Theology, Ethics, The Virtues, Biology, Beauty and Kai
You gotta love this guy. A newly described lemur from Madagascar. Very different than a Sifaka.
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The newly discovered mouse lemur was found in one of the biologically best-known areas of Madagascar (Image: Robert Zingg)
Why aren’t Christians fascinated by the virtues? Those in the emerging church who ignore the formation of virtue in their midst are putting their movement in peril.
The Associated Press
Published: December 6, 2006
ROME: Vatican archaeologists have unearthed a sarcophagus believed to contain the remains of the Apostle Paul that had been buried beneath Rome’s second largest basilica. The sarcophagus, which dates back to at least 390 A.D., has been the subject of an extended excavation that began in 2002 and was completed last month, the project’s head said this week. “Our objective was to bring the remains of the tomb back to light for devotional reasons, so that it could be venerated and be visible,” said Giorgio Filippi, the Vatican archaeologist who headed the project at St. Paul Outside the Walls basilica. The interior of the sarcophagus has not yet been explored, but Filippi didn’t rule out the possibility of doing so in the future.
Two ancient churches that once stood at the site of the current basilica were successively built over the spot where tradition said the saint had been buried. The second church, built by the Roman emperor Theodosius in the fourth century, left the tomb visible, first above ground and later in a crypt. When a fire destroyed the church in 1823, the current basilica was built and the ancient crypt was filled with earth and covered by a new altar. “We were always certain that the tomb had to be there beneath the papal altar,” Filippi told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. Filippi said that the decision to make the sarcophagus visible again was taken after many pilgrims who came to Rome during the Catholic Church’s 2000 Jubilee year expressed disappointment at finding that the saint’s tomb could not be visited or touched.
The findings of the project will be officially presented during a news conference at the Vatican on Monday.
It is amazing. I have not read this blog in almost a year, yet many of the same questions are still floating around in my head. How can an almighty good God allow evil to happen? There is still not satisfactory answer to me. Did Alastair MacIntrye offer a sufficient explanation of the trustworthiness of tradition, and revelation as passed down and mediated by tradition? At least, did he offer enough of an explanation to justify current belief in revelation? What is the nature of good and evil? What does it mean to be free? What does it mean to be determined? Are these terms even meaningful in a philosophical or theological sense?
We shall keep thinking…
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