Loyola University Maryland is happy to once again host the Annual CCET Conference. This year’s theme is on eschatology, entitled “Heaven, Hell,… and Purgatory?” The line up is excellent with presentations by David Yeago, Paul Griffiths, Isabel Moreira, Victor Lee Austin, Jerry Walls, Kyriaki Fitzgerald, and Ralph Wood.
Learn more about the Center and the Conference at www.e-ccet.org
See you there!
Our department chair, Fritz Bauerschmidt, was on the tele last night, discussing the conclave’s process of selecting Benedict XVI’s successor. Watch it here
Have questions about grad school in Theology and Religious Studies? There’s no need to call a conclave! Attend an online info session!
If you’re considering a master degree in theology or religious studies, consider the Loyola MTS. Join us for a google hangout this coming Wednesday at 7:30 for a chance to hear about what makes our program unique among the variety of graduate degrees in theology that are out there. Get your questions answered and hear from current MTS students.
Loyola Theology Professor Rebekah Eklund discusses why she studies the New Testament and the impact that makes in theological education.
In this week’s reading from Luke, Jesus has returned to his home region, Galilee, “filled with the power of the Spirit.” Luke tells us that his homecoming made quite the impression—“a report about his spread throughout…”
The excitement does not end, as Jesus then began to teach and preach in the synagogues as he traveled through Galilee. Eventually, he arrived in his hometown, Nazareth, and is received as a teacher on the Sabbath in the synagogue. As he read from Isaiah 61 (“The spirit of the Lord is upon me… to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor”), and then sat down, “the eyes of all… were fixed on him.” Continue reading
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel / and ransom captive Israel / that mourns in lonely exile…
“Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God.” Baruch 5:1
Our lectionary readings for Advent 2 deal with two themes: comfort and proclamation. In Baruch 5, the Lord’s comfort comes to the Israelites as divine glory. Jerusalem is to trade the garments of sorry and affliction for the garment and diadem of glory. The comfort of glory is also a comfort of peace, for God will give Jerusalem the name of “Righteous Peace,” a peace that is marked by the return of the exiles. Even creation is brought into this peace by obeying God’s command making the path for the exiles straight and level. Continue reading
Our inaugural MTS class was featured recently in the Loyola College Update. The Theology Dept is really proud of our cohort, and very pleased to see them get some recognition here.
Prof. David Decosimo has recently published an article, entitled “Intrinsic Goodness and Contingency, Resemblance and Particularity: Two Criticisms of Robert Adams’s Finite and Infinite Goods” in Studies in Christian Ethics 25.4 (November 2012): 418-441.
Here’s an abstract:
Robert Adams’s Finite and Infinite Goods is one of the most important and innovative contributions to Christian ethics in recent memory. This article identifies two major flaws at the heart of Adams’s theory: his notion of intrinsic value and his claim that ‘excellence’ or finite goodness is constituted by resemblance to God. I first elucidate Adams’s complex, frequently misunderstood claims concerning intrinsic value and Godlikeness. I then contend that Adams’s notion of intrinsic value cannot explain what it could mean for countless finite goods to be intrinsically valuable. Next, I articulate a criticism of his Godlikeness thesis altogether unlike those he has previously addressed: I show that, on Adams’s own account of Godlikeness, a diverse myriad of excellences could not possibly count as resembling God. His theory thus fails to account for a whole world of finite goods. I defend my two criticisms against objections and briefly sketch a more Aristotelian and Christian way forward.
If you’ve been wondering what happened to our lectionary reflection series, never fear! We return this week with commentary by Loyola prof. Fr. Joseph Rossi, SJ.