Translation project completed: Book to be published

H. G. Stoker, Conscience: Phenomena and Theories, translated by Philip E. Blosser (University of Notre Dame Press, March, 2018)

I have been waiting long to see this project to completion -- a translation of a book by H. G. Stoker, possibly the most exhaustive study of conscience in any language -- and from a perspective informed by phenomenology and the traditions of Christianity. It's more expensive than I would like, but it's not overly technical and should interest a wide audience -- anyone interested in conscience, its psychology, religious and moral significance, how it 'works,' historical theories about it (from ancient Greece, through Medieval thinkers to the likes of Kant, Nietzsche, Cardinal Newman, and F.J.J. Buytendijk), terms used for it in multiple languages, it's development, reliability, and whether it is primarily intellectual, intuitive, volitional, or emotional. The book will go on sale the end of March.

For more details, see the promo page over at the University of Notre Dame Press (Here)

Conscience: Phenomena and Theories was first published in German in 1925 as a dissertation by Hendrik G. Stoker under the title Das Gewissen: Erscheinungsformen und Theorien. It was received with acclaim by philosophers at the time, including Stoker’s dissertation mentor Max Scheler, Martin Heidegger, and Herbert Spielberg, as quite possibly the single most comprehensive philosophical treatment of conscience and as a major contribution in the phenomenological tradition.

Mainline media plagiarizes Mad magazine: "Dear Time editors: The Kremlin is not a church. Dear CNN politicos: Churches are not mosques"

As Guy Noir - Private Eye observed recently: "Remember when big news weeklies had religion reporters of the caliber of Kenneth Woodward? Instead of twenty-somethings who have never worked a day outside of media in their lives?

"I do, vaguely. It was a time now shrouded in mists, a time when the phrase when 'biased news' was heard but a phrase like 'fake news' would have been laughed at... I have an MA in Journalism. At this juncture in history I view it as pretty much worthless. SAD!"

He then referred to this: Terry Mattingly's "Dear Time editors: The Kremlin is not a church. Dear CNN politicos: Churches are not mosques" (GetReligion, May 18, 2017).

It's a wonder God has withheld his just judgment this long

Some sobering thoughts and dark humor from Amateur Brain Surgeon:

Sins crying to Heaven for Vengeance: murder (Gn 4:10), sodomy (Gn 17:20-21), oppression of the poor (Ex 2:23), and defrauding workers of their just wages (Jas 5:4).

The Four Sins crying to Heaven for vengeance have all been approved of by either positive law or popular majoritarian moral sanction:

• MURDER of the unborn in the womb is legal.
• SODOMY is legally codified and morally praised by most.
• OPPRESSION of the poor is being accomplished by mass immigration (which is an assault on the wages of the working class) and treaties which have destroyed manufacturing (manufacturing, mining, farming are the three aspects of a healthy economy).
• DEFRAUDING workers of their just wages via mass immigration and usury which is legally sanctioned (but morally illegal) loans (Vix pervenit)

These serious sins are reflective of America’s war on Jesus Christ and His Commandments and it is a war that was embedded deeply in our foundational attitudes and documents (if only by omission).

Jesus Christ is King of Heaven and Earth and any nation that is at war with Him by legislating that which He condemns is doomed to defeat and destruction.

What is most amazing about our plight is His patience.

Long ago, these United States deserved to be utterly destroyed

Calling leaders 'moderate' only abets the enemy's desire to sanitize evil and marginalize faithful Catholics

William Doino, Jr., "The Myth of the Moderate Catholic" (First Things, August 29, 2016:

If there is one word Christians should be wary of, in the political and religious spheres, it is “moderate.” Though it denotes a prudent, middle-of-the-road approach to contested issues, “moderation” is often ascribed to people who hold very immoderate views.

The mainstream media, for example, frequently describe politicians who endorse every aspect of the culture of death and ongoing sexual revolution as “moderates.” It’s not difficult to understand why: Doing so helps sanitize the enormous evil of abortion and promote a do-as-you-please morality—exactly what the media desire.

In the religious sphere, “moderate” is frequently applied—albeit inconsistently and for different reasons—to Catholic bishops who speak out for social justice, but who are also strongly pro-life and pro–traditional marriage. Again, the reasons are obvious: Championing the supposed “moderate” side of Catholicism will, as the media see it, delegitimize “conservatism” within the Church, and thus weaken the Church’s repressive and outdated moral teachings.

Together with Joseph's comment beneath the posted article:

Christian moderates of all stripes have forgotten Christ's own words.

For example, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household."

Surely, Jesus desires that the whole world would be at peace and that all could share in God's glory, but he also understood that truth is radical. Truth is divisive and exclusionary by its nature. When he said that "nobody comes to the Father except through me," he meant it. The way, the truth, and the life is just one path - the only path.

When "moderates" attempt to soften what they perceive as the rough edges of Christianity, they are only eroding the truth to conform to human standards. Any heart changed by Christ knows that it works precisely the other way around.

What's worse is that this watering down of the message minimizes the sacrifice of the cross. One wonders if we aren't soon headed for a final evolution of Christianity that does away with all that icky "sin" stuff altogether.

Putin vs. Obama: Who Occupies the High Ground?

Michael Matt, "Putin vs. Obama: Who Occupies the High Ground?" (The Remnant, August 20, 2016).


I realize this is anathema to the majority of both right- and left- wing US media. Russia is, in the public mind, the remnant of what Reagan called "the evil empire." Still, I have no idea why the U.S. is positioning its nuclear weapons increasingly closer to Russia and the Ukraine. Yes, I know about the amassing of Russian troops there. But that's hardly unprovoked. I frankly don't know what to think about Putin. I know of his nefarious KGB connections. I also know of his ostensible Christian connections and defense of public virtue. My hunch is that the chief reason he is demonized by the Western media is not because of the skeletons in his closet but because, like Trump, he is not 'owned' by the corporate interests of the international globalist financiers, like George Soros.

Non-Catholics who think Pope Francis is promoting a new world order with a one-world religion

Michael Snyder, "12 Times Pope Francis Has Openly Promoted a One World Religion or a New World Order" (INFOWARS, August 1, 2016). Certainly this needs to be taken with a grain of salt, though it is probably significant that this has become a topic so frequently touched upon by our current Pontiff that an established pattern is now able to be both illustrated and enumerated.

Hillary's Juicy Ecumenism

Mark Tooley, "Hillary's Methodism" (Juicy Ecumenism, September 14, 2014). A juicy piece.

[Hat tip to JM]

"Is Obama Really a Christian?"

Do you think we still live in a day that "Christian" is used for its honorific connotative benefits, like "Ladies" and "Gentlemen"? Even if a candidate may use it in that way to garner the support of a certain electoral base, this is hardly the case anymore: to be "Christian" is to be a fundamentalist idiot or worse, and to be a Catholic is to be a crypto pedophile with your head stuck in the medieval Inquisition. Something like that. Soon it will be Christians that need to petition for affirmative action; but they won't get it. They're likelier to have their heads served up on a silver platter.

Nevertheless, the following is a candid and measured piece sent to me by a reader, who observed, among other things, that one question the author did not explore is the question how far the Modernism represented by the UCC has also influenced bliefs of average Christians and entire denominations. Reading the piece, he suggested, one might even ask how very different Obama's statements sound from those of many Catholic bishops, from Rome to Timbuktu (which probably has none):

David French, "Is Obama Really a Christian" (National Review, March 23, 2015).

[Hat tip to JM]

10 Blog Blow-bys for Your Consideration

Quality rare gem select, from Guy Noir - Private Eye:

• Carl Olson, "Abp. Cordileone: 'Catholic schools exist to help young people attain holiness in their lives...to become saints.'" (Catholic World Report, February 9, 2015). G.N.:

  "IN SAN FRANCISCO, NO LESS!!! Read the lines about Chastity and the Handbook. Clarity .... from a Bishop....I am almost confused!! I wonder if they need any teachers!"

• Nathaniel Givens, "The LDS Church and Gay Rights" (First Things, February 10, 2015). G.N.:

  Read the comment by the guy who points out that Christans ARE anti-gay.
  
  The the subsequent comment in the box: Christians continually talk about opposition to same-sex marriage, but that is a secondary and resultant from their opposition to homosexuality itself. (But "inferior," no, and "immoral" only if indulging in their sexual desires. At least that's the Christian perspective, not one I expect nonbelievers to share). Hence speaking of 'Gay' as an identity sets them up to loose the argument, since 'gay' and homosexual activity are hard to separate.

• Ross Douthat, "Obama the Theologian" (New York Times, February 7, 2015). G.N.:

  Douthat good as usual.

• Maureen Mullarkey, "Beauty Bits & Pieces" (First Things, February 9, 2015). G.N.:

  From what patch of Heaven comes this woman dispatched to tweak the ears of 60s theologians and Millennial posers?! I don't know or care, but another great piece.

• D. G. Hart, "Humbly Separate Church and State In the Name of Christ (of course)" (Old Life, February 9, 2015). G.N.:

  Oh no! I agree with Michael Sean Winters! "I confess I am very wary of the Pope’s addressing Congress." Then again, you have to be a fool to not be!

• Anthony Esolen, "Treasure in the Basement" (The Catholic Thing, February 10, 2015). G.N.:

  Esolen cavetching again, and right. I do not oppose book-burnign in extreme cases. Extreme cases include 50 Shades of Grey and Gather In.

• "Balloons Replace Doves at the Vatican" (That the bones you have crushed may thrill, January 26, 2015). G.N.:

  Perfect

• Damian Thompson, "The march of the new political correctness" (The Spectator, February 7, 2015). G.N.:

  A nice counterpoint to the current blather.

• Carl E. Olson, "A Tale of Two Bishops" (Catholic World Report, February 9, 2015). G.N.:

  Olson says there is so much he could not share. He shares enough.

• Carl E. Olson, "More on Merton" (Catholic World Report, February 8, 2015). G.N.:

  Fr. Barron engages in so many imprudent speculations that even his fan club occasionally feels compelled to reign him in. Given their esteem for the man, that's really something. But this was, and is, necessary and helpful.

Good discussion: On Atheists & Evolution: From Stephen Fry to Bono

British actor Stephen Fry blasphemes God and arrogantly proclaims his faith in dogmatic atheism. Michael Matt uses Adam, Eve, Genesis and Bono to answer Fry and challenge de facto false "religions" such as atheism and evolution. A couple of bracing moments.

Meanwhile, Rosman the provacateur asks: "To What Degree is First Things Responsible for Iraq?"

In case you missed it: now HERE's a brazen move: Artur Rosman going for the heart of Neo-Con-dom (no pun intended): "To What Degree is First Things Responsible for Iraq?" (Patheos, July 23, 2014).

In case you missed it: Jeremy Beer's review of Philip Rieff's Triumph of the Therapeutic

Jeremy Beer, "Pieties of Silence" (The American Conservative, October 23, 2006).

[Hat tip to Sir A.S.]

An interview with a 20th-century free thinker, Gustave Thibon (1903-2001)

Following up the post on "Liturgical counter-revolution: the 'hushed' case of Fr. Calmel" (Musings, April 28, 2014), here is an interview with a very different sort of man, Gustave Thibon (1903-2001), a French philosopher, poet, and free thinker who, during the Second World War, hosted Simone Weil at his farm and later published her work, La Pesanteur et la grâce (Gravity and Grace) in 1947.

Luc Adrian, "Gustave Thibon en confidences" Part I, Part II (Famille Chrétienne, July 7, 1993)

His favorite saints? St. John of the Cross and St. Therese of Lisieux. Among many other things in this lively intereview, he declares: "I'm in love with Christ in agony, the Man of Sorrows, God become infinitely small, God forsaken of God. If I were a religious, I would have chosen the name Brother X of Gethsemane."

One learns about the present by studying the past.

[Hat tip to Sir A.S.]

A collection of Fr. Alexander Schmemann's hilarious asides

From Stephen Manning, who studied with the Eastern Orthdox professor Fr. Alexander Schmemann at St. Vladimir's Seminary, via Opus Publicum and The New Liturgical Movement, come thee following comments by the good doctor:

• About RC celibate priesthood: “I remember when the Church of Rome was a great church. Now everybody wants to have orgasms. Orgasm. Ech. Who needs it?”
• A filip on groovy late 60′s post Vatican II piety: “Crowds of nuns with guitars, singing to the bloody Heart of Jesus.”
• “At the World Council of Churches, the serious ecumenical theologians wanted to discuss Apostolic Succession. They went around from left to right, starting with the Quakers, ending, of course, with the Orthodox. I was the spokesman and I said, We may not agree about what Apostolic Succession is, but we know we have it.”
• “Whenever I perform a weddding, I look at the bride and groom –you can see the trouble ahead–, and then her family, then his family: the secrets, the fights about money, about status…I sometimes think that we don’t need a wedding here, we need an exorcism!”
• Coming back from Geneva, I was admiring the purity of Calvinism: the white painted church, the polite congregation in the pews, the towering pulpit, the Bible, just the pure Word of God. But then I got nostalgic for the flesh-pots of Orthodoxy: the conspiracies, the paranoia, the competitions, the jealousies, the whole mess.” 

[Hat tip to C.B.]

Popular suicide spots in Japan

Larissa Macfarquhar, "Last Call" (The New Yorker, June 24, 2013) - a Buddhist monk confronts Japan's suicide culture:

From time to time, Ittetsu Nemoto gets a group of suicidal people together to visit popular suicide spots, of which there are many in Japan. The best known is Aokigahara forest, the Sea of Trees, at the foot of Mt. Fuji. The forest became associated with suicide in the nineteen-sixties, after the publication of two novels by Seicho Matsumoto, and even more so after Wataru Tsurumi’s 1993 “Complete Manual of Suicide” declared it the perfect place to die. Because its trees grow so closely together that they block the wind, and because there are few animals or birds, the forest is unusually quiet. The Sea of Trees is large, fourteen square miles, so bodies can lie undiscovered for months; tourists photograph corpses and scavenge for abandoned possessions. Another common suicide destination is Tojinbo cliff, which overlooks the Sea of Japan. Visiting such a place turns out to be very different from picturing it. The sight of the sea from a cliff top can be a terrible thing.

At other times, Nemoto, a Buddhist priest, conducts death workshops for the suicidal at his temple. He tells attendees to imagine they’ve been given a diagnosis of cancer and have three months to live. He instructs them to write down what they want to do in those three months. Then he tells them to imagine they have one month left; then a week; then ten minutes. Most people start crying in the course of this exercise, Nemoto among them.

One man who came to a workshop had been talking to Nemoto for years about wanting to die. He was thirty-eight years old and had been institutionalized in a mental hospital off and on for a decade. During the writing exercise, he just sat and wept. When Nemoto came around to check on him, his paper was blank. The man explained that he had nothing to say in response to the questions because he had never considered them. All he had ever thought about was wanting to die; he had never thought about what he might want to do with his life. But if he had never really lived, how could he want to die? This insight proved oddly liberating. The man returned to his job as a machinist in a factory. Previously, he had been so averse to human company that he had been able to function only in certain limited capacities, but now he was able to speak to people, and he got a promotion. . . .

[Hat tip to Saleem P.]

Related: a scene from the Japanese movie, "Departures," which portrays the respect and tenderness with which the dead are treated in Japan, a film well-worth seeing, in my opinion:

Cardinal Dolan to Muslims: don't lose your faith!

On a topic of recent discussion:

Video: Cardinal Dolan visits Staten Island Albanian Islamic Cultural Center (via Rorate Caeli, June 21, 2013).

Is the God of the Qur'an the God of the Bible?

Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God, but in different ways? There has been a lot of discussion of such questions, especially since 9/11.

Many have answered yes. In his book, Ecumenical Jihad, I think Peter Kreeft argues essentially that. In other words, both Christians and Muslims are theists and agree on a number of attributes God (or Allah) must have, being both infinite and in some sense personal, even if transcendent. Their understandings of God may not overlap entirely, but it's the same God, nonetheless, Whom they worship.

Other voices have been answering no. The Jewish radio talk show host, Michael Medved recently responded to the claim that Christian violence is comparable to Muslim terrorism by stating: "... no nations or prominent church groups promote or applaud violence in the name of Jesus, but several nations and many leading voices in Islam endorse violence in the name of Allah. Radical Islam stands alone among contemporary religious sects in suggesting that the slaughter of innocent women and children in suicide attacks will bring you closer to God."

This might suggest that the Christian understanding of God is different from that of radical Islam, and invites more explicitly a discipleship of love than Islam; but this still doesn't answer the question whether the God of Islam and Christianity is the same God.

Just today, however, Gerald R. McDermott published a piece, which the leftist pundits will likely tar and feather with accusations of hate speech: "No, the God of the Qur’an is Not the God of the Bible" (On the Square, June 4, 2013). Excerpts:

Yale theologian Miroslav Volf answers the question in a recent book (Allah: A Christian Response) with a nuanced but insistent Yes: Christians and Muslims do indeed worship the same God. In a review of Volf’s book, Baylor historian Thomas Kidd faults Volf for sidestepping the question of salvation—and therefore the question of true worship—and for not being critical enough in his evaluation of the identity of the God or gods of these two religions.

Kidd is quite right; indeed, there are deeper problems with Volf’s thesis. His argument for the identity of the Muslim and Christian Gods collapses under its own weight. Volf’s own logic underscores what the Qur’an itself suggests—that the God of the Qur’an is radically different from the God Christians worship.

... Even Muslim scholars recognize that none of [the] five verses [in the Qur'an referencing "love" in connection with God] constitutes a command to love God. In his 1960 study, The God of Justice: A Study in the Ethical Doctrine of the Qur’an, Muslim scholar Daud Rahbar insisted that “the Qur’an never enjoins love for God.”

... Another difficulty is that there simply is no command to love one’s neighbor in the Qur’an. One can talk about love for neighbor in the Islamic tradition, but not as something commanded by the God of the Qur’an....

... All this is not to say that no Muslims can be saved by the person and work of Jesus Christ. Nor is it to suggest that Muslims never make contact with the true God. For Scripture attests that God graciously reaches out to those who have faulty notions of him. But we have to conclude nonetheless that the God of the Qur’an is a very different God from the God of the Bible.

[Hat tip to E. Echeverria]

The fruit of interfaith dialogue: 'COEXIST' vs. CHRIST?

Marshall Taylor, "Islam & Being Ecumenically Correct: How It's Driven One Ex-Muslim to Leave the Catholic Church" (Canterbury Tales, March 26, 2013):

Mr. Magdi Cristiano Allam Receiving Communion after Baptism
He has now left the Catholic Church...
I was really impressed a few years back when Pope Benedict baptized a Muslim man. His name is Magdi Cristiano Allam. I thought it was great that the Pope himself would baptize such a convert. It symbolized that Christ is truly the King of Kings and Lord of the whole earth.

Well, Mr. Allam just announced that he is leaving the Catholic Church! That's it. He's done. He's out.

Why?

Magdi Cristiano Allam is leaving the Catholic Church because he thinks the Catholic Church has become soft on Islam. And to be honest, I agree with his assessment of the Vatican's "soft-theology" of Islam.

The new "soft theology" of contemporary Catholic dialogue is not historic, biblical, traditional, Thomistic, etc. We all see it for what it is. The Holy See's increasingly tolerant stance toward Islam is an attempt to appease the future rulers of Europe: Muslims. This approach is not the way of Saint Pius V, to be sure. Google "Battle of Lepanto" for details.

Here is Mr. Allam in his own words:

"The thing that drove me away from the Church more than any other factor was religious relativism, in particular the legitimisation of Islam as a true religion," he said. Mr Allam said Islam was "an intrinsically violent ideology" that had to be courageously opposed as "incompatible with our civilisation and fundamental human rights". "I am more convinced than ever that Europe will end up being subjugated to Islam just like what happened beginning in the seventh century on the other side of the Mediterranean," he warned. {Quote from the Tablet}

I don't agree with Mr. Allam for leaving the one true Church of Jesus Christ. I don't celebrate it or condone it. The apostasy of Mr Allam serves the dead canary in the mine.

We will not convert Muslims to our Lord Jesus Christ if we keep preaching our "ecumenically correct" (EC) public service announcements. Islam is NOT a religion of Abraham. It's not. It's an aberration. Saint John Damascene (Doctor of the Catholic Church) said that Islam is a heresy at best. If Abraham were alive today, he would stand up and curse Islam. It's a religion of the sword. Always has been. Always will be. Any religion that promises sex with virgins as its highest reward is clearly a religion created by man. Mohammedanism does not have a divine origin. Mohammedanism leads people away from Jesus Christ.

"But Dr. Marshall. You don't really understand. I mean have you ever really read the Quran?" Yes, I have the full audible version of the Quran on my iPhone and I listen to it. I read it. I study it. It's bad news.

Think about it this way. The Catholic Church, once upon a time, converted the nations of Europe. These converts had previously practiced forms of paganism and animism.

What if the Pope and bishops back then began glad-handing with the ecumenical heads of the religions they were supposed to be baptizing? What if Pope Gregory the Great were celebrating diversity with the priests of Thor and priestesses of the Frigga? Do you know how discouraging that would be for these new converts among the freshly baptized German tribes?!

I'm going to be transparent with you. It absolutely destroys me whenever I see photos of the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury posing for pictures. Many former Anglican priests made enormous sacrifices to enter into communion with the Pope. I gave up my life and vocation as an Anglican priest to be in communion with the Pope. To see the Pope smiling and celebrating with our "old boss" is very discouraging.

My opinion is that the ecumenism of the last 40 years does more harm than good - when it comes to people who are actually becoming Catholic. Magdi Cristiano Allam is Exhibit A. Here is a man who was baptized by the Pope himself. Now he is gone. How sad.

Now it's your turn. We can agree that there is no excuse to leave the Church, but is the Catholic Church hurting her children who are former Muslim children by being ecumenically correct and overly tolerant? Is this about Christ or COEXIST? Please leave a comment.

[Hat tip to J.M.]

Revisiting Joseph Smith's Novel History

The underestimation of the divide between Mormonism and mainstream Christianity (CWR, April 5, 2013)

by Joseph F. Martin


Left: Portrait of Joseph Smith by an unknown painter, c. 1842. Right: A stained glass window (1913) depicting Smith's claimed encounter with Jesus and God the Father, on display at the Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake City, Utah.

It is safe to say that when the Mormons built a fantastic, six-spired, gleaming Mormon Temple outside of Washington, DC in 1974, not too many East Coasters were familiar with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) story. I recall gawking at the temple during a drive, as my brother’s Catholic friend knowingly intoned that the gold figure topping the tallest spire represented the angel Gabriel blowing his trumpet at the end of the world. To my then-Methodist ears that sounded appealingly Evangelical. And of course it was entirely wrong. But it was typical of how most people approached Mormonism, interpreting their encounters with LDS believers with the assumption that they shared a common Christian vocabulary and frame of reference with the group, which, while maybe a bit separatist, had to be essentially like all the other “denominations.”

In the years since, thanks to Mormonism’s exponential growth and our accelerated media culture, the LDS church has become far less of a mystery in many ways. Stories of Joseph Smith’s vision and his digging up golden plates from which he translated The Book of Mormon—essentially an Incan reimagining of the New Testament—as well as Brigham Young’s trek across the Rockies have become just another chapter in American lore. Mormons tend to be outstanding people, salt of the earth—and with Western culture rapidly secularizing, many Christians now are advocating that the LDS are actually separated, albeit peculiarly so, brethren.

This seems to be the take of Stephen Webb. In a fascinating piece for First Things (Feb. 2012), titled “Mormonism Obsessed with Christ,” he says that for a large part of his teaching career, he did not try to hide his condescension towards Mormonism. But, Webb writes, “I have come to repent of this view, and not just because I came to my senses about how wrong it is to be rude toward somebody else’s faith. I changed my mind because I came to realize just how deeply Christ-centered Mormonism is.”

For Martin's thoughtful critique of this attitude, Read More Here >>

The Church and the Democratic Republic