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Deep Thoughts from the Doghouse

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Select a Month September 2016 August 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013

May 2016

May 17, 2016

Splendor Fatigue

How do we convey the splendor of Heaven when splendor is commonplace?

May 13, 2016

When Amorous Leticia Met the Deacon…

There's been lots of handwringing in some Catholic circles about Amoris Laetitia, and just today...

October 2015

October 14, 2015

The Glory of God and the Total Perspective Vortex

And yet, and yet, no purely created thing, no matter how massive, no matter how...

September 2015

September 16, 2015

Mercy and Long Time Horizons

We Christians seem to spend a lot of time telling folks what not to do. ...

August 2015

August 24, 2015

His Bright Materials: the Saints and the Forge of God

For each of His saints God knows best how to bring the pure metal out...

August 11, 2015

Knowing is Not Enough; and the Doing is Hard

Continuing through Cam’s comment on my post about suffering in Heaven, he asks, Your first...

August 04, 2015

When Your Fist Strikes My Face, That’s a Choice

This week I’m still mining Cam’s excellent comment on my post about suffering in Heaven. ...

July 2015

July 28, 2015

What He’s Researching, I’m Studying

Commenter Cam left a long and thoughtful comment on a recent post of mine about...

July 15, 2015

We Suffer Because We Are Human

In my previous post I ended by suggesting that God couldn’t remove all suffering in...

July 14, 2015

Why Doesn’t God Prevent Suffering?

My atheist interlocutors have presented me with a vast number of questions on my post...

July 02, 2015

Which Monotheistic God is God?

Last time I looked at theological systems that aim at the divine as the ultimate...

July 01, 2015

In Search of Ultimate Reality

In my previous post I argued that worship is what is owed in justice to...

June 2015

June 30, 2015

Why Not Worship Zeus?

Several commenters on my post "Proving God Experimentally" asked why my experiment would lead to...

June 16, 2015

Dominicans Everywhere! Or, Is It Time for a New Level to the Hierarchy?

Looking at today’s Church I notice three things: in many parts of the world, the...

June 10, 2015

Proving God Experimentally

Aristotle managed to prove the existence of the First Cause from first principles and reflections...

June 05, 2015

Why Remain Catholic?

Normally I post music on Fridays, but Tod Worner started something earlier this week with...

June 02, 2015

A Note for Passing Atheists

I’ve recently been getting more attention from atheist commenters, due largely to my posts about...

June 01, 2015

Divine Intelligence: What’s That?

During the course of a sprawling but enjoyable combox conversation with atheist commenter Ragarth I...

May 2015

May 27, 2015

How the Mind Ascends to God

Recently I've been talking about the rationality of Christian (and specifically Catholic) belief in God,...

May 24, 2015

Memorial Day

photo credit: William H. Duquette, 2006, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas

May 19, 2015

My Road to Catholic Belief

Last week I explained why there is no magic bullet for belief, no simple, straightforward...

May 06, 2015

What’s Religion Good For?

Recently Patheos had a forum on what Religion is good for, which I did not...

April 2015

April 29, 2015

We Are Promises of Goodness

Have you ever gotten stuck while reading a book? I don't mean "stuck" as in...

April 21, 2015

Learning Something New: Establishing a Bridgehead

Over the last couple of days I’ve been looking through some of the books (and...

April 20, 2015

Today’s Aquinas: Nobler Beings? Who says?

Last week a reader took issue with Thomas’ use of the term “nobler beings” as...

March 2015

March 18, 2015

Prayer and the Big Game: Can You Pray Before You Play?

It's so typical a moment that it's become trite: the athlete steps out for his...

March 04, 2015

Conversion, or Rearranging Your Inner Furniture

Everybody's familiar with what I'll call "Big-C" Conversion, as in, Mr. So-and-so just converted to...

February 2015

February 12, 2015

Steven Brust on Being at Peace with Yourself

I remember being accosted on Forbes and Murray in Squirrel Hill by a Buddhist who...

January 2015

January 22, 2015

On Praying for the Enemies of Life

On this anniversary of Roe v. Wade it's time to say a few words about...

January 20, 2015

The False Religion of Tomanāk

I'm always fascinated by the presentation of religion in fantasy and science fiction novels. Most...