Insofar as theology is an attempt to define and clarify intellectual positions, it is apt to lead to discussion, to read more

Insofar as theology is an attempt to define and clarify intellectual positions, it is apt to lead to discussion, to differences of opinion, even to controversy, and hence to be divisive. And this has had a strong tendency to dampen serious discussion of theological issues in most groups, and hence to strengthen the general anti-intellectual bias...

It is wrong to suppose that for Paul faith is a meritorious act on man's part, which wins salvation, or read more

It is wrong to suppose that for Paul faith is a meritorious act on man's part, which wins salvation, or even, in a more modern way of speech, a creative moral principle in itself. Paul does not, in fact, speak (when he is using the language strictly) of "justification by faith", but of "justification by grace through faith," or "on the grounds of faith." This is not mere verbal subtlety. It means that the "righteousness of God" becomes ours, not by the assertion of the individual will as such, but by the willingness to let God work.

Commemoration of Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690 The peculiarity of ill temper is that it is the read more

Commemoration of Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690 The peculiarity of ill temper is that it is the vice of the virtuous. It is often the one blot on an otherwise noble character. You know men who are all but perfect, and women who would be entirely perfect, but for an easily ruffled, quick-tempered, or "touchy" disposition. This compatibility of ill temper with high moral character is one of the strangest and saddest problems of ethics... No form of vice -- not worldliness, not greed of gold, not drunkenness itself -- does more to unChristianize society than evil temper. For embittering life, for breaking up communities, for destroying the most sacred relationships, for devastating homes, for withering up men and women, for taking the bloom off of childhood -- in short, for sheer, gratuitous misery-producing power -- this influence stands alone.

Commemoration of Eglantine Jebb, Social Reformer, Founder of 'Save the Children', 1928 Let any man turn to God read more

Commemoration of Eglantine Jebb, Social Reformer, Founder of 'Save the Children', 1928 Let any man turn to God in earnest, let him begin to exercise himself unto godliness, let him seek to develop his powers of spiritual receptivity by trust and obedience and humility, and the results will exceed anything he may have hoped in his leaner and weaker days.

Feast of Mary Magdalen, Apostle to the Apostles It has been observed that nowhere does Scripture attempt a read more

Feast of Mary Magdalen, Apostle to the Apostles It has been observed that nowhere does Scripture attempt a deductive argument for the existence of God, like those of Thomas Aquinas, for example. This fact ought not to be taken to imply, however, that such an effort is unjustifiable and necessarily useless. The distinctiveness of the Biblical approach is its immediacy. The theistic proofs for God's existence constitute a laborious, painstaking, and patient justification of theism. They attempt to set forth in rational argument what the soul grasps intuitively. But for the Bible, the deepest proof of God's existence is just life itself. The knowledge of God and man's knowledge of himself are closely intertwined. If only God could be written off neatly and cleanly, how simple things would be! But the hound of heaven pads after us all. He does not let us go. There is no escaping him...; when least expected, he closes in. The explanation for this is man's creation in the image of God. His identity is known theologically, in relation to the God who as a man in his true significance cannot survive permanently in isolation from his Maker. Without God, man is the chance product of unthinking fate, and so of little worth. The current loss of identity and the emergence of the faceless man in today's culture are testimony to the effects of losing our God. The knowledge of God is given in the same movement in which we know ourselves.

My own idea, for what it is worth, is that all sadness which is not now either arising from the read more

My own idea, for what it is worth, is that all sadness which is not now either arising from the repentance of a concrete sin and hastening towards concrete amendment or restitution, or else arising from pity and hastening towards active assistance, is simply bad.

To bear with patience wrongs done to oneself is a mark of perfection, but to bear with patience wrongs done read more

To bear with patience wrongs done to oneself is a mark of perfection, but to bear with patience wrongs done to someone else is a mark of imperfection and even of actual sin.

Justification is withdrawn from works, not that no good works may be done, or that what is done may be read more

Justification is withdrawn from works, not that no good works may be done, or that what is done may be denied to be good, but that we may not rely upon them, glory in them, or ascribe salvation to them.

Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525 After Calvary, God has the right to be trusted; to be read more

Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525 After Calvary, God has the right to be trusted; to be believed that He means what He says; and that His love is dependable.