want to eat another. Why? How can this be possible? All men by nature desire happiness. But the happiness which we desire is not a certain … Continue reading Thomas Aquinas Explains why I can Always Eat Another Cookie
From Measure for Measure ISABELLA Yet show some pity. ANGELO I show it most of all when I show justice; For then I pity those I do not know, Which a dismiss’d offence would after gall; And do him right that, answering one foul wrong, Lives not to act another. Be satisfied; Your brother dies … Continue reading On the Liberal Arts and the Third Use of the Law
The liberal view of the state is that law is a necessary evil. There are several assumptions built into this belief. a. Freedom is wholly subjective b. Our happiness is to be individual and self-determined c. the state itself is perhaps a necessary evil Hegel rejects each of these assumptions. Freedom is the outworking of … Continue reading Hegel’s Rejection of Liberalism: A Comment from a Class at HACS
Social conditioning in A Brave New World (coupled with genetic and pharmacological engineering) succeeds in eliminating nearly all conflict, but it also undermines certain fundamental elements of a truly human polis. Ironically, in this highly uniform society, it is unity which is undermined most of all. This is because social unity, understood as a communion of persons, cannot be achieved merely … Continue reading Unity vs. Uniformity (The Second of Three Meditations on A Brave New World)
The success of the political order in A Brave New World comes at the price of social and personal maturity. Yet, it is a price the controllers and engineers of that society willingly pay, making the very success of their social experiment a failure. Remarkably, the failure of this system finds its origin in values first codified during the Enlightenment. It was during … Continue reading The Failed Promise of the Enlightenment (The First of Three Meditations on A Brave New World)
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