Safe Haven

I'll be honest: Origen's commentary on Romans has had a huge impact on my decision to become Catholic, but in ways I did not expect. It was actually the soteriological continuity (in a sacramental synergism) between he and Augustine (yes, you'll be fine, just breathe) that has made it tons easier to see, understand, and believe what the bishops taught at the Council of Trent, which is itself a restatement of Thomas Aquinas, applied to those present difficulties. Once I saw that Thomas, though brilliant in any case, was not the product of some corrupt medievalism but instead simply built upon what had always been believed, it was all academic from there. Hey Reformed people: That Paul Helm dude is good; I definitely enjoyed reading that guy's blog. Regent; I should have known.

A reader of the blog asked me how Albert Pujols's struggles this season affect his free-agent prospects this winter, and I forgot to answer it. I answer that Pujols has not adversely affected his value at all. Before his hopefully minor injury today, he had gone 3 for 3 with a home run--bringing his season total to a non-meager 17--and raising his batting mark to .279. A normal Pujols batting mark is anywhere in the neighborhood of .315-.340, with a frightening boat-load of runs batted in (RBI) and runs scored. Put simply, unless he is badly hurt and misses a great deal of time, the monster is becoming locked in. The reason seasonal averages are still important in baseball is that no player, no matter how great, is unmitigated terror-inducing perfect all the time. But the truly great ones can slog it out over 162 games, put up the numbers, and make you tremble in fear as the opponent most of the time (in other words, Pujols). He's gonna make a borderline unholy amount of money ...

I went to Mass with my family (my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew) this afternoon. Worth noting that the 'LifeTeen' or maybe 'Life Teen' nature of this Mass generally means the songs will be catchy and simple, though why this is so is a mystery to me. [Rant deleted] [Praise the Lord!--ed.] Hey, our reader enjoys my rants. [Lies.--ed.] Anyway, the eldest member of the pastoral staff was retiring today, and this old priest gave ample evidence of having "priested," as it were, for quite some time. [Fitting, whatever I think of the whole thing, to have him retire on Father's Day.--ed.] I thought so. The homily was adequate; this being Trinity Sunday, he noted that the entirety of human history has been a wrestling to understand God, which in some sense is futile, because we will never exhaust Him, or get a handle on his character and majesty. Still, we try. And in Jesus Christ, we get the fullest picture of God; he is God, after all, and He shows us the ...

As poor Timothy is about to discover in the comments on the previous post, I'm long-winded, and possibly insane. I need to explain some more; what is it about the patristic writings that leads people to be non-Protestant, oftentimes? Well, on the one hand, you could look at the data and say, "There was a gradual corruption of the apostolic witness, corrected by the Reformers." It had always been their contention that the church fathers vindicated their positions, in fact. In other words, their defense against the charge of schism had been that the body laying the charges was no church at all, and was itself out of accord with Scripture and these early witnesses. The problem is that there are tons of affinities with the fathers and the medieval Catholic Church that drew the Reformers' ire, and also between that Church and the Catholic Church today. These continuities of themselves say nothing; however, if Scripture and Tradition are illegitimate means of the transmissi...

In case anybody cares, I read 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus the other day, and Hebrews and James yesterday. It reads differently now; I tried to be mindful of verses that a Protestant would see as definitive for those traditional notions of justification. The best I found within Hebrews was 10:14: "For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." [There's your distinction between justification and sanctification right there.--ed.] Simmer down; let's think through this. Remembering what this book is for--convincing Jewish Christians not to abandon their faith in the face of pressure--what do we see? Well, we see sacrificial language all over it; there is much talk of priests and mediation. We are not surprised to see high Christology in chapter 1, as the identity and qualifications of Jesus are precisely at issue if he exercises a permanent priesthood superior to Aaron. We have to add in another good Protestant verse before we go on; ...

5 More Sure Signs You Are Jason Kettinger 5. You use the word "barnacle" as a swear word. 4. You lobby for the cat's name to be "Squidward." 3. "The Riot" is a person, not an event. 2. You think the battle for greatest composer of all time is a dead heat between David Foster and Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds. 1. You do secondhand impressions of Charles Barkley. "That's turribull!" I know.

The Chair My mind raced, No, thundered; Andretti at Speedway; Horses in Montana; No respite Thrashing without purpose Hoping without reason Silence without peace Night without rest Morning and night without a day But in the faint grey I saw them Two towers A refuge from nowhere Bringing back memory Light in darkness The prodigal mind returns For this is home This is family Did Martyn sit here?

My abiding passion, especially now, is Scripture. A love of Scripture is the great gift from my former Reformed heritage. Catholics need to learn to not be afraid of it, to read it as much as they can, and to memorize it. It's not a Protestant thing, it's a Catholic thing. At least it's supposed to be. You want to reach Protestants? Know the Scriptures. We Catholics are in the community within which it is rightly interpreted, anyway. What have we to fear? Nothing. [Then you have other books to read.--ed.] I know. All in good time. Christians have 3 main choices, of course: Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant. Within that Protestant umbrella certainly there are more choices, but 'Protestant' presupposes a reasonably standard historical, exegetical, and theological approach. The challenge I want to issue to those dear readers is this: Have you begun to grapple with the reality of Protestant disunity and its implications for dogma? If we wanted to be jerks about it, w...

To follow up on the last post, I TOTALLY understand if another Christian, possessed of the same information as I have, confronted with the same questions as I have been, nevertheless declines to reach the conclusions I have; none of us can say with any clarity where our own journeys will take us; all we can ask of each other is honesty and charity. What I want to say, however, is that we all deserve a better answer from the Reformed than what we got linked above. If those "neo-Catholics" were personal friends of yours, would you write that response to them? Would you be able to look them in the eye? Now, I may decline to engage the stupid arguments of my uneducated friends, and I might prudentially decide it'd be better not to talk about it, but if I choose to talk about it, I have the obligation not to insult the person for their lack of understanding. That's what's so troubling about this . I've known Bryan Cross for 2 years; I've been eye-to-eye with hi...

This essay sucks. Just sucks in every way. I don't see any arguments here; I just see defensive reactions to what may be unfair arguments. We call this ad hominem. The plurality of Protestant denominations does not prove, of itself, the falsehood of the principles of Protestantism. What it does prove is that something has to give: either those communities forfeit the epistemelogical ground upon which to base dogma, (the dogmatic principle) which is liberalism, or undercut the reason for existing as a separate community. Take your pick. I'd rather be Catholic. Do any of you have a good reason why I should not be Catholic, or will you just insult me? The Fathers seemed to think the Church was pretty visible, and easy to find, in the early centuries. Where and when did it become invisible? That's all I need to know. Bonus points if you can tell me which denomination I should choose, if I accept the invisibility of the Church. If you can't win that argument, then you have ...

I'm kind of a sap. I have a list of favorite chick flicks, and I have a favorite. I like a good drama as well. Every now and again, Hollywood actually makes itself useful by putting out a good one. 1994's With Honors starred Brendan Fraser, Moira Kelly, Joe Pesci, Gore Vidal, and Patrick Dempsey. Yes, that Patrick Dempsey. Fraser played Monty Kessler, a dedicated political science student at Harvard who is in love with his friend, Courtney Blumenthal (Moira Kelly). Skipping past the entire plot to the part that matters, the friends are at a party when Courtney argues with her fornication-buddy, "The Face." She storms out, and Monty follows her outside to a fountain. He puts her face in his hands, and she asks him, "What are you doing?" He answers, "I'm ending our friendship," and they adorably kiss, then embarking on their own fornication adventure, which, we can only hope, ends in a marriage when the characters get around to it. Why'd I te...

5 Sure Signs You Are Jason Kettinger 5. You buy 'The Blue Marlin' Nintendo game from some dude in Pennslyvania. That's right, Nintendo. [What are you, 6?--ed.] Yes, yes I am. 4. While reading the erudite encyclical Deus Caritas Est , wherein the master theologian-pope distinguishes between eros and agape with a skill that might even charm Hitchens and benefit all humanity if we followed his advice, you are not thinking about agape at all. Ahem. 3. When reading the same encyclical, a mention of Jacob's Ladder prompts you to sing "Jacob's Ladder" by Mark Wills, even though you hate every other song by Mark Wills. Don't worry, Anne; I know you won't click on the link anyway. But Jamie will! That song isn't about agape, either. "Late one night by the harvest moon..." 2. Discussing two of your favorite baseball players on your favorite team, it sounds like you are discussing a fish and a brand of peanut butter. (Let the reader understa...

The Reason Pawlenty Can (And Should) Win I always remind people of the first axiom of American politics: "Politics is an art, not a science." The Republican Party played right into the hands of Barack Obama and the Democrats in 2008; they weren't too "conservative" or "dogmatic" or even the opposites of those things. But they did 3 fundamental things wrong: 1) They alienated committed Republicans with McCain's nomination, they 2) failed to take account of the electoral map as it stood, and 3) they completely ignored the special challenge of Obama's ethnicity, rather than use it. In the first case, the 9/11 terror consensus that kept a lid on domestic policy had run its course; the economic "era of good feelings" was over. On the other hand, the GOP's hands weren't clean enough on spending or any other fiscal issue to raise the alarm as to what Democrats would do when in power. The GOP Congress had been profligate by its own st...

What is an "evangelical," anyway? You can only read so many seminary texts before you realize that, in context, it means, "People I agree with." It's the opposite of "fundamentalist." Which is why it's actually quite funny when some irreligious "progressive" is sputtering about how the "fundamentalist evangelicals" have thwarted some plan of theirs that would cause misery, poverty, and doom to millions. Anyway, I don't even think "conservative Protestant" covers it anymore. Was Lewis a conservative Protestant? [Sort of.--ed.] Yeah, I don't think he could be marshalled for the litany of sociopolitical causes (many of which, granted, I share) with which faithful Christianity is enmeshed. Let me yell in the direction of First Things: Why do you have a political blog (The Anchoress) sponsored on your site? Look, I understand: Abortion is a huge problem; the acceptance and promotion of homosexuality is a huge proble...

I would pay for going against my Cardinals; Jake Westbrook outpitched Cliff Lee--one of Philadelphia's "Four Aces"--and my fantasy team suffered. (Normally, my brother and I never put an opposing pitcher up against the home team, win or lose, but we both thought it was stupid to bet against Lee with Jake pitching so bad.) To quote the great American philosopher David Gates on another matter, "And God, I miss the girl." I'm utterly hopeless; I can't go two days without texting her; I wonder if she still reads the blog. I'm gonna drive her away. Someone punch me in the face. Please pray for me; exam on Wednesday, and I don't care. I just don't. This class has symbolized all the reasons I became Catholic all rolled into one. Not only does noone care about the critical question of who died and made the Westminster "divines" pope, I'm apparently all alone on the island of Hermeneutical Chaos, too; that is, the multiplicity of legitim...

OK, my peeps. A few things: My stroll in the English countryside otherwise known as my final exam with the one called "Jerram" went amazing. 94. Congrats and thank you to my comrades, Mr. Huensch and Mr. Keating, for excellent work. It turned out better than I thought. He had much to say in critique. Anne, Jerram has taught both a Tolkein & Middle Earth class, and a Jane Austen class; you would die of joy. You need to take a class with him. He's like the British grandfather you wish you had. Forget Boston; you need to find any excuse to be a Covenant student. But alas, now he is on sabbatical. I think the question of interpretive authority is an important one, because it is another way of asking who and where the community of the redeemed is and are, respectively. I am in awe of Jerram. Because although like many of my teachers, he may be dodging the question of the location of the Church, this man knows Jesus Christ, and is utterly unafraid of proclaiming Him, using ...

Theology Fail: Seriously, I love Doug Wilson. He is always interesting, his worldview is outstanding, and he's one of the reasons (Ahem. Rich Lusk, Jeff Meyers, N.T. Wright, "Captain Jack," et al.) that I was proud to be Reformed. But he needs to give the matters raised more thought. It was actually reading Trent (and not just the canons, you bums) that caused me to see what the anti-FVers are so on about. Being Catholic is first and foremost an ecclesial decision, not a doctrinal one, so I respect Wilson and others in their desire to remain separate from the Catholic Church. But the anti-FV position understands what the FV position does not, apparently: The traditional formulations of doctrine for Protestants are what the Reformation was actually about. If you question those, you are by definition questioning the wisdom of the separation itself. [By the way, you didn't read the whole thing, either.--ed.] Yes, but I did read Sessions V, VI, and VII, which are dire...

Wednesday "Pretending there's a chapel so I can skip it" Edition: And I should say that I loved chapel every time I ever went. But you know what it represents? Safety. Closed minds. Comfort. We do not have the luxury of not addressing Christian disunity head-on. Confessionalism and unity (even of an invisible kind) are intractably at odds. Time to make a choice. I absolutely know I'd love John Armstrong's book, Your Church is Too Small, even where we disagree. I know this because 1) I love John, whose warmth, honesty, courage, and sacrifice are worthy to be emulated, and 2) because it is an attempt to address the things that really matter about the Church. I think the thing that can be frustrating concerning the Catholic claims to people like John is that some "traditional" Catholics do not know just how good God has been to his people outside the visible Church. So called "conservative" Protestants are out there preaching the gospel, building ...

Catholic Eucharist, v. 2.0: We're plus-8 days as of this writing from my full communion with the successor of Peter. No, I don't think it'll wear off. [Noone stays on a high forever, freak.--ed.] True. But this is pretty sweet. I was in a minor foul mood because I couldn't seem to go to the little soldier's room before I left my house. We showed up early, because my friend was a lector (reader) today. So he said, "Do you want to go to Eucharistic Adoration before Mass?" Um, huge yes. Pointless Digression: Eucharistic Adoration is the heart of all the beliefs of the Catholic Church which are 1) undeniably weird, and 2) immeasurably awesome. The day you get used to experiencing Christ in this way, you'll be ready to be commissioner of the No Fun League. I must concede that I may be nuts, or Catholics have put those brain-leeches from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan into my brain. Either way, I'm OK with that.

Friday "There is a chapel, and I'm skipping it" Edition: There's a typo in the last post, and I'm too lazy to correct it. [I've got it. It should read, "A Librarian's Comments On..." There now, all better.--ed.] Thanks. Or, in the Anne Katherine Robinson notation, '*A Librarian's Comments On...' [It's not like she invented it, you know.--ed.] Yeah, but "St." Justin is the only other one of my friends who corrects his mistakes in this way. So I found myself in a 'conversation' about books last night, and I feel moved to comment further. I don't really know what a "good book" is. [Duh.--ed.] I mean, I don't really evaluate books in that general, holistic sense. If I find one line that contributes in some way to my well-being. or the Kingdom, or the Truth, I'm liable to praise the book as a whole. I know, that's insane. And I have an abiding talent for exaggerating. D.L. Moody told a woma...