Study Resources

An odd, round-about way to find good Catholic study guides. I was listening to some lectures, courtesy iTunes University, on the Gospels and the Pauline Epistles provided by Reformed Theological Seminary, a Calvinist school. The lecturer, Dr. Knox Chamblin, is very good, and I enjoy the lectures. In several lectures he recommended books by Fr. Raymond Brown. He tells his students not to dismiss Fr. Brown just because he is a Catholic, the books are very good. So... off I go to Amazon to spend my allowance.



The first ordered was this introduction to the New Testament. It is not light reading, and is an excellent resource for someone who, like myself, has not been able to attend seminary. However, the repeated references to another volumn got me scraping my change together to afford it.



A superb commontary - not one I would necessarily use when writing sermons; rather one which is giving me a deeper understanding of the scriptures.

Between the two I have about 2400 pages of reading, more than enough to keep me busy through the summer. What fun!

The President Acts

In one of his first acts as president, Barack Obama has signed an executive order lifting restrictions on foreign aid to abortions. Another executive order will lift restrictions for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

I guess he found that deciding when a human being has rights is within his pay grade. It is a shame (although not surprising, considering the political dimensions of this decision) that he decided this one incorrectly. It is insulting that he did this as thousands upon thousands were marching for life in Washington. It is tragic that so many more babes in the womb will die for political expedience.

I wonder about all those Catholics and Evangelicals who voted for this man. Will their consciences bother them? I know all the "social justice" nonsense they presented - Obama will reduce abortions by... (list your favorite social program here). But there is no way around the reality that when you subsidize abortions, you get more abortions.

I just don't understand how one who professes faith in Christ can promote abortion, or support those who promote abortion. I am very sad that so many Catholics and Evangelicals have so little regard for life in the womb.

Old news, but pretty cool....

The Dead Sea Scrolls will be made available on-line. This project will likely take some time, but it will be a boon to scholars and of interest to many who just appreciate antiquities.

Orson Bean explains...

why and how he became a Christian. This is a very amusing article, and after listening to him interviewed on a news show I believe his new book Mail for Mikey would be worth a try. He wondered out loud why he wrote the book. It is about God, so it won't sell in the mainstream stores, and it is rather crude in parts, so it won't sell in Christian book stores. I guess word-of-mouth is his only hope!

Too Busy

Been too busy with other stuff to post regularly. Shame, because much is happening in the world.

Listening to some lectures on the Gospel according to St. John from Reformed Theological Seminary. These are available on-line through i-Tunes, and are a good series of lectures. Being a Calvinist institution, I have perhaps a differing viewpoint regarding some small points, but as I have yet been able to attend seminary, this is as close as I can get to the seminary experience.

The presenter of these lectures, Dr. Knox Chamblin, refers his students to an author of some excellent commentaries. He asks his students not to be put off by the fact that Fr. Raymond Brown is a Catholic. It strikes me as funny in a way, that this is a negative in their eyes, but I went to Amazon straightaway to order. I will report on the book when it arrives.

I did finish The Great Heresies by Belloc - a very interesting book. Lacking in some detail, and showing a strong Rome-ish bias, but interesting nonetheless. He was prescient to a degree, as many of his warnings seem particularly suited for today, even if he did not entirely anticipate the degree or the exact direction in which the world has changed.

The Bishops Take a Stand

This post is a bit late, as it relates to the recent political elections. Also, as I have stated before, this is not a political blog. This relates to life; politics are just a reflection of morals and culture.

That said, these stories thrill me because they reflect a cultural shift. It seems to me that too few of our spiritual leaders have taken hard public stances against the evil of abortion - or perhaps it is only that news organizations have not covered those who have taken such stances.



Here, for instance, is Bishop Martino of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton. He had the courage to arrive at a political forum to assert his pastoral authority. This forum was discussing the candidates and their views on abortion, and cited statements from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on voting and abortion. As one might suspect, the USCCB statements allowed for voting for pro-abortion candidates providing "other important moral issues involving human life and dignity" override one's concern for the unborn. Bishop Martino was understandably upset that his pastoral letter to the dioscese was ignored in this forum, and that he was not invited. “The USCCB doesn’t speak for me.... The only relevant document ... is my letter,” he said. “There is one teacher in this diocese, and these points are not debatable.” That letter stated unequivocally that a candidate's stance on abortion supercedes all other considerations.


Consider also Bishop Chaput of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Denver, and his courage dealing with this issue while the Democrat Convention was in town. Of course he was not invited to speak at the convention, but he did issue a strong response to Speaker Pelosi's ill-informed attempt to explain Catholic doctrine concerning abortion.


And our own Bishop Hutchens, who, acting as a Good Shepherd, issued a pastoral letter to the churches in his care, outlining in no uncertain terms where the ACC stands on abortion, as well as the consequences one will face if that stand is ignored, or worse, if one were to cause scandal for the Church (think Speaker Pelosi).

This is an important step for the Church as a whole. Groups or individuals who publicly violate the Church's doctrines, or worse, misrepresent those doctrines to the harm of others, should
be counseled, disciplined, and if necessary, removed from communion, for the good of their souls, the protection of the innocent and ignorant, and to maintain the authority of the Church.

The Mohammedan Heresy

I am spending some time studying The Great Heresies by Hilaire Belloc. My main interest is in learning more about the heresies that have afflicted the Church since the beginning - I've read about the early ecumenical councils, studied their decrees and read some basic commentary. What I find interesting about Belloc's book is the emphasis he places on understanding the historical and sociological grounds in which each heresy developed.

Of particular interest is his exploration of Islam. The economic conditions which contributed to the rise of Islam are not unlike the conditions faced in many parts of the world today, and may be contributing to the recent rise of the Islamic threat. Indeed, many of the concerns he expressed concerning the dangers posed by Mohammedanism appear prescient, even though said ideas were dismissed when he wrote his book, and even today are dismissed by those unwilling to risk offending others (at least non-Christian others) with a critical examination of religious beliefs and the subsequent behaviors of religious adherents.