I just finished teaching Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics this semester. This is the tenth year I have taught it, and every time I teach it, I more deeply appreciate its truth and importance. One reason for its importance can be found in the Wilson-Hitchens video that I discuss below.

While many of our discussions here on Called to Communion have centered around abstract and philosophical thoughts about grace, faith, hope, love and the like, it is an undeniable fact that something else has been lingering in the foreground, as it were. Those thoughts on concepts are important (and of course, we are just getting […]

I’m sure much of our readership is aware of the recent lifting of the excommunications of the four bishops ordained by Archbishop Marcelle Lefebvre under the auspices of the Society of St. Pius the Tenth (SSPX). For those totally unfamiliar, I believe the Pope’s letter on the subject explains the situation quite adequately.

Yesterday Professor Lawrence Feingold gave an outstanding lecture on “St. Paul on Justification.” Listen to the lecture and the Q&A below: Lecture: Lecture Q&A: Q&A

Friends, As the blog discussions grow larger I wanted to remind everybody of our posting guidelines.  The purpose of these guidelines is to encourage a spirit of charity and to encourage an honest discussion.   The guidelines can be found here. We would ask that everybody read these again.  We really don’t want to be put […]

Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, `You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but […]

I stumbled across this article in Time Magazine while waiting for my oil change. I guess it’s old news by now but I’m interested in your reaction to it (particularly if you’re a Calvinist).

What did Christ do for us through His Passion, according to Aquinas? Was it necessary that He suffer? How do we receive the salvific benefits of Christ’s Passion? Was His Passion sufficient? Does God hate sinners?

I guess I’m starting to wonder whether any of the major players ever really disagreed with each other on the question of assurance of salvation. Everybody seemed to agree, at least at various points in their reflections, that you might not have (do not have?) strict certainty regarding (a) whether you are currently justified (or […]

In this fifth post in this series, I examine what St. Thomas Aquinas says about the third of the three effects of sin, namely, debt of punishment. Why does sin cause a debt of punishment? Is the debt the same for mortal and venial sins? Is sin the punishment for sin? Does the debt remain […]