The development of doctrine is a notion more frequently invoked than understood. When, as is too often done, a novelty or even a reversal of traditional Christian teaching is proposed as a “development,” the term is being abused. Indeed, it is being deployed to denote precisely the opposite of . . . . Continue Reading »
Catholics must understand themselves not principally as subscribing to a set of fixed beliefs and as living according to the Church's established “rules,” but rather as living in Christ as a new creation. Continue Reading »
Those who claim that the Church has nothing to do except resist and condemn are mistaken; but they are less mistaken than those who think we should raise the gates and invite the enemy in. Continue Reading »
Christian hospitality, love, and hope all rest on truth claims, not sentiments. Continue Reading »
The Christian is truly free not because the church provides a safe space of personal affirmation, but because she offers new life in Christ. Continue Reading »
Catholics in the last fifty years or so have almost completely ceased to do dogmatic theology. Save for a handful of admirable holdouts, we have practically given up the fruitful enterprise of a millennium: the believing mind’s effort to understand the Christian mysteries. The deep things of God, . . . . Continue Reading »
The Christian faith does not need to be made interesting by sophisticated pedagogical techniques. If allowed to present itself in all its splendor and depth, it seizes the hearts of all who have ears to . . . . Continue Reading »
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