One of the ways to gain clarity about a given thing is to explore not simply what that thing is, but rather to investigate precisely what it is not. When a scientist, for example, wonders what is behind a given effect, it can be an incredibly fruitful exercise to begin
Editor’s Note: We have been pleased to present this once-a-week, all-summer-long series of familycentric essays from Richard Eyre. Today’s essay #12 concludes the series and concludes with a summary of the earlier 11 articles, each with a link that will take you back to any of the essays you may
Those who pray the Litany of Loreto know that Gate of Heaven is one of Mary’s titles. Gate is a sturdy word signifying a reality recognized in every time and in every place. Whether a steel barrier secured by a lock and key or a shepherd lying in the opening
When it comes to controversial issues in eschatology Catholic philosophers and theologians routinely do what they tend to do in general, that is, defer, mime, and attempt to thread the needle between speech and silence, saying and unsaying. Their aim is to say as little as possible, not only because
I. HELL No quibbling helps here: the idea of eternal damnation, which had taken ever clearer shape in the Judaism of the century or two before Christ, has a firm place in the teaching of Jesus, as well as in the apostolic writings. Dogma takes its stand on solid ground
Something always happens—an image, a moment, a terror, present one second, escaped the next—and we find ourselves thrust upon the sword of our own creeping mortality. This moment of sharpened clarity occurred to me one evening as my father’s legs gave out. They buckled underneath in rapt unison, balletic and