A posting on another website has provided a defense — against proportionalism — of traditional Church teaching that some acts are intrinsically evil. I would like to provide a similar defense, but describe the situation using terms that come from theological Latin, so as to avoid some of the cloudiness that can come from the [...]

The latest issue of Skeptical Inquirer has an article by Paul Kurtz which is very strange. For a long time is has been commonly held that use of reason and science cannot produce ethics; so that no amount of fact-gathering can demonstrate the truth of statements like: It is good to do X or It [...]

I've read a few articles and blogs where an appeal to Catechism 2309 has been made as an explanation as to why (for example) the US President is the one who should make the prudential decision as to when a war should be undertaken. It seems to me that it is a mistake to think [...]

In a recent column George Weigel examines an intercessory prayer, and decides that he will not pray it, after analyzing what it seems to mean to him. The prayer is this: “That all world leaders may put aside their political differences and work for true and lasting peace, let us pray to the Lord.” Even [...]

Robert Alter's latest translation of the Pentateuch into English, The Five Books of Moses, provides much of interest. I found his earlier book, The Art of Biblical Narrative, which examines the Bible with a strong literary and narrative eye, to be extremely illuminating, and greatly enlarged my perception of the Bible. But his latest translation [...]

On the blog Catholic and Enjoying It!, Mark Shea says (of Vatican 2): The fact is, the Spirit called the Council, so it was the best thing that could have happened which raises two questions: (1) Was the Council called by the Spirit? (2) And was it the best thing that could have happened? (1) [...]