Gnostic Reality and Horror Theology: Matt Cardin’s Guide to Modernity’s Apocalypse
The horror genre, despite boasting literary classics such as Frankenstein, Dracula and the Castle of Otranto (to name but a few), is not often associated with high…
Rescuing Origen of Alexandria
“To say that Origen of Alexandria has been a critical figure in the history of the Christian tradition would be an understatement.” Who was Origen of Alexandria?…
Are There Rewards in Heaven? A Review of T. Jeff Taylor’s “More Than Heaven”
T. Jeff Taylor. More Than Heaven: A Biblical Theological Argument for a Federal View of Glorification. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2022. For we must all…
Time in the Shadow of Augustine: A Review of “Augustine and Time”
Augustine and Time. Edited by John Doody, Sean Hannan, and Kim Paffenroth. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2021. “What is time?” The vexing question of time is…
Salvation Through Humility: A Review of “Putting on Christ” by Ty Paul Monroe
Ty Paul Monroe. Putting on Christ: Augustine’s Early Theology of Salvation and the Sacraments. Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2022. You are great, Lord,…
Tolle Lege: “Augustine’s Confessions and Contemporary Concerns”
Augustine’s Confessions and Contemporary Concerns, ed. David Vincent Meconi, SJ. Saint Paul: Saint Paul Seminary Press, 2022. Saint Augustine is one of those names that just…
Referential Bodies and Signs: Problems with the Nietzschean-Derridean Interpretation of Augustine
At the beginning of his monumental and still productively controversial work on medieval literature and thought, modestly entitled A Preface to Chaucer, D.W. Robertson Jr. asserts that…
All Donkeys Go to Heaven: “Eo” and Jerzy Skolimowski’s Masterpiece
The 1989 animated musical fantasy All Dogs Go to Heaven humorously poses the question do dogs go to heaven after their life on earth. The dog lover…
Continuity, Symbolism, and the Logos in the Prologue of the Gospel of John
The opening prologue of the gospel of St. John is theologically rich, puzzling, and poetic, thereby imbuing it with rich symbolism and imagery. The declaration that “In…
The Romance of Transcendence
Eric Voegelin’s introduction to The Ecumenic Age is a rich, evocative piece of writing. Regarding religious structures, Voegelin was concerned about the “doctrinization of symbols” that impede…
Milton as Metaphysician: “Paradise Lost” as a Map of Heaven and Hell
John Milton published Paradise Lost in 1667. The epic poem consisted of ten books. What we know today as the complete, twelve book version of the epic,…
Political-Theological Diagonalizations: A Review of Sarah Shortall’s “Soldiers of God in a Secular World
Sarah Shortall. Soldiers of God in a Secular World: Catholic Theology and Twentieth-Century French Politics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2021. At a time when the relationship…
The Problem of Interpretation
Here shall he hunt [this beast] through every city until he will have sent her back into the underworld there whence envy first dispatched her.[1] The problem…
Seat of Faith or Seat of Reason? James Jacobs’ “Seat of Wisdom”
James M. Jacobs. Seat of Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy in the Catholic Tradition. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2022. When analyzing any philosophical…
One Breath: A Poem
Somewhere in the antipodean blue The old salt sea rustles anonymously Darkened by nocturnal ink Busy and dark the currents, the old fingers Wedge themselves into sea…