In his Theology of the Body Explained: A Commentary on John Paul II’s , Christopher West perceptively notes that John Paul II cut through “the false dichotomy between the typically labeled ‘liberal’ concern for social justice and the ‘conservative’ concern for . . . . Continue Reading »
John Paul II argues from Genesis 1-2 that the human body is a “sacrament” of humanity’s status as image of God. It is the visible manifestation of the invisible truth, and it is a source of assurance How could Adam know he was image? It was his body, “the . . . . Continue Reading »
In the Metaphysics of Morals , Kant defines sex as “the mutual use which one human being makes of the sexual organs and faculty of another.” This mutual use aims at pleasure. He acknowledges that in using the sexual organs of another, one is acquiring use of the whole . . . . Continue Reading »
John Paul II warned in his Letter to Families about the neo-Manichaean perspective that has infected modern views of sex. According to this view “body and spirit are put in radical opposition; the body does not receive life from the spirit, and the spirit does not give life to the body. . . . . Continue Reading »
Robert Barron (in an essay in Sacramental Presence in a Postmodern Context ) writes of the “radical non-violence” in Thomas’s theory of casuality and especially of creation: “In any causal relationship between finite things, there is some sort of intrusion of one being upon . . . . Continue Reading »
Eckhart writes, “This image is the Son of the Father and I myself am this image and this image is wisdom.” It is a characteristic formulation: The Son of God is born in believers such that the Son and believer become “identical.” At the same time, Eckhart insists that . . . . Continue Reading »
Eckhart says in his second German sermon that the “whole of Scripture was written” and “God created the whole world and all the orders of angels” so that “God may be born in the soul and the soul be born in God.” He adds: “It is the nature of every grain of . . . . Continue Reading »
Marcus Pound ( Zizek: A (Very) Critical Introduction (Interventions) ) summarizes the Kabbalist account of creation that he finds analogous to the move of “withdrawal” that Zizek thinks is fundamental to Schelling, German Idealism, even, in a different register, Descartes: . . . . Continue Reading »
When Reformed thinkers reject the “primacy of the intellect” that is often endorsed by the Reformed tradition, they are rejecting the primacy of discursive reason and the “laws” of logic. That is not what John means when he announces the eternal Logos. But what if . . . . Continue Reading »
Pasnau again, on Thomas. According to Thomas, human being ceases to exist at death, comes back into existence with the resurrection: “Aquinas believes that when I die, I go out of existence . . . . the soul’s separation causes death, and death puts an end to my existence. We . . . . Continue Reading »
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