A Momentary Taste of Being

Paul Among the People is subtitled The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time , and, as a fairly orthodox Catholic, I approached it with a little frisson, wondering what in the world I might encounter in this reinterpretation by a Classical Scholar and Urban Quaker.  I can report to any who care, the concern was needless. While some of Ms. Ruden's own feelings and ideas bleed through--she remains resolutely on task--interpreting Paul in his own time. What exactly does that mean?  Well, I think many of us have a great many misconceptions about "the Glory that was Greece, the Grandeur that was Rome."  Even today, in the face of relentless historical reinterpretation, there is about the ancients a kind of veil of romanticism under which most of the worst scars and deformities are hidden.  Ms. Ruden helps to remind us of what life was really like during the time period. She juxtaposes "problematic" portions of Paul's letters against classical ...

Unlike many of my co-religionists I am emphatically NOT a fan of G. K. Chesterton (except perhaps the Father Brown stories--I debate with myself over their merits.)  I found The Man Who was Thursday tedious to the point of tears.  The poetry is just short of dreadful and most of the fiction a trial.  Now keep in mind, I am a minority opinion and this evaluation really says nothing at all about the work of Chesterton and says a tremendous amount about me.  But I offer this preface to say that I am once again enjoying Chesterton's biography of St. Thomas Aquinas--a figure who fascinates me endlessly.  Reading through it, I am once again inspired to one of those ill-fated mini-forays into the wilds of the Summa (probably with Peter Kreeft as my guide).  I don't really expect to get far because I never do.  I get to about the point of Divine Simplicity and find my head reeling from thoughts about things that no one can really know, and yet a great many sp...

Apropos of Maverick Philosopher's request for input the other day: from St. Thomas Aquinas: "The Dumb Ox" G. K. Chesterton A lady I know picked up a book of selections from St. Thomas, with a commentary; and began hopefully to read a section with the innocent heading "The Simplicity of God." She then laid down the book with a sign and said, "Well, it that's His simplicity, I wonder what His complexity is like." If you go and read Maverick Philosopher's article, you'll understand even better what she meant.  I'm always boggled by God's Simplicity.