As a result of the controversy surrounding the historical treatment of figures such as Giordano Bruno in Neil de Grasse Tyson’s Cosmos reboot, and the flurry of posts it’s generated about the ‘war’ between religion and science, RealClearScience published a list of 9 Priests Who Were Great Scientists. The notion that science and religion are in… Continue reading On RealClear Science’s List of Great Priest-Scientists
Fabrizio Amerini is not an author most Americans are likely to have heard of, but if you’re a fan of Umberto Eco, you might want to check out his new book. ‘New’ is not entirely accurate, perhaps, as it was first published in Italian in 2009. But Georgetown University professor Mark Henninger’s translation hit the… Continue reading Book Notes: Fabrizio Amerini on Aquinas and the Beginning and End of Human Life
In the doctrine of the soul [Origen] was faced by a choice between three possible doctrines: (a) the Creationist view that God creates each soul for each individual as conceived and born; (b) the Traducianist view that the soul is derived, like the body, from the parents; (c) the Platonic Pre-existence theory, according to which… Continue reading The Return of Traducianism?
I have amused myself while writing this book by trying to identify which, if any, late antique or early medieval writers (that is, those whose personality we can recapture, at any rate in part, with least mediation) I could imagine meeting with any real pleasure. It comes down to remarkably few: Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Gregory… Continue reading Medieval Dinner Conversation
My post at Forbes, on the recent University of Iowa panel on Islam and Science. I’ll be posting video from the event soon.
