Crannóggy Island

"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son."  (Romans 8:29) Introduction For centuries, Catholic theology wrestled with two paradoxical truths. First, God genuinely wills all to be saved, yet some are lost, and second, that salvation depends entirely on God's sovereign grace, yet man has free will. Two great schools emerged to try to resolve this. Their debate came to a head in the late sixteenth century when Dominican and Jesuit theologians argued their positions before the Pope. The Dominican position, most rigorously developed by Domingo Báñez, held that God predestines some to salvation and permits others to damnation apart from any foreseen merits or demerits, the divine decree preceding rather than responding to human choices. This preserved the absolute gratuity of grace and God's sovereignty, but made it difficult to say that God genuinely loves those He permits to be lost, or that His salvific will is universal...

Following comments on the last post, I thought I would script a series of three essays for the season of Lent. They are, as usual, longer than I had hoped. But they deal with frequently raised questions; q uestions not easily answered that go to the heart of the mysteries of the Christian faith. After further reflection, based on the comments, I have rewritten the essay on Hell, the third in the series. Introduction: Held in Tension Some doctrines are best approached with respect, attention, and a willingness to be changed by the encounter. The nature of God, grace, predestination, free will, and hell are such doctrines. Taken separately, each is carefully articulated in the Church's teaching. Placed side by side, they generate questions that press on the very heart of faith. This pressure is not a problem to be managed; it is an invitation into the contemplation of deep mystery. The Catechism teaches that hell is real: "the state of definitive self-exclusion from commun...

"For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost"  (Luke 19:10) Introduction There are objections to hell that come from anger. Some objections come from wounded experience. And then some objections come from love, from a refusal to believe that the God revealed in Christ could eternally abandon His creatures. It is the last of these that deserves the most careful listening. Understanding the suffering of hell as a freely chosen separation from God, rather than a divinely imposed torture, has made the doctrine morally intelligible for many Christians. It aligns with the Father who runs to meet the prodigal, who entreats the elder brother, who desires not the death of the sinner but that he turn and live. Yet the difficulty remains. Why must such separation be eternal? Why would freedom be "locked in" at death? Why would the Father ever cease to entreat? What the Church Teaches The Catholic Church teaches that hell is real, that it is eternal, and ...