“Capitalism forms morally better people than socialism does,” Mr. Novak said in a 2007 interview with Crisis, a magazine he and the scholar Ralph McInerny founded in 1982. “Capitalism teaches people to show initiative and imagination, to work cooperatively in teams, to love and to cherish the law; what is more, it forces persons…
My job is to make clear to everyone just what the secret plan is, the purpose that’s been hidden from the very beginning of the world in God who created all things. This is it: that God’s wisdom, in all its rich variety, was to be made known to the rulers and authorities in…
(Or, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry Idol) “In most popular Christianity, “heaven” (and “fellowship with God” in the present) is the goal, and “sin” (bad behavior, deserving punishment) is the problem. A Platonized goal and a moralizing diagnosis—and together they lead, as I have been suggesting, to a paganized “solution” in which…
….Who keeps covenant promises, Who defeats the Powers of Darkness, Who establishes His Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven not by force but with love, Who gave His life as a ransom for many… “What I handed on to you at the beginning, you see, was what I received, namely this: “The…
Viewed from the six lane highway, the structure appears to be a brick fortress surrounded by acres of treeless grass and a vast moonscape of parking lot. The function without form building inspires no awe, no upward glance and no transcendent thought. The surrounding barren landscape contains no greenhouse, no food or flower gardens,…
“Let all things be done decently and in order” I Corinthians 14:40 The above verse was repeated so often by my father that it became a joking family rejoinder to whatever was askew at the moment. My Dutch grandparents epitomized the verse. Their tiny two-bedroom bungalow in Bellwood, Illinois was immaculate. The bungalow’s smaller…
“Two particular details about Roman crucifixion are of special interest to us in this book. First, it would not be much of an exaggeration to say that Jesus of Nazareth grew up under the shadow of the cross…The Galilee of Jesus’ boyhood, then, all knew about Roman crosses (Antiquities 17.286-98; War 2.66-79)…When he told…
De profundis So, she leapt through each night, to each waking dream saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for the multitude of my sins” “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for the multitude of my sins” “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for the multitude of my sins” In the morning, she headed out…