Catholicism and the Problem of God

Catholicism and the Problem of God
Author: Mark K. Spencer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 126
Release: 2023-11-23
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1009290649

This Element is an overview of the Catholic conception of God and of philosophical problems regarding God that arose during its historical development. After summarizing key Catholic doctrines, the first section considers problems regarding God that arose because Catholicism originally drew on both Jewish and Greek conceptions of God. The second section turns to controversies regarding God as Trinitarian and incarnate, which arose in early church councils, with reference to how that conception developed during the Middle Ages. In the third section, the author considers problems regarding God's actions towards creatures, including creation, providence, predestination, and the nature of divine action in itself. Finally, the last section considers problems regarding how we relate to God. The Element focuses on tensions among different Catholic spiritualities, and on problems having to do with analogical language about God and human desire for God.

Jordan Peterson, God, and Christianity

Jordan Peterson, God, and Christianity
Author: Chris Kaczor
Publisher: Word on Fire Institute
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2021-06-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781943243785

Jordan Peterson's lectures and writings on psychology, philosophy, and religion have been a cultural phenomenon. Yet Peterson's own thought is marked by a tensive suspension between archetype and reality--between the ideal of Christ and the God who acts in history. Jordan Peterson, God, and Christianity: The Search for a Meaningful Life is the first systematic analysis, from a Christian perspective, of both Peterson's biblical series on YouTube and his bestselling book 12 Rules for Life, with an epilogue examining its sequel, Beyond Order. Christopher Kaczor and Matthew R. Petrusek draw readers into the depths of Peterson's thought on Scripture, suffering, and meaning, exploring both the points of contact with Christianity and the ways in which faith fulfills Peterson's project.

Why I Am Catholic (and You Should Be Too)

Why I Am Catholic (and You Should Be Too)
Author: Brandon Vogt
Publisher: Ave Maria Press
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2017-10-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1594717680

Winner of a 2018 Catholic Press Association Award: Popular Presentation of the Catholic Faith. (First Place). With atheism on the rise and millions tossing off religion, why would anyone consider the Catholic Church? Brandon Vogt, a bestselling author and the content director for Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, shares his passionate search for truth, a journey that culminated in the realization that Catholicism was right about a lot of things, maybe even everything. His persuasive case for the faith reveals a vision of Catholicism that has answers our world desperately needs and reminds those already in the Church what they love about it. A 2016 study by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 25 percent of adults (39 percent of young adults) describe themselves as unaffiliated with any religion. Millions of these so-called “nones” have fled organized religion and many more have rejected God altogether. Brandon Vogt was one of those nones. When he converted to Catholicism in college, he knew how confusing that decision was to many of his friends and family. But he also knew that the evidence he discovered pointed to one conclusion: Catholicism is true. To his delight, he discovered it was also exceedingly good and beautiful. Why I Am Catholic traces Vogt’s spiritual journey, making a refreshing, twenty-first century case for the faith and answering questions being asked by agnostics, nones, and atheists, the audience for his popular website, StrangeNotions.com, where Catholics and atheists dialogue. With references to Catholic thinkers such as G. K. Chesterton, Ven. Fulton Sheen, St. Teresa of Calcutta, and Bishop Robert Barron, Vogt draws together lines of evidence to help seekers discover why they should be Catholic as an alternative. Why I Am Catholic serves as a compelling reproposal of the Church for former Catholics, a persuasive argument for truth and beauty to those who have become jaded and disenchanted with religion, and at the same time offers practicing Catholics a much-needed dose of confidence and clarity to affirm their faith against an increasingly skeptical culture.

Empowering the People of God

Empowering the People of God
Author: Christopher D. Denny
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2013-11-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0823254011

The early 1960s were a heady time for Catholic laypeople. Pope Pius XII’s assurance “You do not belong to the Church. You are the Church” emboldened the laity to challenge Church authority in ways previously considered unthinkable. Empowering the People of God offers a fresh look at the Catholic laity and its relationship with the hierarchy in the period immediately preceding the Second Vatican Council and in the turbulent era that followed. This collection of essays explores a diverse assortment of manifestations of Catholic action, ranging from genteel reform to radical activism, and an equally wide variety of locales, apostolates, and movements.

The Unchanging Truth of God? Crucial Philosophical Issues for Theology

The Unchanging Truth of God? Crucial Philosophical Issues for Theology
Author: Thomas G. Guarino
Publisher: CUA Press
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2022-02-18
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0813234719

It has long been a cornerstone of Catholic belief that Christians can be intelligent and creative thinkers—inquisitive seekers after truth—as well as men and women of ardent faith. Catholics are entirely committed, then, to the claim that human rationality and religious faith are complementary realities since they are equally gifts of God. But understanding precisely how faith and reason cohere has not always been a smooth path. At times, theology has allowed philosophy to become the leading (and baleful) partner in the faith-reason relationship, thereby lapsing into rationalism or relativism. At other times, theology has been tempted by fideism, with philosophy now regarded as little more than a pernicious intruder corrupting Christian faith, life and thought. The essays in this volume display how Catholicism understands the proper confluence between philosophy and theology, between human rationality and Christian faith, between the natural order and supernatural grace. To illustrate these points, the book draws on a long line of Christian thinkers: Origen, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas and, in our own day, Fides et Ratio of John Paul II and the Regensburg Address of Benedict XVI. How is theology always a “Jewgreek” enterprise—to borrow a term from Jacques Derrida—always a combination of the biblical (Hebraic) and philosophical (Hellenic) traditions? Why is one particular element of philosophy, metaphysics, essential for the intelligibility and clarity of Catholic theology? Why is this so much the case that John Paul II could state emphatically: “a philosophy which shuns metaphysics would be radically unsuited to the task of mediation in the understanding of Revelation”? But theology cannot simply be about dialogue with philosophers of yesteryear. Theology must constantly incorporate fresh thinking and remain in lively conversation with an extensive variety of contemporary perspectives. This book displays how reciprocity and absorption has been characteristic of theology’s past and must represent its future as well.

When God Spoke Greek

When God Spoke Greek
Author: Timothy Michael Law
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2013-08-15
Genre: Bibles
ISBN: 0199781729

Most readers do not know about the Bible used almost universally by early Christians, or about how that Bible was birthed, how it grew to prominence, and how it differs from the one used as the basis for most modern translations. Although it was one of the most important events in the history of our civilization, the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek in the third century BCE is an event almost unknown outside of academia. Timothy Michael Law offers the first book to make this topic accessible to a wider audience. Retrospectively, we can hardly imagine the history of Christian thought, and the history of Christianity itself, without the Old Testament. When the Emperor Constantine adopted the Christian faith, his fusion of the Church and the State ensured that the Christian worldview (which by this time had absorbed Jewish ideals that had come to them through the Greek translation) would leave an imprint on subsequent history. This book narrates in a fresh and exciting way the story of the Septuagint, the Greek Scriptures of the ancient Jewish Diaspora that became the first Christian Old Testament.

The Protestant's Dilemma

The Protestant's Dilemma
Author: Devin Rose
Publisher: Catholic Answers
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2014-02-27
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781938983610

What if Protestantism were true? What if the Reformers really were heroes, the Bible the sole rule of faith, and Christ's Church just an invisible collection of loosely united believers? As an Evangelical, Devin Rose used to believe all of it. Then one day the nagging questions began. He noticed things about Protestant belief and practice that didn't add up. He began following the logic of Protestant claims to places he never expected it to go -leading to conclusions no Christians would ever admit to holding. In The Protestant's Dilemma, Rose examines over thirty of those conclusions, showing with solid evidence, compelling reason, and gentle humor how the major tenets of Protestantism - if honestly pursued to their furthest extent - wind up in dead ends. The only escape? Catholic truth. Rose patiently unpacks each instance, and shows how Catholicism solves the Protestant's dilemma through the witness of Scripture, Christian history, and the authority with which Christ himself undeniably vested his Church.

People of God

People of God
Author: Penny Lernoux
Publisher: Penguin Group
Total Pages: 484
Release: 1990
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780140098167

Since the beginning of John Paul II's papacy in 1979, the Catholic Church has been making headlines with its attempts to return Catholicism to a pre-Vatican II authoritarian church in absolute obedience to Rome. This book explores the growing progressive movement and the Vatican's attempt to squelch it.

Tomorrow's Catholic

Tomorrow's Catholic
Author: Michael Morwood
Publisher: Twenty-Third Publications
Total Pages: 164
Release: 1997
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780896227248

Tomorrow's Catholic offers a fascinating outline of contemporary cosmology that connects the message of Jesus and the spirituality of Pentecost to the world we live in today. A special focus is on expressing ancient truths in contemporary language.

The Challenge of God

The Challenge of God
Author: Colby Dickinson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2020-01-23
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567689921

In view of the double vocative that characterizes the relation of Creator to creature, this book offers critiques of modern and postmodern philosophy for the ways in which they have separated philosophy, theology, and spirituality. This collection examines the complicated relationship of God to Being and the meaning of Revelation, as well as highlighting the context and the role of the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola. Discussions include the Catholic Principle and its relevance in contemporary times, and Christian epic visionaries such as Dante, Milton, Blake, and Joyce, providing scholars a forum to debate their theological identity and its meaning for future studies. This volume contributes a unique engagement from many perspectives with the Catholic intellectual tradition in its philosophical, theological, spiritual, literary, and artistic dimensions.