Second Sunday in Easter

‘I may say that never at any moment in my life have I ’sought for God’. For this reason, which is probably too subjective, I do not like this expression, and it strikes me as false.’
- Simone Weil
 
‘As God alone is a fit witness of himself in his Word, so also the Word will not [...]

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Proof, Explanation, and Balthasar

 Some years ago I attended a graduate student conference in philosophy at which a paper was presented with the title ‘Why Is a Proof Sometimes Not an Explanation?’  The sort of proof in view was formal, e.g. mathematical proof, and the thrust of the paper was to give an account of proofs which are sound [...]

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It would appear that I am white.

I had noticed some weeks ago the kerfuffle in the litblogging world over Stuff White People Like, and in particular the book deal (complete with $350,000 advance) signed by the blog’s writer with Random House – see here, for instance, or here.
 I had not, however, actually seen the blog until a friend posted about it (and how it [...]

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Easter Sunday

‘”Woman,” Jesus, when he had lived and died, said or would have said, using a word perhaps not used so gently since Adam was a gardener – “Woman, why weepest thou?”… When Mary looks at Jesus, knowing who he is, what does she see?  A more amazing question – when Jesus looks at Mary, and [...]

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Sixth Sunday in Lent (Palm Sunday)

‘…since the order of world is regulated by death, perhaps is it better for God we do not believe in him and we fight with all our might against death, without raising our eyes heavenward where he keeps silent.’
- Albert Camus, The Plague
‘Here is a man, that shall never see death so, but that he [...]

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Balthasar Blog Conference

This also looks interesting.  I haven’t read much Balthasar, but I’ve been told I should.
From Joel at Sacra Doctrina, a short summary:
The topic of the conference is Balthasar’s theological interpretation of scripture.
It looks like there is a great line-up of papers covering a variety of topics in relation to Balthasar: biblical hermeneutics, the influence of [...]

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Conference – Saint Paul’s Journeys into Philosophy

Well, this looks interesting:
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Saint Paul’s Journeys into Philosophy:
An International Conference
 June 4-6, 2008
Vancouver School of Theology
at the University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia
Join us for a conference which explores the critical appropriations of Saint Paul by recent and contemporary Continental philosophers, including Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Benjamin, Jacob Taubes, Alain Badiou, Giorgio Agamben, Slavoj Zizek, and others.
An [...]

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Westphal on Heidegger: How Not to Speak About God

Merold Westphal, writing  in the first chapter of his Transcendence and Self-Transcendence on the same topic I posted on here - but oh, so much better.  He argues that, in Heidegger’s critique, both premodernity and modernity share a common technological character, finding diverse ways of accomplishing the same goal: to put the world, including God or whatever [...]

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Frogger is kicking…

…since yesterday, hard enough for me to feel it.  The child is still small enough that it’s just cute (and a bit strange, and entirely amazing), but if it keeps up this level of activity as it grows I may have to have my first father-child discussion about treating the mother’s internal organs with respect.

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Fifth Sunday in Lent

‘Their injunctions are like this. “Let no one educated, no one wise, no one sensible draw near. For these abilities are thought by us to be evils. But as for anyone ignorant, anyone stupid, anyone uneducated, anyone who is a child, let him come boldly.” By the fact that they themselves admit that these people [...]

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