Certainly - and well said. I’m being a bit tongue in cheek but I have a strong instinct to bog myself down in the theory and avoid the practice. I could spend a lifetime reading about how to pray but never spend any time on my knees. There’s discernment in how deep you need to dig.
In Theology for Beginners, FJ Sheed refers to the faith of the “Old Irishman”. Sheed makes the valid point that God gave us an intellect and feeding the intellect is good! But it’s like food--how much is too much? Nourishing the body is good, but theres a saturation point where extra calories is actually deleterious.
So too with knowledge. Theres ignorance, theres knowing enough to succeed day to day, and then theres pharisaical intellectual gluttony where we try to sanctify ourselves by our intellectual powers alone. And modernity loves gluttony--modernity wants people to consume to excess. Thats why phones are video screens and not calculators.
It takes a deliberate act of self restraint to say, you know what, Ive got all I need.
So i agree with you that doctrine and dialogue must be in conversation but there is something else that has to tell us its time to stop dialoguing and just trust.
I like this! More please. 🙏 I never really got into Winnie the Pooh as a child but I live by a river and completely get the river metaphor. I often just stand and watch it flow by.
This is a genre of posts I did over at my wordpress infrequently, and as long as Hambone and I remain friends we will occasionally have good conversations over text, so you can definitely expect these to show up periodically! I just can't promise when.
Be on the lookout for Hambone and I to talk about some peasantly ideas in a Podcast soon though 👀
Really glad you enjoyed this! Thank you for letting us know and thank you for reading!
Nice convo. And... Tommy Aq never lost sight of the peasant truth beneath all his supertheologicalising, fittingly framed by his ‘as so much straw’ farewell.
Agreed! Thomas Aquinas was gifted with the ability to perceive a deeper truth, but he also saw that magnificent truth in perspective.
Many who reach for Thomas Aquinas, myself included, do so out of a desire to understand the way Thomas Aquinas understood. The revolutionary thing in my life was realizing that I don’t have to.
I think the former. I don't need to understand the way Aquinas understood--one Aquinas was enough. Also I guess the latter: I don't really need to understand his writings--I don't need a degree in Theology to know that I must go to Mass, that I should pray the Rosary, and that I am commanded to love God, and my neighbor as myself.
I getcha - knowing the complete works of Aquinas isn’t necessary for salvation! Yes, he is rather often used as an apologetic hammer these days rather than one of the great explorers of the inner life.
We love Winnie the Pooh at our house - they’re so so witty and well-written. And the songs from the 1970s TV show are ~literally~ all our toddler ever wants to listen to.
Certainly - and well said. I’m being a bit tongue in cheek but I have a strong instinct to bog myself down in the theory and avoid the practice. I could spend a lifetime reading about how to pray but never spend any time on my knees. There’s discernment in how deep you need to dig.
You said it better than I did. Discernment is the key here.
In Theology for Beginners, FJ Sheed refers to the faith of the “Old Irishman”. Sheed makes the valid point that God gave us an intellect and feeding the intellect is good! But it’s like food--how much is too much? Nourishing the body is good, but theres a saturation point where extra calories is actually deleterious.
So too with knowledge. Theres ignorance, theres knowing enough to succeed day to day, and then theres pharisaical intellectual gluttony where we try to sanctify ourselves by our intellectual powers alone. And modernity loves gluttony--modernity wants people to consume to excess. Thats why phones are video screens and not calculators.
It takes a deliberate act of self restraint to say, you know what, Ive got all I need.
So i agree with you that doctrine and dialogue must be in conversation but there is something else that has to tell us its time to stop dialoguing and just trust.
I like this! More please. 🙏 I never really got into Winnie the Pooh as a child but I live by a river and completely get the river metaphor. I often just stand and watch it flow by.
This is a genre of posts I did over at my wordpress infrequently, and as long as Hambone and I remain friends we will occasionally have good conversations over text, so you can definitely expect these to show up periodically! I just can't promise when.
Be on the lookout for Hambone and I to talk about some peasantly ideas in a Podcast soon though 👀
Really glad you enjoyed this! Thank you for letting us know and thank you for reading!
Thanks. I hope for more!
Nice convo. And... Tommy Aq never lost sight of the peasant truth beneath all his supertheologicalising, fittingly framed by his ‘as so much straw’ farewell.
Agreed! Thomas Aquinas was gifted with the ability to perceive a deeper truth, but he also saw that magnificent truth in perspective.
Many who reach for Thomas Aquinas, myself included, do so out of a desire to understand the way Thomas Aquinas understood. The revolutionary thing in my life was realizing that I don’t have to.
Do you mean you don’t need to compete with his mind or to understand what he meant in his writings?
I think the former. I don't need to understand the way Aquinas understood--one Aquinas was enough. Also I guess the latter: I don't really need to understand his writings--I don't need a degree in Theology to know that I must go to Mass, that I should pray the Rosary, and that I am commanded to love God, and my neighbor as myself.
I getcha - knowing the complete works of Aquinas isn’t necessary for salvation! Yes, he is rather often used as an apologetic hammer these days rather than one of the great explorers of the inner life.
A great conversation to listen in on!
Compulsory Eavesdropping! 😂 Thanks for reading!
We love Winnie the Pooh at our house - they’re so so witty and well-written. And the songs from the 1970s TV show are ~literally~ all our toddler ever wants to listen to.
You can do much worse than Winnie the Pooh!
It’s so cute to hear her sing the phrases she picks up.
Hambone’s brood picked up “smackerel” from the booms and made it their word for snacks as “snackerel” which i found amazing 😂