The Texas Inkling

 

Welcome to the Texas Inkling

We live in a world gone mad, or at least half so.  Every person is free to practice his or her religion—or lack thereof—but each is discouraged from believing that such a thing should matter.

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Contentment:  The Virtuous Vice by JC Sanders

Contentment is defined as “the state of being contented; satisfaction; ease of mind.”  I have heard it often said that contentment is a virtue; and in some ways it can become virtuous—but it can easily become a vice as well.  Perhaps a better way of looking at contentment is as a virtuous vice.

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Abba Father and the Mother of God by Nathan Anthony Augustine Kennedy

Among other theological "debates" of our age, attributing gender to God has become one of the most hot-button topics. Over half a century of theological feminism, regardless of its merits if any, has effectually stripped our understanding of the person of God to a postmodern, minimalistic, vaguely benevolent "blob" that serves as a Rorschach for our own spiritual fantasies and self-determined concepts of right and wrong. To refer to God as "Father"—or even to ascribe to Him personal pronouns such as "He"—says more about us than who God is, so we are told. The remedy for this perceived problem is to stop using personal pronouns in reference to God (i.e., "It", or to redefine the Trinity from "Father, Son, Holy Spirit" to "Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier"), or to begin using feminine pronouns in reference to God ("She", or "Mother, Daughter, Holy Spirit"). Both of these proposed solutions are deeply problematic, but I will not address either of them. I will instead focus on the alleged problem—the notion that to speak of gender in reference to God is to speak more about ourselves than to speak of God.

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The Theological Importance of a Pronoun by JC Sanders

I've long since noticed an aversion to the use of the pronouns "He," "His," and "Him" within feminist circles when making references to God. The more militant (and heretical) groups attempt to inject "she," "her," and "hers" whenever possible and must corresponding replace "Father" with "mother" and "Son" with "daughter" (the last of which becomes especially strange given that Jesus was, in fact, a man). While this practice is thankfully rare (I've only ever heard it loudly and boldly proclaimed by a few shrill voices at the chapel at St Edwards' University), there is a second practice which is more subtle and yet possibly equally as dangerous; it is certainly far more widespread.

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The Church and the Witches by Jim Noble

A recent item in the news is the complaint of a coven of witches concerning the refusal of a Catholic “Social club” (parish hall) to host the groups Annual Witches’ Ball.  According to the Catholic News Agency, the High-Priestess of the group, Sandra Davis, stated that she was “appalled” and “shocked” that there could be “religious discrimination” against “people who follow an earth-based religion and want to enjoy ourselves.  We thought we were bridging the gap with other religions but misconceptions still exist, like we sacrifice animals.”

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Grace and Justification Part II:  Faith and Works by Nathan Anthony Kennedy

This is part two of a three-part series of reflections on the nature and process of justification through grace. These reflections are intended to inform, clarify, and lead to discussion on matters that both divide and unite Christians historically and presently. In part one, I discussed the nature of sin and its consequences for man's soul. In this part, I explore the role that Faith and Works play in the process of justification, delving into further detail on the nature of Sanctifying Grace and its role in the human soul.

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Book Review of Piers Paul Read's "The Death of a Pope" by JC Sanders

Ecclesiastical thrillers are few and far between. Too often, they take the form of Dan Brown's work: popular, perhaps, controversial certainly, and of little if any value in terms of their actual content. Such works tend to be completely detrimental to those who read them, with banal dialogues, shoddy morals, and themes which tend at best to push readers into distrusting religions in general and the Church in particular--and at worst to view the Church as a lying, evil, and secretive organization whose sole concern is its own wealth, power, and influence.

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Innovation and Tradition in the Church by Jim Noble

Traveling to a different part of the country is generally a good way to learn something about our culture in America.  So I was expecting to learn something of value about a different part of society when I accepted an internship in the Greater Bay Area this summer.  I was not expecting that something to be related to religion.

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Morality:  an Aide to Freedom by JC Sanders

Last Monday, during the intermission at our monthly Dominican Laity meeting, the small group with which I was talking was approached by another member of our chapter. She had a question, which was originally intended for Fr Ralph, our groups senior priest. He being absent, she addressed the question to our group: what is the relationship between morality and freedom? A more specific phrasing of the question is: if God is the source of all freedom, how can He also be the source of all morality, which seems like a set of rules, of do’s and do’s not.

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Grace and Justification Part I:  the Nature of Sin by Nathan Anthony Kennedy

This is part one of a three-part series of reflections on the nature and process of justification through grace. These reflections are intended to inform, clarify, and lead to discussion on matters that both divide and unite Christians historically and presently. In this part, I explore the nature of sin, its effect on human nature, and its devastating consequences to the purposes for which man was made.

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The Problem with "Cafeteria" Catholics by Jim Noble

A dark seed has been growing within the Catholic Church over the last few decades.  This taint became stronger, more noticeable during the 1960s and has grown stronger still with the death of Pope John Paul II.  The phenomena to which I am now referring is that of the so-called “Cafeteria Catholics,” a group of people within the Catholic Church that reject some or in many cases many of the Church’s teachings and doctrines.  For better of for worse, this rejection unfortunately undermines the Church’s authority.

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Illegal Immigration:  a Humanitarian Crisis by JC Sanders

Most people who read the articles on this site and who see that I am commenting on immigration are probably going to want me to either come down hard on the left for being soft-headed, while a few may be expecting me to come out against the right for being hard-hearted. It is not exactly my intention to do either, though I suspect that in the course of writing this, I shall do a little of both.

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The Liturgy and Spiritual Contraception by Nathan Anthony Kennedy

Annie Dillard once remarked that our casual approach to religion was something akin to "children making a batch of dynamite with a chemistry set on the living room floor." We have no idea what we are dealing with really. Our bland services with our kitschy music and our pop-psych confessions have totally blinded us to the true magnitude of exactly what we are dealing with: the supreme act of God's love made present to us effecting our salvation. Suggest the true awesomeness of the event taking place, the true importance of being present with this event, or the absolute reality that this event poses for us, and often than not a blank stare, stifled snicker, or condescending rationalization will follow. To many of us, nothing is sacred anymore, not even the divine worship of God. Keeping the liturgy pure has given way to the whims of the moment, whatever is perceived to express the identity of the "People of God" at the given time. The idea that there are some things that we cannot change to our liking, that there should be some sense of boundary or limitation, is seen as an attack on human freedom or a hindrance to creativity.

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Can the Creeds Change?  The Importance of Doctrinal Orthodoxy (Part II) by JC Sanders

Why is it so important that the creedal aspects of faith be not merely generally correct, but precisely so?  Must doctrine be so finely discovered, unveiled, taught—or is a more coarse definition of belief sufficient?  These questions are at the heart of the concept of doctrine—in the moral sense, but especially in the creedal sense.  For the moral sense tells us something about ourselves and our relationships with each other; but it is the creeds which teach us most about God.

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Can the Creeds Change?  The Importance of Doctrinal Orthodoxy (Part I) by JC Sanders

“It is foolish, generally speaking, for a philosopher to set fire to another philosopher in Smithfield Market because they do no agree in their theory of the universe….But there is one thing that is infinitely more absurd than burning a man for his philosophy.  This is the habit of saying that his philosophy does not matter, and this is done universally in the twentieth century.”  --GK Chesterton, Heretics

Those who have followed the news' coverage of the recent presidential inauguration have more-than-likely heard by now that our new president was sworn in not once, but twice.

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Rights and Abortion by Jim Noble

The ongoing fight over abortion is phrased in many different ways, from whether the fetus “counts” as a human to whether or not the pro-life side is merely trying to impose its values on society.  One version of the debate suggested that the debate is not about abortion at all, but rather about women’s rights.  This argument is flawed on a number of levels.

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Why Not Truth:  Child-Like Sanity for a Childish Philosophy by Nathan Anthony Kennedy

Quite often does the wisdom of a small, simple, innocent child prove truer than that of our most intelligent and sophisticated philosophers. This observation is as engrained into out hearts as it is true: Comte, for example, attempts to escape this truth by explaining away his philosophy as “adult” and the philosophies that precede it as being “infantile”. Other philosophers have followed suit, and as such we contend with philosophies that try to bring mankind into progressive adulthood or some version of overcoming the “childish” truths we have grappled with since the beginning of philosophy. To such an “infantile” race as man, the concept of truth proves to be too transcendent, too self-serving to hold any real meaning. The best thing to do, modern philosophers tell us, is to ditch the idea of truth altogether—besides, it never existed, and even if it did, we would be too childish to know it anyway.

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How Do We preach?  A Reflection on the Responsibilities of Christian Discipleship by JC Sanders

“In humility, we hope to learn; out of charity, we seek to teach; in friendship, we desire to search for Truth”  Indeed, all of us engages at some level in the search for metaphysical meaning, a search for meaning in and underlying our lives.  We may each conclude differently as to the real answer to the riddle of our existence—or, in some cases, deny that there is such an answer or even the validity of the riddle.  On some level, and at some time or times in our lives, we are left to face the riddle.

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