Free Republic

On Plato, the Early Church, and Modern Science: An Eclectic Meditation By Jean F. Drew God, purposing to make the universe most nearly like the every way perfect and fairest of intelligible beings, created one visible living being, containing within itself all living beings of the same natural order. Thus does Plato (d. 347 B.C.) succinctly describe how all that exists is ultimately a single, living organism. At Timaeus20, he goes on to say: “There exists: first, the unchanging form, uncreated and indestructible, admitting no modification and entering no combination … second, that which bears the same name as the...

The Purpose of the Sword A review of Just War Against Terror: The Burden of American Power in a Violent World, by Jean Bethke Elshtain All Christian writing on war leads back through Aquinas and Augustine to Paul's famous remark in Romans (13, 4) that all power is from God, that the Emperor "beareth not the sword in vain." We can reach pretty much the same conclusion in Aristotle who tells us that coercion is added to the law when it (the law) is not in public being observed by those with disordered souls (1180a22). Augustine saw no problem...

St. Augustine, Bishop, Confessor and Doctor of the Church (354-430), wrote the City of God, where he describes the fight between the sons of light and the sons of darkness as the axis of History. His thinking established the foundation for Christendom and Christian Civilization. Comments of Prof. Plinio: Reading the works of St. Augustine is one of the greatest pleasures a man can have. The Confessions is a wonderful and highly edifying book from many points of view. In it, St. Augustine describes the moral abysses of pride and sensuality into which he had fallen and narrates how he...

On August 24, 410 A.D., the Visigoths, led by Alaric, sacked Rome. For the people of late antiquity, August 24 was even more traumatic than September 11 was for us. Rome, the capital of the greatest empire the world had ever known, was plundered by barbarians, people Rome regarded as uncouth and inferior. In North Africa, these events prompted a Christian bishop to start writing about the lessons Christians should take away from the destruction of Rome. The result was a book that is every bit as relevant for our day as it was for his: The City of God...

Augustine's account of his early life of wrongdoing would not shock very many in America today. His sins in the fourth century are the same grave transgressions suffered by far too many of us in the 21st century. Sic faciunt omnes — concupiscence of the flesh, renunciation of the Catholic Faith and the embracing of modernism (heresy). [1] What would shock many in America today would be the transformation he made from sinfulness to Sainthood, and not without a tributary of tearful petitions from his holy mother, Monica, to God, the Father of Mercy. As a beloved Son who imitated...

The Life of St. Morgan of Wales AKA Pelagius   Early Life and Education St. Morgan of Wales is more commonly known by his Latin name Pelagius Britto -- indicating his association with the sea and Celtic British origins. He was born around 360 A.D. in South Wales in Bangor-is-y-coed or Caerlleon-ar-wsyg near the Severn estuary. He came from a Christian romanized Celtic background, the son of a decurion. Morgan received a Latin education and was taught Holy Scriptures, inheriting the Celtic tradition which had links with the Church of Gaul and the Eastern Church. An emphasis was placed on...

A Treatise on Grace and Free Will By Aurelius Augustin, Bishop of Hippo; Addressed to Valentinus and the monks of Adrumetum, and completed in one book. Written in A.D. 426 or A.D. 427. In this treatise Augustin teaches us to beware of maintaining grace by denying free will, or free will by denying grace; for that it is evident from the testimony of scripture that there is in man a free choice of will; and there are also in the same scriptures inspired proofs given of that very grace of God without which we can do nothing good. Afterwards, in...

Augustine's "just war" theory continues to guide the West.The fall of Rome in 410 was a calamity of staggering proportions to the citizens of the Roman Empire. Civilization itself had been shaken to its foundations. So it was viewed by Augustine, from his vantage point on the North African coast. But he worried not so much about the empire as about the threat of a backlash to Christianity. Hadn't critics warned for years that Christians' pacifism would weaken the empire? Didn't this confirm the fears that Christianity was too other-worldly for its followers to be responsible citizens of the state?...

Since man is dead in trespasses and sins, he is completely dependent upon God's initiative. "There is none that seeks after God; all have turned aside, there is none that does good, not even one." Such is the prognosis of man, man apart from God. But in grace, it pleased God to reach down, to condescend to man, to command life unto him, just as he commanded light by the word of his power, "Let there be light." God makes himself known to man, through the mediatorship and redemption wrought by his Son, applied by the Spirit. Evidently, not everybody...

Remaining "outmoded" State laws invalidating deviant sexual behavior and premarital sex continue to be overturned by state and federal courts. Just recently a Southern State Supreme Court overturned a law prohibiting premarital sex, and a Texas law barring deviant sex will come before the US Supreme Court. Modern society assumes that the elmination of these laws is the path to a free and fair society, but is it? With the new morals has come a wealth of terminated pregnancies, children confused into believing they were born into the wrong sex body, an epidemic of deadly sexually transmitted diseases, rampant pornography,...

THE AESTHETICS OF RACE VERSUS THE BEAUTY OF HUMANITY Race is an inherently divisive—and recent—idea. There is no cultural issue more explosive today than race. It is a matter that continually evades any attempt at rational analysis and instead distorts our politics and inflames the passions. A sad consequence is the debasement of our cultural life. Rather than being united by objects of love, by shared and commonly embraced ideals, we are increasingly divided along racial lines by competing objects of desire, all presumed to be of equal value, each demanding its due. Such competing desires, because they make...

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada author Clive Douglas Campbell and Phoenix, Arizona, USA publisher Selah Publishing Group are pleased to announce the release of Messiah: 2030. Nobody knows the day and hour of the Second Coming, but the following years are on the front cover: Messiah: 2030 Cluny: 1030 Jesus: 30 David: 970 Abraham: 1970 Noah: 2970 Adam: 3970 Messiah: 2030 claims the Bible prophesies a sixth Arab-Israeli war will be over in 2003 and include the following: --the Palestinians will be deported to Jordan --Israel will go to war with Jordan, possess Jordanian land east of the Jordan River and King...