Kereszty acknowledges that recent theologians have objected to the “reification” of Christ’s presence in some scholastic theology: “They insist that the sacraments are a personal encounter between human beings and Jesus Christ himself.” Talk of a change in the . . . . Continue Reading »
Listen to the first four minutes of the first movement (Andante grave) of Prokofiev’s Cello Sonata in C Major, and ask yourself: Woudln’t you be content if these four minutes summed up the story of your life? . . . . Continue Reading »
In his Wedding Feast of the Lamb , Roch Kereszty briefly summarizes some of the ways that the Eucharist degenerated in the late medieval period: “Instead of stressing the building up of Christ’s body the church as the ultimate effect of the Eucharist, the Late Middle Ages saw the . . . . Continue Reading »
Faustus complained that arguments from prophecy led only to vicious circles. ”Believe in Jesus because of the prophets, he imagines a Christian telling a pagan. ”I don’t believe the Hebrew prophets,” the pagan replies. ”But Jesus endorses the Hebrew . . . . Continue Reading »
Following the lead of Natalie Zemon Davis, Mack Holt writes that the French “Wars of Religion” were truly religious wars, but then adds that “religion” has to be understood in a sixteenth century sense. He denies that “three generations of French men and women . . . . Continue Reading »
Weber argued that “Most, though not all, canonical sacred collections became officially established against secular or religiously offensive augmentations as a consequence of a struggle between various competing groups and prophecies for the control of the community.” Christianity . . . . Continue Reading »
Austin Farrer commented, in an essay on CS Lewis’s apologetics: “though argument does not create conviction, the lack of it destroyed belief. What seems to be proved may not be embraced; but what no one shows the ability to defend is quickly abandoned. Rational argument does . . . . Continue Reading »
Carolyn Marvin and David Ingle claim that nationalism is a religion. In particular, American civil religion is a religion, sustained by violence and blood-letting, focused on the sacred “totem” of the American flag ( Blood Sacrifice and the Nation: Totem Rituals and the American . . . . Continue Reading »
William Cavanugh notes ( The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict ): “although Jefferson was responsible for the complete separation of church and state in Virginia, Jefferson wrote in the language of medieval Christianity about the preservation of . . . . Continue Reading »
Sarah Ruden’s Paul Among the People: The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time examines Paul’s ethical pronouncements in the context of Greco-Roman morals and literature, with some interesting results. Paul comes off as revolutionary and subversive on precisely . . . . Continue Reading »
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