Amazon.com Widgets

Sapperdepitjes

Joined: Apr. 20, 2012

Bio:

http://about.me/joscollin

Most recent posts by Sapperdepitjes:     (See all of them)

No posts yet

Latest comments by Sapperdepitjes:     (See all of them)

Re: Not all pursuit of truth is good

Apr. 22 at 6:36pm | see this comment in context

"La vérité n'est pas une idée qu'il faut servir, mais une personne qu'il faut aimer. Le problème du chrétien devant la vérité n'est pas de la découvrir mais de lui ressembler."
(André Frossard)

Truth is not an idea to serve, but a person to love. The problem of a christian regarding truth is not to discover it but to resemble it.

Re: Sneak Preview

Apr. 14 at 4:56pm | see this comment in context

On the tattoo image: this young Belgian woman named Kimberley Vlaeminck, said she had asked for just three little stars and then fell asleep at the tattoo shop when she was 18. She later admitted she agreed with each new star proposed, and hoped her alcoholic parents would actually like it. The stars have since then all been removed through a complex laser process. The woman, now 21, wrote a book about it and is known in Belgium as "sterrenmeisje", the stars girl...

On the prodigal son image: notice the hands of the father as painted by Rembrandt: one looks male, the other female...

Re: God's will and ours: how they meet

Feb. 21 at 12:09pm | see this comment in context

I've been commenting this issue with a friend, a Spanish priest who doesn't speak English, but who's a scholar in medieval history. He told me that perhaps we're too infected by marxist thesis-antithesis thinking: it's not either-or, but and-and. Yes, this was fully B16's decision, making full use of his powerful intellect and free will. And yes, this was fully God's decision, because in fine nothing escapes his Will. He said that for a medieval thinker, this would be as clear as water, and there would not be a trace of contradiction in it.

Re: Our decisions belong to us; we are responsible for them

Feb. 17 at 5:30am | see this comment in context

When we do good, we are in harmony with truth and truly free. When we do evil, we show our capacity to be free but we are not, and become the slave of our sin...

Re: Our decisions belong to us; we are responsible for them

Feb. 16 at 12:36pm | see this comment in context

Our human condition is set in time and space. When we make a decision, there's a before and an after. God is not bound by our time and space limits. He's at our before and after "at the same time". But not just as a spectator. I admit that his moving our souls without affecting our freedom remains somewhat mysterious to me. I remember having read in Scripture: Nobody can say Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Spirit...

Stay informed

Reading circles

Lectures

Latest comments

  • Re: Two new items for my case against "unprincipled forgiveness"
  • By: Tim Cronin

  • Hi Katie, In John Milbank's "An Essay Against Secular Order" he talks about the reality of forgiveness. He says that without forgiveness being accepted and realized it does not have a true reality. Neither does forgiveness have a true reality if it is merely formal. Receiving forgiveness involves a complete realization of consciousness of egocentricity. This involves a suffering on the receipient of forgiveness. It also involves a suffering on the forgiver through the re-establishing of the bonds of the relationship. -Tim

    Jun. 13 at 3:11pm | See in context

  • Re: Mercies hurt
  • By: Samwise

  • The Eustace reference works well!

    I have heard Mark-- on the radio-- speak about Uncle Andrew too.  Together, Eustace and Uncle Andrew make for some of the most off-putting characters in Narnia, and can annoy readers to the point of wanting to imitate Edmund (of all people).

    On the radio, Mark pointed out the unrepentant nature of Uncle Andrew, exhorting listeners to  have "child-like faith' instead.  It was a good reminder that ingenuity and IQ are not all we're meant for.

    Jun. 12 at 11:42am | See in context

  • Re: The Least I Need to Do
  • By: CATHY ECHANIZ-BECK

  • Not in particular, Devra.  It's kind of fuzzy to me, too. :)  Just a general sense I had, of Ivan's feeling guilty and wanting to do better.  Ha!  I should re-read that one; it was good! 

    Jun. 11 at 11:55am | See in context

  • Re: The Least I Need to Do
  • By: Katie van Schaijik

  • I love the reminder that turning away from serious vice is "the beginning of freedom".

    The next big liberation, in my experience, is from illusions of rectitude and self-sufficiency. It's the willingness to face and absorb the truth about ourselves—especially our impotence to save ourselves, or even to live well.  

    It's painful, but definitely freeing.

    Jun. 11 at 11:53am | See in context

  • Re: The Least I Need to Do
  • By: Devra Torres

  • I'm not sure, but maybe.  Ivan Ilyich had his lists of "thou shalt not's," but they all had to do with what was and wasn't done in his social circle.   There's something like that in Anna Karenina, too, about how Vronsky stuck to his principles, which were "Never lie, except to a woman," and "Never fail to pay a debt, unless it's a gambling debt," and so on.  Crime and Punishment is pretty fuzzy in my mind, Cathy: is there some part in particular you're thinking of?

    Jun. 11 at 10:39am | See in context

  • Re: The Least I Need to Do
  • By: Marilyn Prever

  • Was it the one about the dying man who couldn't take the first step, which was to admit he was not a good man ad to ask for mercy.The Death of Ivan Ilyich or something like that?

    Jun. 11 at 9:01am | See in context

  • Re: The Least I Need to Do
  • By: CATHY ECHANIZ-BECK

  • Dev, 

    Were you thinking of Crime & Punishment by Tolstoy??

    Cathy 

    Jun. 11 at 8:26am | See in context

  • Re: Two new items for my case against "unprincipled forgiveness"
  • By: Katie van Schaijik

  • One of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite movies, On the Waterfront, is Terry and Edie's first date. Terry tells her his philosophy of life. It's every man for himself. Get the other guy before he gets you.

    She lives in a different world—a world where people are part of each other, where they care about each other, help each other, and call out the best in each other. She's asking for his help. He's drawn to her world, but finds her naive. He wants her to drop her pursuit of justice for her brother. Forget it. Move on. Enjoy life. Don't risk trouble.

    The conversation ends abruptly when he bursts out in frustration, "What do want from me, Edie?"  She replies, passionately: "Much more. Much, much, much more."

    Cardinal O'Brien sounds to me a lot like Terry. "I said I'm sorry. What more do you want?" The Vatican sound more like Evie. "Much much more."

    Much more from you and much more for you.

    Jun. 9 at 1:49pm | See in context

  • Re: It's Here!
  • By: Katie van Schaijik

  • Got it. Thanks, Devra!  Can't wait to read it.

    Jun. 7 at 8:42am | See in context

  • Re: Interview with Hannah Arendt
  • By: Katie van Schaijik

  • Rhett, I'm with you in lamenting that maddening gap between the depth and delicacy of the insight you think you have and the clunky unspecialness of what comes out when you try to put in it words.

    That's the negative experience of writing your thoughts. The positive experience is when you've struggled and struggled to say something, realized you're missing something key, and then suddenly seen what it is—something you wouldn't have seen if you hadn't made the effort to put it to paper, or screen.

    Jun. 6 at 9:44am | See in context

Latest active posts