tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3348523519788188753.post6469802771192201324..comments2024-03-12T04:14:16.271-05:00Comments on The Rad Trad: Placing St. ThomasThe Rad Tradhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00899289024837953345noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3348523519788188753.post-69616496869029291512015-02-21T18:17:39.220-06:002015-02-21T18:17:39.220-06:00Besides, if we neglect the Fathers we get people l...<i>Besides, if we neglect the Fathers we get people like von Balthasar making up crap the Patrisic theologians never intended.</i><br /><br />Having just sojourned through Lyra Pitstick's book, I had to laugh out loud at this.Athelstanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07346012062816580296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3348523519788188753.post-12619291705641054422015-02-20T12:46:52.850-06:002015-02-20T12:46:52.850-06:00Indeed, we need to use the right tool for the righ...Indeed, we need to use the right tool for the right time. Scholasticism worked when it did because it reflected the thought process of the culture at that point. The faith never really changes, but the way it's presented can and should based on circumstances.<br /><br />What does our current society more closely represent, the High Middle Ages or the pagan darkness of the first three centuries of Christendom? Based on that alone, many of the early Fathers and writers would be more practical for catechesis.<br /><br />Besides, if we neglect the Fathers we get people like von Balthasar making up crap the Patrisic theologians never intended.Ecclesial Vigilantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17070187926547373245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3348523519788188753.post-4999121520191740702015-02-20T12:31:01.513-06:002015-02-20T12:31:01.513-06:00I think not. Mrs. von Hildebrandt is a firecracker...I think not. Mrs. von Hildebrandt is a firecracker. She even took the popular sex talk speaker Christopher West to task.J.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02124903563459448051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3348523519788188753.post-61670594926316762722015-02-20T11:49:52.872-06:002015-02-20T11:49:52.872-06:00Professor,
When I was getting my B.A. in theology...Professor,<br /><br />When I was getting my B.A. in theology, I somewhat obsessively studied the corpora of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas. At that point, I would have whole-heartedly agreed with you. My opinion since then has somewhat mellowed due to some personal experiences "in the real world" (so to speak). This is what I have found: scholasticism is a perfect tool with which to explain certain matters to somebody that already agrees with the conclusion. This is why it is so beloved by many faithful Catholics--Thomism is simple, intuitive, and very rarely leads one to error (if rightly applied). <br /><br />However, it is not particularly efficient rhetorically, and very exceptionally does it cause Church dissenters or non-believers to conclude that they are mistaken about whatever false opinions they hold. These people unfortunately are highly resistant to the reasoning of St. Thomas Aquinas: they do not accept the fundamental premises of Aristotelianism--they do not even have the patience to learn what they are--and so any reasoned scholastic argument is usually met with eye-rolling.<br /><br />The problem is that dissenters are extremely entrenched in Catholic schools, and your average household catechesis is in a truly abysmal state. The result of this is that nowadays, dissenters usually taint the minds of children and teenagers with their errors before the child/teenager has any opportunity to learn systematic philosophy. I don't think employing St. Thomas to dissuade them will be effective, nor would teaching it to them in the classroom. I have found patristics much more useful in this regard, since one can learn classical Platonism/Aristotelianism as one reads the works of the Church Fathers, whereas one needs a pretty solid background in metaphysics for most of the Summa to make any sense.<br /><br />On these grounds, I agree with John Senior, with all due respect to you.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00167443887449854135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3348523519788188753.post-82158588949138275212015-02-19T20:17:16.606-06:002015-02-19T20:17:16.606-06:00Von Hildebrant was also no friend of the liturgica...Von Hildebrant was also no friend of the liturgical reform and his wife is no friend of weak-willed men! Has there been a better pair since Francis and Clair? The Rad Tradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00899289024837953345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3348523519788188753.post-22865699707204996652015-02-19T20:15:51.958-06:002015-02-19T20:15:51.958-06:00Peter,
I don't necessarily disagree with you,...Peter,<br /><br />I don't necessarily disagree with you, but that was not Senior's point. His point was that scholastic education had become a parody of Thomas by the mid-20th century and that without the liturgical environment of monasticism and with the technical nonsense that passes for "education" today most students are too ill-equipped to handle him, much less the Fathers.The Rad Tradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00899289024837953345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3348523519788188753.post-7348749470409750142015-02-19T12:53:36.968-06:002015-02-19T12:53:36.968-06:00A bit of a broad question. It varies church-to-ch...A bit of a broad question. It varies church-to-church (I haven't the slightest idea what the non-Byzantine Oriental Catholics use) and I can speak mostly only for The Ukrainians:<br /><br />Mostly Patrisics, with special emphasis on the Cappadocian Fathers, several later Byzantine saints like Gregory of Palamas, a bit of the 18th/19th century Russian writers (like Seraphim of Sarov), and a little bit of Alexander Schmemann.<br /><br />Byzantine theology is actually very highly developed, it just took a different direction than Roman. Ecclesial Vigilantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17070187926547373245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3348523519788188753.post-13054993805122100872015-02-19T12:35:25.652-06:002015-02-19T12:35:25.652-06:00This is pretty absurd stuff. I love John Senior, ...This is pretty absurd stuff. I love John Senior, but when he gets ranting, there's no telling what may come out of it. I have spent much of my life in centers of Thomistic renewal and it's been a beautiful thing to behold. Young minds, uncluttered by a lot of modernism, take to Thomas like fish to water.Peter Kwasniewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05136784193150446335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3348523519788188753.post-75691611523487680842015-02-19T10:59:16.951-06:002015-02-19T10:59:16.951-06:00I enjoy reading Garrigou-Lagrange, and think he wa...I enjoy reading Garrigou-Lagrange, and think he was probably the best Thomist of our time. It's true, however, that he was unable to provide robust reactions to the theological errors of the twentieth century.<br /><br />The best condemnation of Teilhard de Chardin's errors came from Dietrich von Hildebrant, and no Thomist was he.J.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02124903563459448051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3348523519788188753.post-24666706221583025222015-02-19T09:04:34.826-06:002015-02-19T09:04:34.826-06:00If St Thomas cannot be used under the present circ...If St Thomas cannot be used under the present circumstances, what should one use? What do the Orthodox and the Eastern Catholics use to educate their clergy?Protasiushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13513744611326784368noreply@blogger.com