"
He with body waged a fight,
But body won; it walks upright.
Then he struggled with he heart;
Innocence and peace depart.
Then he struggled with the mind;
His proud heart he left behind.
Now his wars on God begin;
At stroke of midnight God shall win.
"
W. B. Yeats - The Four Ages of Man
(Source: yeatsvision.com)
My second blog post for the Mary course, turned in right under the gun. I’m not as pleased with this one, theo-poetics is hard, and I felt pretty hampered by not being able to grab books off the shelf to check things/pull ideas. Still, it may be of some interest.
I’ve written a post about Anselm’s depiction of the Virgin Mary for a class blog. I sort of ran out of space at the end, and had to summarize incredibly complex stuff that I barely understand in roughly 3 sentences, but hopefully I’m at least gesturing towards some interesting stuff there. Anyway, check it out if you’re interested. I’ll have at least one more post there later this week, and will hopefully be generating some more content here in the near future, although situations (and torpor) may intervene.
"The response of American Catholics to the HHS mandate has (perhaps necessarily) been framed in dominantly liberal terms that give it a chance of receiving a hearing in today’s public sphere and within its Courts. But it should be acknowledged (as the response to the “Compromise” reveals) that the Church will ultimately lose the argument simply due to the fact that the way it is framed already represents a capitulation to liberal premises. Doubtless, an argument that stated more explicitly the Church’s opposition to birth control would be even more quickly dismissed (but, first, caricatured and mocked) than the current invocation of “religious freedom.” But, the real debate is not over religious freedom, in fact: it is over the very nature of humanity and the way in which we order our polities and societies. Catholicism is one of the few remaining voices of principle and depth that can articulate an forceful and learned alternative to today’s dominant liberal worldview. That it truncates those arguments for the sake of prudential engagement in a contemporary skirmish should not shroud the nature of the deeper conflict. That conflict will continue apace, and Catholics do themselves no favors if they do not understand the true nature of the battle, and the fact that current arguments aid and abet their opponent."
Religious Liberty? | Front Porch Republic
