“Hapsburg Austria occupied Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1878, terminating four centuries of Muslim Ottoman rule. They then decided to regularize the position of the Catholic Church in their new province by restoring an episcopal hierarchy. But in Herzegovina, the Franciscans had tilled this particular corner of the Lord’s vineyard alone, under Muslim persecution, and without bishops, for […]
Forde got out of Biblicism; you can, too (3)
“[The two kingdoms doctrine’s] great contribution to the problem of social ethics is exactly to strip men of their mythologies. For the very fact that it insists that whatever other Kingdom there is, the eschatological one comes solely and absolutely by God’s power alone means that the only real task for men is to repent, […]
On war and peace: Luther & Niebuhr say the same thing
“There are historic situations in which refusal to defend the inheritance of a civilization, however imperfect, against tyranny and aggression may result in consequences even worse than war.” Reinhold Niebuhr, Christianity and Crisis, 1941. “What men write about war, saying that it is a great plague, is all true. But they should also consider how […]
Forde got out of Biblicism; you can, too (2)
“At the same time, a theology seduced by nomism (all too often the case in the church) is ill equipped to do battle with antinomianism. Since it has already compromised the eschatological gospel, it can fight only from the position of law and charge its opponents with the ‘terrible heresy’ of being anti-law. Thus, the […]
Why say “No” to “a preferential option for the poor”
“To sympathize with those who are less fortunate is honorable and decent. A man able to commiserate only with himself would surely be neither admirable nor attractive. But every virtue can become deformed by excess, insincerity, or loose thinking into an opposing vice. Sympathy, when excessive, moves toward sentimental condescension and eventually disdain; when insincere, […]