If we want to know whether a person is good we should ask neither what his or her beliefs are nor what he or she hopes for Rather we should ask what the person loves So taught St Augustine He was in good company of course since Jesus summarized morality as ldquo love God and love your neigh

A recent poll of the 1 800 members of the National Academy of Sciences found that over 90 percent profess to being atheists or agnostics To these learned people the idea of God and the corresponding sense that we live in a meaningful universe is contrary to scientific understanding The combinatio

In her preface to Critical Essays on Joyce Carol Oates published 24 years ago the author wrote Once a literary work is published it passes forever out of the private and protective world of the writer rsquo s imagination and out of his or her possession It cannot be reclaimed These passive-voi

Preaching to huge crowds in the 18th century the highly popular theologian Jonathan Edwards did not soften his rhetoric when it came time to describe the fate of humanity and its need for divine grace Natural men are held in the hand of God over the pit of hell They have deserved the fiery pit a

Garnished with stories of saintly figures and their teachings, Robert Ellsberg's book consists of eight chapters that are like interlocking facets of happiness and holiness.

About 10 years ago the U S circuit court Judge John T Noonan published an article in Theological Studies on the problem of development in moral theology He focused on four issues on which it seems the Catholic Church had changed the content of its moral teaching These were usury slavery relig