This and That No. 3

First a couple of notes on the preceding two essays.

I intend to follow up "The Suicide Cult" with an essay which addresses the same topic from a theological perspective. The essay will be more or less a sermon on the text Acts 17:26: "And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation". This verse declares that both the common humanity, shared by all peoples of the world, and their national particularity are authored by God. There can be no Christian justification then, for political movements aimed at eliminating the latter. In the Old Testament God scattered the nations at Babel. In the New Testament, Christ's Church, when standing before God in glory, singing the new song, declares that Christ the Lamb "hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation". The spiritual undoing of Babel in the Church began at Pentecost when people, gathered in Jerusalem from all over the Roman Empire heard St. Peter preach in their own tongue. Christ's Kingdom, however, is not of this world, and the Church's mandate is to bring the Gospel to every nation not to support political efforts to dissolve the nations into a united world.

"Justice and Vengeance" is one of three essays on the topic of justice planned for this year. One of the other two will address the topic of "social justice" and will examine both the truth and the great deal of error that is embodied in that concept. The other essay, which I allude to in "Justice and Vengeance" will look at justice, the classical and cardinal virtue.

My essays for this year will loosely follow a schedule in which political topics are addressed for the first two months, then from the beginning of Lent (Ash Wednesday falls on March 9th this year) through to Trinity Sunday theological topics will be emphasized, and for the remainder of the year cultural and artistic topics will be highlighted. Philosophical and moral topics will be discussed throughout the whole year and, of course, I reserve the right to deviate from the schedule at any time.