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

erry Christ­mas. (It is still Christ­mas, did you know?) It is also a New Year, and with every new year come the inevitable 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.

I.

I will read and blog my way through St. Augustine’s City of God.

I have want­ed to read this book for a long time, but the size and heft of it have been off-putting. But as I thumbed through my Pen­guin edi­tion, I not­ed that I could fin­ish it in a year at the rate of only three pages a day. So as I do that, I will also be keep­ing an ongo­ing “read­ing jour­nal” on this blog, mere­ly record­ing my impres­sions, ques­tions, epipha­nies, and so forth, as some­one encoun­ter­ing the text for the first time.

II.

Last year was my Dark Night of the Soul; I can­not say, as yet, that day has come. But I want to use the oppor­tu­ni­ty to read—and also blog—my way through the lit­er­a­ture on this sub­ject, begin­ning with the Book of Job and mov­ing on to St. John of the Cross and oth­er authors. If light is to be found through dark­ness, I want to seek it through the light of words.

III.

I am not going to give Dr.* James White (Th.D., D.Min., etc., etc.) a momen­t’s rest.

The good Reformed Bish­op of Phoenix, light of knowl­edge, hope of the Elect, etc., etc., has been busy on his Web site post­ing links to all his glo­ri­ous debates from years gone by.

I wish to thank Dr.* White, from the bot­tom of my Tiber-jump­ing, Roman­ist heart, for all this use­ful mate­r­i­al. Now I can do a point-by-point analy­sis of his per­for­mance in said debates. How does the crow fly? In 2014, this blog will answer that ques­tion.

IV.

While I’m at it, I am going to revive a series I began last year on sola scrip­tura. The series began well, but I nev­er got around to car­ry­ing it through, since I lost some blog­ging momen­tum while I was doing a series of (need­ed) re-designs. That fault will be cor­rect­ed in 2014. I also began a few oth­er series, includ­ing one on gay mar­riage, which I intend to return to this year.

V.

Not long ago, The Imag­i­na­tive Con­ser­v­a­tive did a series on “books that make us human.” It was an inter­est­ing con­cept, but I have always want­ed to tweak it a lit­tle: Books that Explore What it Means to be Human. That will be an ongo­ing series through 2014; and I am open to tak­ing sug­ges­tions from read­ers in the com­box regard­ing books they think fit that cat­e­go­ry.

VI.

I will write more book reviews, and lit­er­ary analy­sis from a Catholic point of view. Both new and old, fic­tion and non-fic­tion, what­ev­er comes my way. I have want­ed this site to focus on the “Muse” of the title at least as much as the “Logos.” 2014 will be the year for me to start mak­ing that hap­pen.

VII.

A secret. And no, it does not mean anoth­er re-design or time away from blog­ging for me; you will have to keep read­ing to dis­cov­er it.

My hope, God will­ing, is to be able to post here 4–6 times a week. I hope you will find these posts use­ful and inter­est­ing and worth com­ing back for. Thank you for being with me through 2013. There is much more to come.

Read more of this week’s quick takes at Con­ver­sion Diary here.