Friday, January 15, 2021

Dashed Off I

As always, dashed off notes; take with a grain of salt.


natality as potential for newness and as need for help

the three terms of the human heart, each pointing to something beyond: natality, mortality, conscience

By resurrection in Christ we are freed not merely from the limit of mortality but also in a way from the limit of our natality, without these having been simply undone.

To respect oneself properly, one must respect others appropriately.

rebutting, undercutting, and costliness defeaters -- we do in fact treat excessive revision cost as a defeater

Ingarden's four existential moments of dependence
(1) contingency: for continuing to be
(2) derivation: for coming to be
(3) inseparateness: required co-existence in a whole
(4) heteronomy: for being and qualitative endowment

Most of what people think is public opinion is a false impression.

The created world itself is the first step of God breaking in.

"Men really pious delight in doing good by stealth." Cowper

All human reason is aided reason.

People have a tendency to say that things are meaningless from a cosmic perspective when their argument actually implies that there is no cosmic perspective.

Every living moment is a sliding from birth.

derivation of principles from normative descriptions
e.g.: 'Medicine is a cooperative endeavor between doctor and patient for the purpose of restoring and maintaining the health of the patient." From this one can derive a version of "Do no harm" (i.e., act in a way consistent with restoring and maintaining health), patient autonomy, doctor autonomy, and even more if you add supplementary principles.

Directed social change very often occurs by apprenticeship.

The Old Testament prophets prophesy by deed and type as well as by word, and Christ is consummately prophet in this, as well.

"The Bible may be considered as a consolidation of partial revelations." Alexander Stewart (The Tree of Promise)

Stewart on taking priests and Levites to be typical of ministers, elders, and deacons: "This principle, if admitted, would soon land us in Popery."

"...we ought to cherish an entire sympathy with the Church in all ages and nations. This, at least, is a catholicity which modern schism ought not to disturb." Stewart

the principle of Korah in attempts to revolutionize the priesthood: 'You take too much on you, seeing that the whole congregation is holy.'

the eucharist as holiness of holiness (Lv 10:12)
donation for the upkeep of the Church a memorial for atonement (Ex 30:16)
-- but note that it is always equally so (Ex 30:5)
cp to Cornelius in Acts 10:4 (prayer and alms as memorials for atonement)

holy of holies: Church Triumphant
sanctuary: Church Patient
outer court: Church Militant

shew-bread, incense, and candlestick symbols of Purgatory

The Gospel is for all, but the meal offering requires priesthood.

The Father : Father :: The Name : Son :: The Kingdom : Holy Spirit (Maximus the Confessor, on the Lord's Prayer)
-- this makes the prayer have a Trinitarian part and a Providential part

the habits appropriate to rights

The problem is never with philosopher-kings but with sophist-kings.

Repentance requires a prior mercy.

circumstances as ways of being relevant

moral heroes vs. moral geniuses

We may become obligated by choice, but obligation as such is not the sort of thing that depends on choice.

reception of human nature in conception // reception of human role in birth // reception of covenant in circumcision // reception of citizenship // reception of new character in baptism // reception of new roles in confirmation and ordination

Over half the Latinisms in the New Testament are in Mark, and this is unusual with respect to Greek texts generally, as well.

civility in discussion and hospitality to reasons

"These three sacrifices -- the burnt-offering, the meat-offering, and the peace-offering -- form a system, more or less complete. The 'holocaust', as a whole burnt-offering, shadows forth the completeness and perfection of the great atoning sacrifice. It was accompanied by the 'mincha', itself an atoning offering, as we have seen, and which points to the suretyship of the great antitype. The sufficiency of the surety was then shown to rest on the completeness of the sacrifice which it accompanied. Then followed naturally the peace-offering as a feast of joy and thanksgiving, in celebration of the peace which resulted from the sufficiency of the atoning offerings which preceded it." Stewart

the Feast of Tabernacles as a type of Purgatory

Parables teach by stages, and requiring being mulled over.

Note that the angel explicitly highlights St. Joseph's descent from David (Mt 1:20); in Luke, the angel seems to imply Mary's descent as well ("His father David").

None are so poisonous as those who try to use ethics to control the minds of others.

Noah and his family were saved by the ark from destruction; Moses and the Israelites were saved at the Red Sea, which destroyed Pharaoh's army; baptism saves the people of God, and outside it is a genuine destruction.

The Virgin is closely linked to the divine visible missions, being the one to whom the Annunciation happened and one of the ones for whom Pentecost happened.

forms of cooperation
(1) antecedent (preparatory)
(2) subordinate (instrumental)
(3) coordinate
(4) consequent

It is better for a bishop to be holy than to be intelligent or learned, but it does not follow from this that it is acceptable for bishops to be stupid and ignorant.

Sloppy liberal policy degenerates into kleptocracy; we see this again and again.

category theory in mathematics as a theory of operations on operations

internal morality of law: in legislature, in execution, in enforcement, in adjudication

internal morality of medicine: in prevention, in diagnosis, in remedial treatment, in regimen, in surgical treatment, in palliation

Every political system eventually turns into a mockery of itself.

the personalist principle as taking specific form within the context of humanitarian traditions

Marginal cases and gray areas in ethics show the limits of specific articulated rules; they do not show the falseness of the judgment or sense articulated. Good sense is not harmed by difficult cases.

'ground' as that by which it is knowable why a thing exists

No one is exempt from being able to commit any evil solely on the basis of the kind of person they naturally are.

No society can be free that treats itself as if it were the only society of which its members are a part.

rational pluralism of societies & conscientious objection

No single human society can fulfill all needs of the human person.

The Anecdota of Procopius is so over-the-top and tabloid-like, nothing in it can be taken seriously.

Recognizing conscientious objection is part of
(a) respecting persons as ends in themselves
(b) justice toward others in nonmaleficence
(c) reciprocity in recognizing that you might find yourself in an analogous situation
(d) building a wall against totalitarianism
(e) giving people power in a free society.

conscientious objection and the right to protest
conscientious objection and subsidiarity

The rights of children develop within the environment of the rights of their parents, the rights of spouses overlap with each other, etc. Rights are not atomistic but things that unite us.

Scandal as a sin against justice has a certain range, scandal as a sin against charity an even greater range.

command, counsel, consent
praise, protection, participation
concealment, nonprevention, nonrejection

liturgy as folkswork, theology as Godlore

the internal morality of parenting

personhood, spousehood, parenthood, citizenship, profession

The natural and obvious meaning of Scripture is that which it has in the preaching, practice, and prayer of the Church.

typology based on a sense of the resemblance of the whole
typology based on comparison of features, point by point
typology based on function within the broader organization

"progress in science depends upon the observation of the right facts by minds *furnished with appropriate ideas*" (Peirce) -- as he notes, this is Whewellian