I Didn't Steal This From Rob Bell & Becoming A Thomist Theologian

"Beware of the dogs" -Philippians 3:2

I always get provoked theologically to respond to Anti-Catholicism but - as Dave Armstrong has discussed long before me - it doesn't matter how much scripture and Church Fathers or just philosophy you stack up against them, in the end it's neverenough.

But it doesn't matter, because for once in my blogging life, I'm just going to ignore it, not take the bait, and not enter into the endless debate whereby no one will step into the open of real Christian debate.

A Jesuit theologian was explaining the methods of St. Thomas in an email the other day and how fundamental his method is for Catholic theology. It's a method whereby we speak of God in analogies and by interacting with the problems of the present culture, we come up with new analogies of the faith to explain what is divinely revealed to the people. He shows how this is distinct from Apologetics which seeks to prove specific elements of faith from reason, scripture, and tradition. I immediately realized that I'm not in any sense a theologian, but an apologist or polemicist. I'm tired of it, I want to help people understand how all life begins with the Trinity how humanity is restored and participates in the divine nature of the Trinity and how we eventually return to the beatific vision. (The folks over at Called To Communion already do a much better job of tearing up Genevan theology than I could ever dream of.)

I'm also hoping to get more into philosophy and specifically philosophical personalism ala JP II. Oh the hope of one day being a Thomist, a theologian of glory, a promoter of faith understood by reason, and a perpetual enemy of Ockham and his followers.

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us fools.