A term paper on Aristotle ended with the following sentence, not in quotation marks: “After all, a good man can only be truly good in the company of other good men.” The sentence struck me. Was it a citation from some place? I checked Google. The references it gave were no help. Many passages used … Read more
Schall was born January 20, 1928, on a farm in Pocahontas County, Iowa. You cannot get more American than that. My mother was Bohemian and my father German-Irish. To my Jesuit colleagues at breakfast on my birthday I hint that this memorable event happened in a log cabin. Most doubt this as too picturesque, while … Read more
“The Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us” (Jn 1: 14). We begin with the Beginning. The Word was with God. The Word was God. Flesh did not make the Word. What “dwelt amongst us” was the Word, the Logos, nothing less. This is a fact. The whole world is different because of it. … Read more
While staying in the rectory of the St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Club at the University of North Dakota, on the shelves of the guest room I noticed the B.A.C. edition of Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae. I had seen this edition before. With a few moments to spare, I took down the third part of the Summa, … Read more
Since the bridge in Minneapolis collapsed, the world has become bridge-conscious. In natural law class this semester, I said to the students: “What is the ‘natural law of bridges?’” I was thinking of J. M. Bochenski’s chapter on “law” in his Philosophy: An Introduction. Bochenski shows that a relation exists between the mind and the … Read more
The English edition of L’Osservatore Romano, for the Fourth of July, carried a “Common Declaration” signed in the Vatican Private Library by Pope Benedict XVI and the Orthodox Archbishop H. B. Chrysostomos II of Nea Justiniana and All Cyprus. In No. 4 of this declaration, these two leaders, somewhat curiously, address themselves to “those who … Read more
On learning that September 2007 was to be the last print edition of Crisis Magazine, I proposed a final column titled “The Last ‘Nonsense’ in Print.” I was tempted to title it “The Last Schall ‘Nonsense’ in Print.” It occurred to me that such a title would suggest that the addition of “Schall” to “nonsense,” … Read more
Michael Chertoff wrote in the Washington Post that real war continues, whether we like it or not. A relentless enemy, financed by our own energy needs, prods us daily. The enemy is not in it for money or power, but for God, as he understands (or misunderstands) Him. Like all wars, this war is theological, … Read more
Unlike many contemporaries who do not even recognize the concept, Socrates made sin simply a question of ignorance. To get rid of any disorder in our souls, all we need to do is to teach the truth. Ever more education is the ticket. We need method and diligence. If only we knew better, we would … Read more
In The Solzhenitsyn Reader, there is a 1974 essay titled “Repentance and Self-Limitation in the Life of Nations.” In it, the Russian philosopher remarks: “Man’s hope, salvation, and punishment lie in this, that we are capable of change, and that we ourselves, not our birth or our environment, are responsible for our souls!” Solzhenitsyn here … Read more
On my recent birthday, I was given Volume III of C. S. Lewis’s letters. Lest you think Lewis was idle in his latter years, this third volume contains some 1,800 pages. But I am not against the abundance and superabundance of things, for we are created in both, especially in the latter. I have little … Read more
Originally, Veterans’ Day commemorated the end of the Great War, the bloodiest of all wars. On its eve, I was invited to supper at the Army and Navy Club off McPherson Square in Washington, D.C. Walking from the bus stop, I approached a corner of the square where an earnest young man stood with a … Read more
In his Verona address on October 19, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI returned to a theme he broached in his Regensburg lecture, namely, the relation between modern science, with its “mathematical” foundation, and the existing things of nature. In the Regensburg lecture, the pope related this mathematical background to Plato and Descartes. What is at issue … Read more
The famous Christmas carol goes, “Adeste fideles, laeti triumphantes.” The translation reads, “O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant.” The Latin is more succinct: “Come, be present, happy, triumphant.” The carol continues, “come”, then repeats, “venite.” Few refrains are more haunting. But “be present where?” we wonder. The answer comes: “Venite, venite in Bethlehem.” … Read more
When asked to write a column in the Georgetown student newspaper, I requested the editor not to change a submitted word without my permission. This concern results from long experience. Your finest word turns out, in print, to be “blah” because some editor knew better than you, the writer, what you should have said. The … Read more
The pastor of the Anglican parish in Georgetown, Rev. Charles Nalls, suggested lunch. I proposed Billy Martin’s, about halfway between his parish and the university. We both wore Roman collars, both arrived on time. The restaurant was not crowded after the noontime rush. We talked of things ecclesiastical and otherwise. No one was in a … Read more
What is peculiar to Catholicism is that, while it is a religion of intellect, it is also concerned with the salvation of lesser luminaries, of ordinary folks. The aborted fetus has the same transcendent destiny as the greatest philosopher or the greatest sinner. Indeed, the greatest philosopher and the greatest sinner may be, to recall … Read more
Thomas Aquinas put things succinctly. He found numberless things about which to think. He could, with few words, illuminate the whole of what is in logical form. He wrote little about political things. He discussed other topics normally called “political”—property, rebellion, prudence, justice, virtue, and common good. In commenting on the Gospels of Matthew and … Read more
Book one, chapter one, of Aquinas’s Summa Contra Gentiles, concerning wisdom, begins by citing Proverbs: “My mouth shall meditate truth, and my lips shall hate iniquity” (8:7). Aquinas finds two sides to this statement. The first is “to meditate and speak forth of the divine truth which is truth in person”; the second, “to refute … Read more
On February 10, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI received his old Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith colleagues. The pope here broached the noblest issues of our kind. Many things were succinctly put together that are not often put together, succinctly or otherwise. “Faith has a fundamental importance in the life of the Church, because … Read more