"Human philosophy was beaten from its usurped province, but not by any counter-philosophy; and unlearned Faith, establishing itself by its own inherent strength, ruled the Reason as far as its own interests were concerned, and from that time has employed it in the Church, first as a captive, then as a servant; not as an equal, and in nowise (far from it) as a patron."

St. John Henry Newman's Oxford Sermons, delivered during his time as an Anglican preacher at the University of Oxford, were instrumental in shaping the Oxford Movement, which sought to revive High Church traditions within the Church of England and ultimately led to many conversions to Catholicism.

In addition to the profound influence these sermons had on both Anglican and Catholic theology, they also bore a personal significance for Newman's own conversion to Catholicism years later.

These fifteen sermons, though deeply interconnected in theme and insight, are not sequential in nature; rather, each stands on its own as a distinct and self-contained reflection on faith and reason. Newman lays the groundwork for themes developed in later works, such as Grammar of Assent and Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine.

In this fourth sermon, Newman demonstrates how Reason oversteps its bounds when it sets itself up as the legitimate judge of religious truth, over and against childlike spiritual discernment.

Links

The Usurpations of Reason full text: https://www.newmanreader.org/works/oxford/sermon4.html

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Theme music: "2 Part Invention", composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"Two attitudes are possible: one, that the world is an absolute jungle and that the exercise of coercive power by rulers is only a manifestation of this; and the other, that it is both necessary and right that there should be this exercise of power, that through it the world is much less of a jungle than it could possibly be without it, so that one should in principle be glad of the existence of such power, and only take exception to its unjust exercise."

Elizabeth Anscombe was a prominent 20th-century British philosopher, known for her influential work in ethics and her deep commitment to Catholic doctrine. In her essay 'War and Murder,' Anscombe considers the morality of violent coercive power, critiques the influence of pacifist ideology, and defends the moral prohibition against killing the innocent -- grounding her arguments in the principle of double effect and its crucial distinction between intended and foreseen consequences.

Read "War and Murder" https://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/spring06/papers/anscombeWarAndMurder.pdf

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Theme music: "2 Part Invention", composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.

"When attention to the theological meaning of femininity is not accompanied by reflection on masculinity, men are left without a sense of the existential and sacramental significance of their own sex."

A reading of a fascinating essay originally published in the journal Logos, about the work of Walter Ong, SJ.

In the wake of an emphasis on the "feminine genius" as delineated by Pope St. John Paul II and others, this article attempts to develop a profile of the masculine genius. It supplements the teaching of Pope Francis on this subject in order to balance the more complete articulation of the feminine genius already provided by the Magisterium.

Drawing primarily from the work of Walter J. Ong, whose presentation is corroborated and buttressed here with other studies, this article demonstrates that the masculine genius includes a set of gifts that complement those of women, both in the natural order and in the order of redemption.

In Search of the Masculine Genius: The Contribution of Walter J. Ong full text: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/librarypdf/Raab-Masculine-Genius.pdf

Text originally published by Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, Volume 21, Number 1, Winter 2018.

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Theme music: "2 Part Invention", composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.