Aaron Crofut > Recent Status Updates

The Schism is brought to an end by a Pope doing the right thing at personal cost, not by a revolution in the Church's structure and governance; indeed, the Council's goals of putting a Council at the head created yet more confusion and a third bloody pope. On to Book II and Martin V.

The great evil of the Western Schism; probably the reason I'm reading this. What an unfathomable mess. That the Catholic Church survived this is a miracle. Good men and women on both sides.

Slow going, but beautiful; very similar to St. Thomas Aquinas. The Creation of Man for his own good; our dual nature and the beauty of both aspects; that we were created to love God; the role of order in both justice and knowledge.

Very much enjoying this Summa before the Summa. On Angels now; the conundrum of angels created good breaking bad. The importance of order and the nature of disorder in sin.

The Western Schism; heart breaking hardheadedness of Urban. St. Catherine of Siena is one of those saints I need to read somewhat soon.

Very readable. The financial scandals of the time were obviously moral in nature, but also structural, as the court lost its income from Rome itself. The new methods were wildly unpopular and stoked considerable national hatred. A whole host of scribblers began appearing who embody the French Revolution some four hundred years before the fact. The Avignon Papacy has left a scar on our world to this day.

Fascinating book. The corruption and the sanctity, side by side. Interesting focus on the political and economic factors pushing the corruption. Definitely not the standard "all was bad" narrative, even if it was a catastrophe.

Speed reading, but it's literally Volume 1 of 40! Won't finish it any other way. Fortunately, it's quite good so far, focusing on the beginning of the Renaissance and the position of the Church to pagan learning (as in Greeks and Romans). They took the reasonable approach of take the truth you can find, avoid the error.

Bishop Sheen's commentary on the woman caught in adultery is spot on. Christ could forgive because He could judge, being the one without sin. But He will only forgive those seeking forgiveness. There's a great danger in seeking salvation in casting stones at others, but also in believing there is no sin at all.

Finished the five books of Moses. The blessings and curses at the end are interesting; if God is Goodness, Life, Truth, what could exist except curses for whomever left that? And if anyone follows the Truth, the Life, what else could there be but blessings?

My Lenten read. A beautiful book focusing on Christ, His time on Earth and His purpose.

Halfway through Cur Deus Homo. A fascinating work attempting to show the means of salvation through Christ is not only logical, but really the only way salvation could be achieved.

On The Incarnation: important text about the nature of Christ and how it reflects upon the nature of the Trinity. "For one who understands the Son's incarnation believes that the Son assumed a human being into the unity of his person and not unity the unity of his substance." In the Trinity, multiple persons in one substance; in the Incarnation, multiple natures in one person. Those distinctions really matter.

Started listening to the audiobook version. Sounds weird, but that's probably how most people in history learned it, so why not? Listening and reading are different modes and the focus tends to be different. In Leviticus now; St. Thomas Aquinas' explanation of the relation of these ceremonials to the New Law is helpful.

Quick skim of the replies concerning Aunilo and on Truth (skipping de grammatico altogether). Concerning Free Will and its application in On the Fall of the Devil are both very interesting and pertinent to me recently. St. Anselm was a good monk and looks at it like a good monk. To desire more than God wills is to desire to be a god oneself (and to destroy justice in the process while disappointing ourselves).

Finished the Proslogion. I appreciate the monastic style. This is not so much an academic question of "does God exist?" so much as a search for everything that is good, true, and beautiful, what that really means, and how we can attain it.

Finished the Monologion. A much better book than I had been led to believe. It's less "the greatest thing we can come up with is God" and more the fact that we see good in life, but different things are better or worse, so there must be a hierarchy of good. That implies a superlative, the best, which is God. That best must be existing (as existence both is and is good). The best good is the most beautiful, etc.

Not an easy read, to be sure, but interesting. Attempting to get to the Trinity with philosophy rather than as simply a tenet of faith. Has to be kept in mind that this is the meditation of a monk, with the purpose of coming to love God the better, rather than as a pure speculative text.