A Thinking Reed

  • Augustine’s Enchiridion 9: Redemption, grace and free will

    Having discussed the fall, Augustine begins to turn his attention to redemption. He makes an interesting suggestion at the beginning of Chapter 9 (later echoed by Anselm in Cur Deus Homo) that there is something fitting or even necessary that the angels who fell and are permanently banished from heaven should be replaced by a…

  • Woo hoo! Heaven, here I come!

    You know the Bible 100%!   Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses – you know it all! You are fantastic! Ultimate Bible QuizCreate MySpace Quizzes Via Derek the Ænglican, who also points out an error…

  • ISG museum

    This Saturday we went with some friends to the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum here in Boston. I was very taken with this piece by Fra Angelico of the Death and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. Unfortunately the image doesn’t do justice to it – the gold and blue are so bright and vibrant – really…

  • My beef with “My Beef with Vegetarianism”

    It’s no secret that vegetarians and animal rights proponents usually don’t get much respect. I recently saw a “60 Minutes” segment featuring Andy Rooney, that embodiment of crusty old conventional wisdom, where he began by saying “Like most people, I think vegetarians are crazy.” And in fairness that stereotype may even be somewhat justified. Even…

  • FT goes hi-tech

    First Things has done a snazzy redesign of their website and added a feature where print subscribers (such as yours truly) can get immediate online access to the new issue’s articles. Also noteworthy from the current issue (and available for public consumption): Evangelical theologian Timothy George on “Evangelicals and the Mother of God.”

  • Augustine’s Enchiridion 8: The Fall and its Consequences

    Chapter 8 of Augustine’s Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love delves into one of the most influential, but also controversial, aspects of Augustine’s theology/philosophy: his doctrine of the Fall. Remember that a cardinal principle of Augustine’s thought is the essential goodness of creation. All things are, considered in themselves and their essential natures, good. Creation…

  • Jesus and Judaism revisited

    Jason Byassee of the Christian Century has taken issue with the comments offered by several bloggers (including your scribe, in a previous incarnation) on this article by Professor Amy-Jill Levine, which sharply criticized the Christian church for “divorcing Jesus from Judaism” (via Marvin). Mr. Byassee is certainly right to oppose “shear[ing] Jesus of his Jewishness,”…

  • Augustine’s Enchiridion, 5, 6, & 7

    In these three chapters Augustine deals with the questions of error, lying, and certainty, especially with respect to matters of faith. In particular, Augustine here seems concerned with what later philosophers have dubbed the “ethics of belief.” In other words, he’s focusing more on what our moral duties are with respect to belief rather than…

  • Some good contemporary theology – one layman’s opinion

    This meme asking for nominations for the best contemporary (=published in the last 25 years) theology books has been making the rounds of many of the blogs I read regularly. I’m not learned enough in theology to nominate books that are, objectively speaking, the best theology or the most influential, but I’ll mention some books…

  • Augustine’s Enchiridion 3 & 4

    Chapters 3 and 4 are compact but rich summaries of the heart of Augustine’s metaphysics. He deals here with God, creation, the goodness of created things and the problem of evil. It’s surely one of Augustine’s great accomplishments as a thinker to clearly establish the basic outline of a sound Christian metaphysics. While Augustine clearly…