~ Benedictine Tradition
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Eph. 5:31-32 In the fifth chapter of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul declares that the one-flesh union between a husband and […]
One of the great joys of teaching is celebrating and sharing the creative work of my students. This year after we studied Lewis’s Screwtape Letters, I asked students to write their own devilish epistle. This student’s letter imitates both Lewis’s insight and his playful tone as they imagine what hellish tactics are at work in […]
Our family are unabashed Marvel fans whose history can be categorized in three phases: The Early Narnia Age, The Great Harry Potter Decade, and The Modern Marvel Moment. The family room in which I write is decorated by a bizarre mix of wands, owls, quill pens, Hogwarts crests, arc reactors, and infinity stone gauntlets. Within our […]
In the previous post, we examined the general outline of the Five Ways in Thomas Aquinas’ Cosmological Argument for the existence of God. We examined the ways that something can’t come from nothing because the nature of the universe reveals that physical things are dependent upon some kind of outside, transcendent Uncaused Cause, or Unmoved Mover, or […]
“Nothing Comes from nothing, nothing ever could.” Most people accept this little nugget of wisdom from Frauline Maria and Captain Von Trapp. In our experience of the world, we never observe something coming from nothing. It would indeed be wonderful if I could conjure up a free new iphone out of nothing, or a nice […]
While arguing for his “Bazin Option” and a deeper Christian engagement with film, Michael Leary explains that any justification of the arts “must begin with this idea that all our expressions and gestures, even if presented as entertainment, are a material record of our desire for self-disclosure and liberation.” This is, more or less, the […]
Cinema, the art from of film-making, is the most powerful prominent art form of contemporary culture. Is this a good thing? Or have we moved away from more edifying art forms? To answer this, we must consider the nature of cinema. The term ‘cinema’ implies an endeavor that is distinct from video-making. Just as songwriting […]
We live with a great cosmic work of art, and we have been invited to be co-creators in God’s masterpiece. In the way that Shakespeare would partner with an actor in order to great a unique performance of theatrical art, so God invites us to partner with him in the unfolding of his divine drama, […]
We live in a sacramental world. As the Psalmist teaches us, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” This visible world “Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge,” making the nature and power of the invisible God clear to all who are willing […]