January 2014 - To Give a Defense

Mark Binelli rolling stoned on Pope Francis, part un

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 31, 2014 • Pope Francis

By now, dear reader, you have probably heard that Pope Francis made the cover of still another pop culture magazine. The article, which is long and boorish and blind, is bent to advance a standard theme: that the new pope is a fuzzy and progressive-leaning maverick and will stand Church teaching on its head; whereas, the old pope, the evil Benedict, was a sour old man who beat us all over the pate with the hammer of dogma. That is a caricature, and it belies the facts. But Mr. Binelli will insist upon this bluebird land over the liberal rainbow.

Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome V: In which Fox News “editor” Adam Shaw has temper tantrum against the pope.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 27, 2014 • Pope Francis Derangement Syndrome

Adam Pshaw of Fox News—he spells it “Shaw”—claims to be a “news editor” who “writes about Anglo-American and Catholic issues.” Or maybe it is just Fox News that makes the claim. Oh! thought I, if that is the case, let me take a look into what “Catholic issues” the twenty-something newlywed and father has tackled for Fox News. Here is what I found: Of the thirty-one articles on his archive page, twenty-four of them boast such titles as “Forget Xbox One: 2014 Could Be Nintendo’s Year” and “Duck Dynasty Video Game Offers More Gun Fun.”

Seven reasons to reject Catholic fundamentalism about the arts: 7QT XI, seriatim.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 25, 2014 • Catholicism & Culture; Seven Quick Takes

The Church’s traditional attitude toward pagan culture was not to destroy it but to preserve it. It was the barbarians who destroyed Greek and Roman culture; it was monks who helped preserve it. And it was good that they did: The Renaissance would not have happened unless Catholic artists and scholars had those Greek and Roman models. In a similar way, if a Catholic revival in the arts is to happen again, it may very well rely on what the modern world has given us. Tertullian’s famous “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” was, at heart, a false dichotomy.

TurretinFan interprets the lightning.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 24, 2014 • Apologetics

If lightning strikes a tree, how do we know that it is random; whereas, if lightning strikes an image of Christ, that is God’s judgment against idolatry? Perhaps TurretinFan, who is the latest to interpret the lightning, will say that even the tree was not struck randomly, and that its destruction was ordained by God before all eternity. Mr. X is a Calvinist, and Calvinists do not blow their nose unless it had been decreed by the Godhead. But surely God is not blasting with righteous judgment every tree that gets struck.

Steve Hays and the parable of the Biltmore.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 21, 2014 • Apologetics; sola scriptura

Neither Mr. X (who calls himself TurretinFan) nor the polemical rogue (who calls himself John Bugay) have dared to respond yet to my last article on sola scriptura. Mr. X runs a mad dash through Sacred Scripture, citing any verse that he can bend out of sense, and says, “See! Here! Sola Scriptura! Refute that, Romanists!” Meanwhile Mr. Bugay, who hath no peer for prevarication, denies he has to find it at all, and claims that the question is “dishonest.” Catholic apologists really ought to shut up if they know what is good for them.

Through the Year with Pope Francis: A review.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 20, 2014 • Book Review; Pope Francis

Through the Year With Pope Francis is a daily devotional of 365 quotations, mainly from his homilies and General Audiences. If you like devotionals, this is the one for you. Or, if you just want to counter silly claims about the pope’s radical views, this is a resource you will want to have. If you like to have meditations to take with you to Eucharistic Adoration, why not pick up a copy of this book? What better way to spend time before the Blessed Sacrament than to meditate upon the Holy Father’s words and pray for his intentions? There’s a plenary indulgence for that.

Seven quick takes in defense of longhand: 7QT X, seriatim.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 18, 2014 • Blogging & Writing; Seven Quick Takes

Computer crashes helped me to regain my normal and native sanity about how to write. A time there was, and ever a good time, when I wrote everything by hand and raged, raged against the dying of the light. I wrote every term paper in graduate school by hand, and by hand revised. It felt natural thus; and I retained a record of all my corrections.(Which I would promptly show to my students as an example of what revision is.) The visual does matter; and the startling impact of it is lost when comparing an early, clean draft with a later, clean draft.

Desperate John Bugay to Catholics: Shut up about sola scriptura.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 17, 2014 • Apologetics; sola scriptura

Protestant apologists are creative and tireless in their efforts to find sola scriptura in the Bible. They are undaunted by refutation. When told that Acts 17:11, or 2 Tim. 3:16, do not support the doctrine, they do not attempt further defense; they simply move on to the next verse. In this way, perhaps Catholics could, in time, get them to run the circuit through every last one. That would be one way to have fun with our separated brothers. Not only is sola scriptura in the Bible; the Bible talks about nothing else. Thus has TurretinFan invented four new proof texts

Taylor Marshall shows us how not to talk about The Beatles.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 14, 2014 • Blind Guides & False Prophets; Catholicism & Culture

I have searched, and I can find no one (other than Dr. Marshall) who suggests that the cover has anything at all to do with abortion. Not one. Unless there are some fairly obscure references out there, Dr. Marshall is the first and only in fifty years. If the cover were intended to “promote abortion,” how is it that that escaped discussion back in 1966? The Beatles, and their lackeys in the press, certainly did an excellent job keeping quiet about it. The Beatles must have been very bad at publicity. Shh. I am going to promote abortion, but don’t tell anyone about it. You are not to discuss this.

Seven resolutions in search of a blog post: 7QT IX, seriatim.

BY: Henry Matthew Alt • January 4, 2014 • Seven Quick Takes

It is a New Year, and with every new year come the resolutions. The reason people make resolutions at the start of a new year is because last year’s resolutions failed. Some use that as an excuse not to make resolutions: If I’m not going to keep them, why make them? That sounds like a hard-earned wisdom, but the same logic applies in the confessional. Who says, “I do not firmly resolve with the help of thy grace, because my last firm resolution brought me back to the same line”? So here, before 2015’s mea maxima culpa, are my resolutions for the blog while 2014 is still young.