Seneca found Chrysippus’s treatment of the Three Graces too subtle: He was a great man but “a Greek, whose intellect, too sharply pointed, is often bent and turned back upon itself; even when it seems to be in earnest it only pricks, but does not pierce.” Seneca himself found in . . . . Continue Reading »
In his Lectures on Ethics, Kant says that ingratitude is among the vices that “are the essence of vileness and wickedness.” He adds, “It is inhuman to hate and persecute one from whom we have reaped a benefit, and if such conduct were the rule it would cause untold harm. Men would . . . . Continue Reading »
1 Corinthians 10:16: Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? As Pastor Smith has explained to us this morning, in prayer we seek communion with the Triune God. As we pray in Christ to the Father in . . . . Continue Reading »
Matthew 28: Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all things, whatever I have commanded you. We heard in the sermon this morning about the Name that we invoke in our prayers, the powerful . . . . Continue Reading »
There are no tricks to prayer. The crucial thing is not the method we use or the pattern we follow. The crucial thing is confidence in the God to whom we pray. Who is that God? He is the eternal God. For us, what’s done is done and what’s done cannot be undone. We are bound to time, and . . . . Continue Reading »
At 16, Hugo Grotius published a well-regarded edition of the notoriously difficult Marriage of Philology and Mercury by Martianus Capella. . . . . Continue Reading »
Also from John of Salisbury: He attacks teachers who “sift and scrutinize every syllable,” as well as those bloaty-footnoted types who “compile the opinions of all, even the most miserable.” . . . . Continue Reading »
Educational advice from John of Salisbury: “Considerable indulgence must be shown . . . to the young, and loquacity should be tolerated for a time so that they may wax eloquent . . . . As students mature, however, this verbosity ought to be curbed.” . . . . Continue Reading »
Some quotations from Ivan Illich’s book on Hugh of St. Victor’s Didascalicon : Hugh’s life coincided “with the beginning of the epoch of bookishness which is now closing,” which was “a fleeting but very important moment in the history of the alphabet when, after . . . . Continue Reading »
In 1921, Frank Harris argued that Shakespeare’s art reveals the man: “As it is the object of a general to win battles, so it is the life-work of the artist to show himself to us, and the completeness with which he reveals his own individuality is perhaps the best measure of his own . . . . Continue Reading »
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