Sublime

in Kant, philosophers are a bit like librarians: if you want to know something, go upstairs to the section labelled Science.

In various areas, notably the doctrine of the atonement, he is the key orthodox theologian. In philosophy, his premise was, credo ut intelligam, I believe in order that I might understand. As against this, Abelard, an Aristotelian, sought to understand in order to believe. Whereas for Anselm faith precedes understanding, for Abelard (1079–1142) und

Pascal’s posthumously collected Pensées (“Thoughts”) offer a powerful apologetic for the truth of biblical revelation and the saving work of Christ. His “wager” (even if Christianity were false, in accepting it you would be better off, for you would obtain the best ethic and the best human example—Jesus) was not intended as the totality of his apol

The Christian philosopher Bernard Lonergan (1904–1984), in fact, proposed an argument that was intended, in a very complicated and ingenious way, to transform this venerable philosophical intuition into something like a comprehensive philosophical proof, one that moved from the “unrestricted intelligibility” of reality to the reality of God as the

There is no rational philosophy of human rights generally disseminated among the populace, to which we can appeal in defence even of the most intimate or individual things that anybody can imagine.

As anyone who has ever invested in the stock market can attest, no sooner have we attained the thing that we thought would make us happy, than we realize that we want more. That is because we are made for God, Augustine said, and God alone can truly satisfy our desire. Whenever we desire this or that material good, we are in an obscure and confused

If Augustine spent half his life battling the heresy of Pelagianism—the pretension that the human will was sufficient to choose its good—it’s because he saw it as the great lie that left people enchained to their dissolute wills. And no one is more Pelagian than we moderns.

The humanist worldview promotes knowledge for the exaltation of man. The Greek philosopher Protagoras of Abdera (490–420 b.c.) declared, “Man is the measure of all things.”2 This is the essence of humanism. It teaches that there is no objective standard for morality outside of man’s opinions.