Catholic Carnival 114

This week's Catholic Carnival is now live:

at Profound Gratitude.

Hosted by Shellie at Profound Gratitude!

Check out the Catholic Carnival submission form complete with screenshots in this post: BlogCarnival.com Submission form.

Or join the Google group to be made aware of call for submissions and when new Carnivals are up and where they are up.

The Catholic Carnival FAQ.

The Best Things In Life by: Peter Kreeft

The Best Things In Life: A Contemporary Socrates Looks at Power, Pleasure, Truth & the Good Life
Peter Kreeft
IVP Books
ISBN 0977849226

Peter Kreeft is known for writing in the dialectic style. Though Kreeft is famous for using this style, he does not pull it off in this book as well as he does in some of his other books. This book is written as a dialogue or series of dialogues between Socrates and two University students. ‘Peter Pragma’ and ‘Felicia Flake’ both of whom have 6 discussions with Socrates on different subjects.

That is just the beginning; the names are all puns in the book, as we have seen from our two main protagonists(Peter and Felicia). The puns continue through all the professors and personalities encountered. The president of Desperate State University is “Fudge Factor” and is as inept as his name implies. We also meet “Marigold Measurer”, the scientist who is addicted to data but without really understanding its purpose or use. Felicia has some mentors in her life - “Pop Syke” who is the guru of pop psychology, and “Karl”, the communist who is brother to “Adam”, the Capitalist.

Having read a number of Kreeft’s other books, this one was a bit of a letdown. The puns with the names got to be so trying and tiring that it was hard to finish the book. The same information could have been conveyed in conventional prose, with half the words. The dialogue grew boring and irritating. I just wanted the meat from this book and had to go through a lot of bone and grist to get to it.

The book has a lot to offer in the examination of why someone does what he does, and to help one live a more examined life. But the book often does it in a very long, roundabout way.

I never like to give a book a bad review, and often go back and read a book a second time before I will do so. This book, though hard to get through the first time, was more than worth it the second time. It teaches you the basics of philosophy, the Socratic method, as well as the Oxford method, for having an argument or discussion.

Much like some of his other writings - for example, Between Heaven and Hell and Making Sense out of Suffering - this book is one I will return to and re-read many times during my lifetime. So even if it seems cheesy and trite at first, I encourage you to persevere. It will be well worth the effort.
(First Published in Across the Creek 2007-04-02 "Book Look' Book Review column.)

Book by Peter Kreeft:

C. S. Lewis: A Critical Essay (1969)

Love Is Stronger Than Death. 1979.

Heaven: The Heart’s Deepest Longing (1980)

Between Heaven Hell (1982) 

The Unaborted Socrates (1983)

The Best Things In Life (1984)

Yes or No? — Straight Answers to Tough Questions about Christianity (1984)

Making Sense Out of Suffering (1986)

Fundamentals of the Faith, Essays in Christian Apologetics (1988)

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Heaven... But Never Dreamed of Asking (1990)

Making Choices: Practical Wisdom for Everyday Moral Decisions (1990)

You can understand the Old Testament : a book-by-book guide for Catholics (1990)

Summa of the Summa (1990) 

Three Philosophies of Life (1990) 

Prayer: The Great Conversation (1991)

Back to Virtue (1992) 

Shorter Summa (1993) 

Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal's Pensees (1993)

Your Questions, God's Answers (1994) 

Handbook of Christian Apologetics (with Ronald K. Tacelli) (1994)

C. S. Lewis for the Third Millennium (1994) 

Shadow-Lands of C.S. Lewis: The Man Behind the Movie (1994)

Pocket Handbook of Christian Apologetics (1994)

The Angel and the Ants: Bringing Heaven Closer to Your Daily Life (1994)

Talking to Your Children About Being Catholic (1995) — A treasure trove of ideas

Angels (and Demons): What Do We Really Know About Them? (1995)

Ecumenical Jihad: Ecumenism and the Culture Wars (1996)

The Journey A Spiritual Roadmap For Modern Pilgrims (1996)

The Snakebite Letters Devious Secrets for Subverting Society (1998)

Refutation of Moral Relativism (1999)

Prayer for Beginners (2000)

Catholic Christianity (2001)

Socrates Meets Jesus (1987/2002) 

How to Win the Culture War: A Christian Battle Plan for a Society in Crisis (2002)

Celebrating Middle Earth: Lord of the Rings (2002) 

Three Approaches to Abortion: a thoughtful and compassionate guide to today's most controversial issue (2002)

Philosophy 101 by Socrates (2002) 

Socrates Meets Machiavelli (2003) 

Socrates Meets Marx (2003) 

The God Who Loves You (2004)

Socratic Logic (2005) 

You Can Understand the Bible (2005) 

Socrates Meets Sartre: Father Of Philosophy Meets The Founder of Existentialism (2005) 

The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind "The Lord of the Rings" (2005)

The Sea Within (2006)

Socrates Meets Descartes (2007) 

The Philosophy of Jesus (2007) 

Pocket Guide to the Meaning of Life (2007)

Before I Go (2007) 

I Surf Therefore I Am (2008)

Because God Is Real: Sixteen Questions, One Answer (2008)

Jesus-Shock (2008)

Socrates Meets Kant (2009) 

If Einstein Had Been a Surfer (2009) 

Between Allah & Jesus: what Christians Can Learn from Muslims (2010)

Socrates Meets Hume (2010) 

An Ocean Full of Angels (2011)

Summa Philosophica (2012) 

Jacob's Ladder (2013) 

Charisms: Visions, Tongues, Healing, etc. (feat. Dave Nevins) (2013) 

Socrates Meets Kierkegaard (2014) 

52 Big Ideas (2020) 

Practical Theology (2014) 

Letters to an Atheist (2014) 

Philosophy 101 by Socrates: An Introduction to Philosophy Via Plato's Apology : (Forty Things Philosophy is According to History's First and Wisest Philosopher (2014)

I Burned for Your Peace: Augustine's Confessions Unpacked (2016)  

How to Be Holy (2016) 

Catholics and Protestants (2017) 

Between One Faith and Another (2017) 

Forty Reasons I am a Catholic (2018)

Doors in the Walls of the World (2018) 

The Platonic Tradition (2018) 

Socrates' Children, 4 vols. (2019) 

How To Destroy Western Civilization And Other Ideas From The Cultural Abyss (2021)

The Greatest Philosopher Who Ever Lived (2021)

Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings 3 vols. (2023)

What Would Socrates Say? (2024) 

…

Contributed to:

Beautiful Eucharist

...

Articles That Mention Kreeft:
Opus Dei
Opus Dei Part II
Catholic Catechism Dialogue blog
4 Resources

...

 

Articles That Mention Kreeft:
Opus Dei
Opus Dei Part II
Catholic Catechism Dialogue blog
4 Resources

Catholic Carnival 113

The Carnival is up at Living Catholicism!
Check it out.

Check out the Catholic Carnival submission form complete with screenshots in this post: BlogCarnival.com Submission form.

Or join the Google group to be made aware of call for submissions and when new Carnivals are up and where they are up.

The Catholic Carnival FAQ.

Amistad - DVD Review

Amistad
Steven Spielberg
ASIN: 0783231202

Amistad is a true story about an 1839 mutiny aboard a slave ship that is traveling towards North America. It is a story in the period when new slaves were illegal, but trading in slaves that were already slaves, was allowed. With a powerful all-star cast including Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins and Matthew McConaughey, it is a story that will grip your heart and move your spirit. Much of the story takes place in a courtroom drama about the free-man who led the revolt, and deals with questions of freedom, humanity and dignity.

The movie, though slow moving, is intense, and the drama builds as many groups claim the slaves as their property. This story is truly gripping and a story of extreme importance in understanding our own history. This lesser-known Spielberg film is truly a must see.

The Mission - Roland Joffe - DVD Review

The Mission
Roland Joffe
ASIN: B00003CXBH

This is a true story and it is a very sad one in the history of the west and of the church. Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson and many more take us through the history of slavers in South America. Irons, who plays a Spanish Jesuit Priest, goes into the wilderness to build a mission, to convert the Indians. DeNiro plays a slaver who eventually joins Irons' mission and serves the native peoples.

The main question in this film is that of ownership, and the right to make slaves. The mission begins in Spanish territory that is sold to the Portuguese. The Portuguese do not want to accept that the natives are humans - but at best trained monkeys - and that their Christianity does not protect them from becoming slaves. The Cardinal who came to oversee the decision came with a decision already made, and his inner turmoil, as the narrator, draws the viewer into the political side of the decision and the political side of the church's role in the decision, at that time, in a way that few other films ever have.

The film is a cinematographic masterpiece. While watching the movie, pay close attention to light and darkness, the music, and the angles used in filming. This movie is great and a must see because of the story it tells and the way it tells it. It is truly a film and not just a movie.

Dead Man Walking by: Sr. Helen Prejean

Dead Man Walking
Sr. Helen Prejean - Book
ISBN13: 9780679751311
Tim Robbins - Movie
ASIN: BOOOOOKODQ

This is both a book and a movie that you need to interact with. Particularly in a day and age when there is a movement here in Canada to try to bring the death penalty back. The book is much more in depth than the movie. The book profiles the first three men that Sr. Prejean goes to the death chamber with as Spiritual Director. It profiles her mistakes as she journeys down this path for the first few times. She witnessed her first execution on April 5th, 1984 and she has been advocating against the death penalty since then.

The book does a great job of showing the disparity in how the death penalty is applied. It goes through the studies on its lack of effectiveness, and how for the most part, it is the poor and the African-American who are on death row. Even if you only read the appendices, the book will challenge you to view the death penalty in a different way.

The movie was the inspiration and starred Susan Sarandon. Sarandon was given the book while on a personal retreat at a monastery; she came home and gave the book to her partner, Tim Robbins, who directed the film. Together they approached Sr. Prejean, who went out and rented Bull Durham. She was a little leery of having them do the film, but after meeting with them went ahead with the project.

The film co-stars Sean Penn as Matthew Poncelet, a compilation of the 3 men in the book. The movie, while slow moving, is incredibly intense and draws you into the drama of waiting for a death when you know the date and time of that approaching death.

As an interesting aside, another good book is Forgiving the Dead Man Walking by Debbie Morris, who was one of the victims of Robert Lee Willie from the book. Debbie always said if they ever made a movie, Penn would have to play Willie because they looked so much alike.

So read the book and watch the movie, and if you want yet another challenging book, give Forgiving the Dead Man Walking a read also.

Holy Week Reflections - Palm Sunday

It is Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy week. That has me reflecting back on my goals for Lent and my article on 'Lenten Preparation'. It has been a very different Lent than I expected. I did not actually finish any of the books I had hoped to read. I did get a fair bit of reading done while on retreat but I focused on books from the retreat house's library that I do not own, rather than what I took with me.

I know that Lent is just the beginning of the Easter season and that there are the weeks of Eastertide ahead of us in the liturgical year. The six weeks following Easter are also part of this season. Yet my failures to stick to my commitments through Lent have cast a shadow on the celebrations and the sorrows we commemorate this week.

I did not pray the way of the cross or the Stations of the Cross each day. I did not read all the books I wanted to read. I have not even done that well on my new year's resolutions. But Easter is also a time of renewal, a time of hope, and a time of joy. So I need to let go, and move forward. I need to embrace the Easter season and its true meaning and start over again.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:6 "I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly." Embracing the Easter message is the beginning of the abundant life!
Those are my reflections on Lenten goals and their outcomes as we approach the sorrows and celebrations of Holy Week and Easter.

Peace and Strength!
Yours, learning to be
Steven R. McEvoy

"The only reason for being a professional writer is that you can't help it."
- Leo Rosten

"Among all the aims of our lives, there is only one which is truly necessary: it is to reach the goal which God has set for us; to attain to heaven, by living our own individual vocation to the full. In order to achieve this we have to be ready to lose everything else, to clear away anything which would obstruct our way. Everything must be a means for reaching God, and if anything whatever proves not to be a means but an obstacle, then we must put it right or give it up in sacrifice."
-Francis Fernandez
-In Conversation With God Vol #1 p.121

(Photo Courtesy Gerald Augustinus with permission from the blog The Cafeteria is Closed!)