Metanoia: “Change your mind.”

One can see why philosophical studies are considered propaedeutic to theology. First learn to think. Then think about God.

In our society at large there is a love of chaos and disorder that both stems from and perpetuates a sloppy philosophy of warmed over Hegel. It creeps into theological thinking. In liturgy studies and spiritual direction, for example, the Paschal Mystery is sometimes reduced to change agency. Dying and rising is applied to everything, including unchanging truths about God and human nature.

Likewise, in Scripture studies, the Old Testament liberation fulfilled in Jesus Christ is often reduced to the rule of the proletariat.

The question, as so often since the Council, is whether the Church is going to lead or follow. Leading does not mean being stuck in the past. The arrow of time moves forward. But leading does mean thinking better, not worse, than society. It means ascending by natural and supernatural means, rather than endlessly circling the drain.