As a product of Newman Center ministries where I first discovered my love for the Catholic intellectual tradition, I am pleased to be able to share this lecture that I delivered last week at the Newman Institute at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This topic, which echoes themes I treated in the book Christ’s Church and World Religions by Sophia Institute Press, contains a brief distillation of the Catholic Church’s approach to other traditions and the role of Jesus in it all. NOTE: To listen to the full podcast, you may need to click in the middle of the image below and go to Spotify’s website.
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The Nature of Faith & Doubt — A Podcast Episode w/ John DeRosa @ Classical Theism
From the Dust of the Earth — WCAT TV / Catholic Biblical Association Presentation/Sneak-Peek of My Forthcoming Book!
Ratzinger on Evolution and Evil: A Christological and Mariological Answer to the Problem of Suffering and Death in Creation
I’m delighted to share that my most recent piece has just been posted online for a special issue of the international journal Religions entitled Theodicy and Challenges of Science: Understanding God, Evil and Evolution. The article, entitled “Ratzinger on Evolution and Evil: A Christological and Mariological Answer to the Problem of Suffering and Death in Creation,” argues that Joseph Ratzinger’s thought offers a compelling way to address the presence of suffering and death across evolutionary history. The essay can be downloaded for free here:
The Pope Benedict XVI Reader
Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire Institute has just begun advertising a new volume that I’m delighted to endorse and see on paper: The Pope Benedict XVI Reader.
At the right is a line from the blurb I wrote for it, and here at Word on Fire you can find endorsements from other Ratzinger scholars. I highly recommend this text!
Evolution and the Bible: A Conversation with Pat Flynn
It’s always a pleasure to chat with Pat Flynn on his podcast. I almost forgot to post this here, but here’s a conversation of ours on the Bible and evolution that went up on his show not long ago. I look forward to more conversations with Pat and others on this important and fascinating topic as I am getting close to finishing my book on it!
Christ in the Classroom: The Paschal Mystery
I was blessed to be on the Sophia Institute for Teachers “Christ in the Classroom” podcast with Jose Gonzalez this week. It’s a great series for teachers but also for anyone. This week, we reflected on the various elements of the Paschal mystery…
Thomas Aquinas, Biblical Theologian
Just this weekend at Ave Maria University, I caught my first printed glimpse of a book project I’m involved in called Thomas Aquinas, Biblical Theologian. Hot off the press
from Emmaus Academic, it contains an essay of mine entitled “Unless You Believe, You Will Not Understand: Biblical Faith according to Thomas Aquinas and Benedict XVI.” A variation upon this essay is also contained in my book The Experiment of Faith.
The rationale behind this volume is that, while many people are familiar with his Summa Theologiae, fewer are aware that St. Thomas’s primary work was that of biblical theologian. My essay, like the others in the book, thus explores some of Aquinas’s most important contributions within his often-overlooked biblical commentaries and their importance for the ongoing work of Scripture study today. You can pick up a copy of Thomas Aquinas, Biblical Theologian on Amazon here.
Is God Evil? A Conversation on Dark Passages with Zac at Adherent Apologetics
Another Great “Dark Passages” Discussion!
This week, I sat down with Pat Flynn to discuss more “dark passages” of the Bible and the principles needed to address them. We covered some of the same ground as on my last podcast but also alot of new material. Check out this episode of The Pat Flynn Show here!
Podcast on Dark Passages of the Bible
My thanks go out to Tyler McNabb and Michael DeVito for having me on their show Furthering Christendom to talk about my book Dark Passages of the Bible. It was a lot of fun to talk about some questions that I did n
ot address in that book in detail (Noah’s flood, Elisha and the mauling she-bears, the death of the Egyptian firstborn, and Israel’s slaughter of enemy men, women, and children. Here’s a link to the episode!
A New Textbook: Christ’s Church & World Religions
My latest book contribution has recently been released. This one is a high school textbook for World Religions classes. Actually, as its title Christ’s Church and World Religions clarifies, it’s not just about these religions but also about understanding and evaluating them in light of Jesus Christ and the teaching of the Catholic Church. Following the teachings of our popes and the Second Vatican Council, it also explores how studying these traditions can enrich the faith of Christians.
I authored the main essays that comprise the body of this volume, which also includes supplementary materials composed by teachers for use in the high school classroom. There’s also a separate teacher’s guide authored by experienced high school teachers. I can’t recommend this text highly enough to those who have high school kids, to homeschooling families, to and really anyone who wants a basic introduction to this subject that follows the bishops’ guidelines for its teaching.
PS: The book’s title speaks of world religions, but it is also a book about ecumenism, as it includes chapters that treat Protestant and Orthodox Christianity. And, as a bonus, it also treats atheism as a religious phenomenon!
“Machine or Melody? Joseph Ratzinger on Divine Causality in Evolutionary Creation”
I am thrilled to announce that I’ve just published an article for a special issue of the academic journal Scientia et Fides dedicated to Philosophical and Theological Aspects of Evolution. The essay, entitled “Machine or Melody? Joseph Ratzinger on Divine Causality in Evolutionary Creation,” argues that creation should be thought of less as an intelligently designed machine that requires divine interventions for its development and more as a divine drama or masterpiece story that is continually being told as its plot unfolds naturally over the course of time.
Scientia et Fides is a peer-reviewed, online academic journal published twice a year by the Faculty of Theology of Nicolaus Copernicus University, in Torun, in collaboration with the research group “Science, Reason and Faith” (CRYF) at the University of Navarra. My article, along with the other essays recently published, is available free here.
In Praise of “Perfect Hatred” (Psalm 139:22): A New Essay in the Word on Fire Institute Journal
I’m excited to announce that I have just published an article in the Evangelization and Culture journal of Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire Institute. The article is entitled “In Praise of ‘Perfect Hatred’: How to Read the Old Testament’s Cursing Psalms.” 
Using the violent outburst of Psalm 139:19-22 as its starting point, the essay explores the question of why it is that the Old Testament contains so many passages that seem to contradict what we know of God’s goodness in light of Jesus Christ. From there, it unfolds the wisdom of the Church Fathers on how these same passages can be made spiritually fruitful in our lives today. This journal is a great new endeavor from a trusted source in Catholic thought, and I’m thrilled to have been able to make a small contribution to it. The journal can be subscribed to here.
“The Experiment of Faith” on Catholic Answers Live
This was a great way to kick off our new academic year: sitting down with Cy Kellett to discuss Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI’s wisdom on how to find the truth of the Catholic faith and what it means to be a Christian in our current cultural context…