Athanasius argues that “Father” is preferable to the Arian “Unoriginate” as a name for the First Person. It is more Scriptural, and it also names the First Person by reference to God the Son rather than by reference to the creation. Plus, “Father” is the . . . . Continue Reading »
Over the past sixty years, writes Dambisa Moyo ( Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa ), Africa has received over $1 trillion in aid. Study after study concludes that it has had minimal, or even negative effects on Africa’s economies: One study finds . . . . Continue Reading »
Hilary Clinton had some stiff opposition last week in Pakistan. Everywhere she went in her dazzling blue pants suit, Pakistanis raged about US policy in Afghanistan and along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. One woman pointedly asked, Do the US drone bombings that kill Pakistani . . . . Continue Reading »
Mike Bull responds to my comments on Athanasius’ discussion of purity and bodily secretions: “I agree with Luther, but isn’t the point more that what comes out is ‘worthless”? Moving beyond the Old Testament pedagogical purpose of ceremonial uncleanness, affirming the . . . . Continue Reading »
Athanasius insists that the Father must have an eternal Son because the Father’s essence could never have been imperfect: “if He is called the eternal offspring of the Father, He is rightly so called. For never was the essence of the Father imperfect ( ateles ), that what . . . . Continue Reading »
From Richard Wilbur’s “Lying”: In the strict sense, of course, We invent nothing, merely bearing witness To what each morning brings again to light: Gold crosses, cornices, astonishment Of panes, the turbine-vent which natural law Spins on the grill-end of the diner’s roof, . . . . Continue Reading »
Canon Press is having a Fall Sale, which you can read about here: http://www.canonpress.com/shop/ . . . . Continue Reading »
Perhaps the most obvious and easiest resolution of the conundrums that Augustine explores is a perichoretic one. Does the Father have wisdom “in Himself”? Yes, because the Wisdom that is the Son dwells in Him by the Spirit. Does the Father possess His being “in . . . . Continue Reading »
1 Corinthians 1:24 says that Christ is the power and wisdom of God. Augustine spends two books of de Trinitate trying to figure out what that means. In Book 6, he tries out the notion that the Father’s power and wisdom is simply the power and wisdom that He begets as Son, so that . . . . Continue Reading »
Augustine argues ( de Trinitate 5.1.6) that claims about human beins are spoken either secundum substantiam or secundum accidens . The latter category includes relational terms, statements about us ad aliquid , with reference to another. That is, for humans, in contrast to God, . . . . Continue Reading »
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