Good Christian Research Articles

Cherokee School Society and the Intercultural Classroom

Indian education is one of those phrases whose meaning is not the sum of its component words. Notoriously, "education" is an ambiguous word used to justify, idealize, or to criticize a variety of relationships. In the context where the pupils are members of a lower caste or ethnically subordinated group, education has come to denominate a unidirectional process by which missionaries - or others impelled by motives of duty, reform, charity, and self-sacrifice - attempt to uplift and civilize the disadvantaged and barbarian. Education then is a process imposed upon a target population in order to shape and stamp them into becoming dutiful citizens, responsible employees, or good Christians.

Comparison of the effects of isologous, homologous, and heterologous hematopoietic tissues on post-irradiation survival.

Through the centuries man has yearned for the possibility of exchanging new parts for old, of removing a damaged or diseased portion of his body and transplanting in its stead a healthy substitute. In the early days many daring attempts were made at such transplantation, even to the extent of using tissues from animals. Gibson (1) has reported from the year 1682 one of the earliest of such attempts on record, on a nobleman who had suffered a skull fracture on the battlefield. An enterprising surgeon used a piece of the skull of a dog to repair the damage, and the warrior lived. Indeed, so proud was he of this unique addition to his anatomy that he made the mistake of telling his friends about the operation and the news eventually reached the ears of the officials of the Church. They promptly ruled that no good Christian should have part of an animal within his body and so ordered it removed. This anecdote serves as an introduction to our discussion, for amazing strides in the knowledge of radiation and its biologic effects have been made since the development of the atomic bomb and the dawn of the atomic age. Already research in the field of radiation biology and medicine has brought into view new horizons with farreaching possibilities of effecting cures, contributing to a better understanding of the basic principles of the immune mechanism, and indeed opening up the possibility of tissue and organ transplantations. Even ten years ago no treatment for post-irradiation damage was known, despite the fact that Roentgen discovered x-rays in 1895 and that they have been in use ever since. Once the damage was done, once the rays had delivered their undiluted physical impact on the living system, no restorative treatment was available which could reverse their lethal action. It was known, to be sure, that one could modify the biologic action of irradiation by pre-irradiation treatment. Treadwell and Gardner (2), for example, working at Yale, as far back as 1938 showed that when estrogens were given to mice ten days before irradiation the animals were able to survive dosages well above the lethal range. And, in the late 1940's, Barron (3), Patt (4), and Cronkite (5) showed that the sulfhydryl compounds, such as glutathione and cysteine, would protect, provided they were present when the ionizing radiations penetrated the body. It was at about this time that we had the good fortune to be exploring the effect of lead protection of the spleen on regeneration of blood-forming tissues following total-body irradiation and realized that this procedure prevented radiation mortality despite the administration of lethal dosages. Not only did the spleen itself hypertrophy and prevent the characteristic fatal depression in blood elements, but spleen shielding was accompanied by rapid regeneration of the bone marrow which but a short time previously had been depopulated.

Book Review: How A Small Church Can Have Good Christian Education

Book Review: How A Small Church Can Have Good Christian Education

Anti-War Writing in France, 1500-60

Attempts to establish just grounds for war are as old as civilization itself. The seriousness of the attempts, however, and the nature of the difficulties which men encountered in making their formulations have varied from age to age, in accordance with prevailing assumptions and values. The problem of rationalizing war or integrating it into the social-intellectual structure undoubtedly became most acute with the triumph of Christianity, which was committed to peace but lacked the means of abolishing war. Early Christian thinkers were much occupied with the problem of determining under what conditions good Christians might engage in war and, notwithstanding the paucity of the results, there has hardly been any relaxation of the effort in medieval or modern times.

A Christian's Temptation

“Christian Platonism”, if we propose to take the expression seriously, is nothing less than a contradiction in terms'… ‘the discrepancies between Platonism and Christianity, when we get down to first principles, are so radical that only by complete misunderstanding or wilful blindness is it possible to profess allegiance to both.’ These unambiguous declarations on page 55 of the late W. H. V. Reade's Christian Challenge to Philosophy (S.P.C.K., 1951, pp. v-xiii, 1-194; 13s. 6d.) presents us with the central thesis of a brilliantly written book, one which breathes the wisdom of a fine intellect inspired by a lifetime's meditation upon the great tradition of European thought. The book will prove of most interest, no doubt, to the philosophers. Many of them will find points for disagreement as they follow the author along the European tradition from Plato to the positivists. Many, indeed, will rightly challenge his own exclusion of Platonists from Christianity; for there are of course good Christians who do understand Plato and yet prefer his ideas as a means of stating the faith.

Book Review: The Enquirer's Library No. 1. What is Man for? (Joseph McCulloch). No. 2 Can a Scientist believe? (K. G. Collier). No. 3. Which Religion? (E. O. James). No. 4. Who was Jesus of Nazareth? (Stephen Neill). No. 5. Why organized Religion? (H. N. Hancock). No. 6. Talking about Sin (A. W. Eaton). No. 7. What is the Church?

Book Review: <i>The Enquirer's Library</i> No. 1. What is Man for? (Joseph McCulloch). No. 2 Can a Scientist believe? (K. G. Collier). No. 3. Which Religion? (E. O. James). No. 4. Who was Jesus of Nazareth? (Stephen Neill). No. 5. Why organized Religion? (H. N. Hancock). No. 6. Talking about Sin (A. W. Eaton). No. 7. What is the Church?

Racial and Nationalistic Hurdles in the Teaching of Literature

The German poet and critic, Heinrich Heine, in the introduction to his essays on the Female Characters of Shakespeare, begins as follows: know a good Christian in Hamburg who has never been able to reconcile himself to the fact that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was born a Jew, a member of a race which he thoroughly despises. The difficulty, which this good Christian encounters in the case of Jesus Christ, I encounter in the case of William Shakespeare. In spite of all his great qualities, I cannot forget that Shakespeare is after all an Englishman and that he belongs to the most perverse nation that God in his wrath has ever created. Heine must not be taken too seriously. He was far from being as bitter as his words imply. But Heine points to something frequently overlooked: that a racial or nationalistic prejudice is often a hurdle in the way of those who are studying a great author or a great literature. Who has not felt, occasionally, when reading a review in one of our best periodicals that the judgment of the reviewer was finally determined by a racial or nationalistic bias? This may not happen frequently yet often enough to show the importance of racial bias in the study of literature. If this is true among adults, who presumably have grown up, the presence of such hurdles in the minds of adolescents must be still more serious. A mind-set, as psychologists tell us, is very important: valuable when kindly disposed; very much of a disadvantage when hostile. Some of us are old enough to remember the difficulties faced by teachers of German, during and immediately following World War I. The difficulties were not as noticeable after World War II. But, in those years students were set against studying German and the teacher, no matter how objective he tried to be, was constantly exposed to the charge of being pro-German. It is difficult to teach any literature without enthusiasm. But enthusiasm, at that time, served only to fan the flames of prejudice. The nationalistic hurdle was for a time too high to be jumped by either pupil or teacher. But the subject under discussion here has to do with Greek and Roman literature and you may feel that here pro-German, pro-French, anti-this or pro-that, have no parallels. I have come to believe that there are such hurdles even in the study of ancient literatures and that some of these hurdles have been erected by the teaching profession itself. But before I go into that matter I want to point out a few examples to show that the teaching of the Greek and Latin literatures is not quite removed from the nationalistic slants of to-day. R. W. Livingston in his book: The Greek Genius, speaks of the great difference between our life and the life at Athens: Greece seems very far away. Yet there are two places in England in which, amid the smoke and wealth and elaboration of our

Theological Problems of Conversion

THE THOMIST A SPECULATIVE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY EDITORS: THE DoMINICAN FATHERS OF THE PRoviNCE oF ST. JosEPH Publishers: The Thomist Press, Washington 17, D. C. VoL. XI OCTOBER, 1948 No.4 THEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF CONVERSION T HERE exists a rather curious discrepancy between the very lively interest taken nowadays in apologetical, oecumenical, and other works which by their very nature tend to result in conversions to the Catholic Church, and the almost complete lack of reflection among Catholics on the problems connected with these conversions. This lively interest hardly needs demonstration. It can be measured, for example, by the numerous stories of converts which are being published and read and which furnish the principal material for psychological studies of conversion (Starbuck, James, DeSanctis, Th. Mainage, 0. P.) The lack of theological reflection is shown, among other instances, from the fact that the Dictionnaire de Theologie Catholique does not even mention the word conversion ; the Dic·tionnaire Apologetique de la Foi Catholique and the Lexicon Fur Theologie und Kirche have only very short articles on the subject and they are more historical than theological . In this study, we intend only to examine some of the theological problems related to conversion and indicate certain solutions; all of these problems could not be studied in one article. 409 410 C. F. PAUWELS It must be noted immediately that the word " conversion " can have several different meanings, all of these meanings having some connection between them. The different uses of the same word have been the cause of much confusion in the psychological study of conversion as we understand it. Conversion can mean (and it is in this sense that we write of it) a change of religious conviction, and notably the acceptance of the Catholic faith. It indicates a motion to something new from something old; therefore it has a counterpart in apostasy, and if we attend to the fact that as an old conviction is given up a new one is acquired we note that every conversion can be called an apostasy. Conversion in this first sense, however, implies something more than a merely intellectual act, for whoever accepts the Catholic faith enters the Catholic Church and intends to live a Catholic life. In another sense, conversion may mean the justificatio impii, the change from a bad life to a good one. In this sense, conversion has been the object of numerous theological studies, and has been considered by St. Thomas 1 and the modem authors. The latin term, conversus, has been used to designate a laybrother in the same sense. It should be noted that a conversion to the Catholic faith always implies some change from a bad to a good life, in this respect at least that the Catholic standards of good and bad must be accepted with the faith; therefore, almost every convert, even if he could be called a good Christian before his conversion, has to make some changes in his manner of life. Still, one can be a bad Catholic and a sinner at the same time, and such a one needs the justificatio impii without needing any change of faith. On the other hand, many non-Catholics are already in a state of grace before they are converted to the Catholic faith. Hence a connection between these two kinds of conversion is not only possible, but necessary. In a third sense, conversion may mean a change in religious life without any change of faith. This kind of conversion is studied by ascetical and mystical theologians.2 We call it a 1 Summa Theol., I-II, q. 113. 'Cf. Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ways of the Spiritual Life, London, 194~. THEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF CONVERSION 411 conversion when a man changes from a humdrum religious life to a more serious one, from carelessness about venial sin to a systematical endeavor to reach perfection. Although this kind of conversion implies no change in religious conviction and is thus very different from the first kind, it should be noted that the acceptance of the Catholic faith, which is the fullness of revelation and grace, must bring about in the life of good Christians who are in a...

Concerning a “Critical Review”

CONCERNING A "CRITICAL REVIEW" 1 " It must be presupposed that every good Christian should be readier to excuse than to condemn a proposition advanced by his neighbour; and i:f he cannot justify it, let him enquire into the meaning of the author: if thEllatter be in error, corr~ct him lovingly ; should that not suffice, then let him employ every suitable means, so that his neighbour, rightly understanding it, may be saved from error."-8t. Ignatius Loyola. WHEN I wrote the Foreword to The Problem of Species, by Mortimer J. Adler, and when I noted in that foreword, along with my esteem and admiration for the author, the divergences which separate usand to which I do not have to return here-concerning the problems studied in his book, I thought that everyone would see, in this dialogue between two philosophers who are attached to the same principles but take different stands on certain conclusions, an example of what a discussion at once free and respectful on things of the mind could be. I was too much of an optimist. Certain critics, apparently little desirous of thus understanding philosophical discussion, have misused the foreword to decry the value of the work. Since Mr. Muller-Thym does me the honor of quoting me, he might also have done me the honor of thinking that I do not intend my introductions to torpedo the books of my friends, and that if The Problem of Species had as little merit as he says, I should not have cared to recommend its being read. It is left for me to apologize to Mortimer Adler for the abuse thus made of the liberality with which he permitted a discussion of his views to take place in his own book. The central question of Mr. Adler's book concerns the philosophy of nature. It is to determine whether real species are reducible to a small number of large classes or if they form a vast multiplicity, and also to determine the order or hierarchy 1 Bernard J. Muller-Thym, "Dr. Adler's 'Problem of Species': A Critical Review," TkeJ Modern Sckoolman, November, 1940. 45 46 JACQUES ~TAIN of real species.2 The fact that the taxonomic species of the positive sciences do not necessarily coincide with real species is ground for asking this question-without denying, for this reason, that there exist many sciences of nature, which correspond in a sense to the Aristotelian notion of science. (Even if Mr. Adler had denied this last point, he would not have committed heresy against principles. In the eyes of Aristotle and St. Thomas, the philosophy of nature embraced in its unity aU the sciences of nature: and it is precisely this conception which, in my opinion, the developments of empiriological science oblige us to revise.) But the problem of the number of species presupposes, as a necessary preamble, a more profound question, that of the relation between the " species " of the logician and the " species " of the philosopher of nature. On this preliminary question I think that Mr. Adler subscribed in advance to many of the views expounded by Mr. MullerThym in order to destroy, not so much Mr. Adler's book (the argumentation of which he does not discuss), as Mr. Adler himself, whose competence he claims to deny. Misled by Mr. Adler's terminology, Mr. Muller-Thym has not accomplished the very duty of a critic, which is, in such a case, to elucidate the obscurities due to the vocabulary and to try to see whether and at what precise point these obscurities have brought about some confusion in the doctrinal elaboration of the work. Mr. Adler said "ontological species" and "logical species" instead of saying" species understood in the ontological sense" or "species understood in the logical sense." It is regrettable that Mr. Muller-Thym did not follow the rules of interpretation outlined by St. Ignatius, who advises us in such cases to have regard to the thought rather than the words; and that he did not try to surmount the obstacles created by the words in the present discussion.3 In any event, the distinction be- • This question is too complicated to be...

Biography and Fiction

Biography and Fiction Get access Good Christian Men. By H. MARTIN P. DAVIDSON. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940. x + 260 pages. $2.00. KATHARINE HAZELTINE PATON KATHARINE HAZELTINE PATON The Baldwin SchoolBryn Mawr, Pa Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Volume IX, Issue 2, May 1941, Pages 124–125, https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/IX.2.124 Published: 01 May 1941

The Rule of Life

Writers have more than once pointed out that the ‘Ancren Riwle’ is far from being a mere set of austere regulations for a unique and now obsolete type of contemplative life. They have shown that during the later middle ages this Rule was regarded in England as a spiritual classic for every type of Christian, for it is in fact, chiefly concerned with the principles of a good Christian life which it sets forth with great charm and ability. But it is perhaps not so often realized that this fact follows from the very definite conception of the meaning and value of any rule, which the author outlines in his Prologue. All those who are resolved to fulfil their lives as good Christians should study this concise and attractive treatment of the meaning of rule in a good life. The ‘Ancren Riwle’ was written half a century before St. Thomas wrote his Summa Theologica, but the fundamental truths of this Prologue are endorsed by him. Thus those three sisters for whom the Riwle was written, and all those of every station in life who have since read it, have been inspired by truly Thomistic principles. It may, therefore, be of value to set forth the ideas contained in the Prologue of this Rule of Anchoresses.

Wars and Rumours of Wars

It is only right and proper in a world which seems to be going rapidly more and more insane that good Christians should make every effort to sound the recall to Reason. It is only our bare duty to reaffirm the elements and applications of the natural law in a world which seems to be becoming more and more insensible to the natural law. For this reason, it is impossible to over-estimate the debt we owe to those Catholic thinkers who have made it their task in recent years to re-state the natural ethics of war and peace and to apply it to modern conditions of international relationships and methods of warfare. It is salutary that the philosophia perennis of ends and means should be reasserted and applied realistically to new sets of facts such as aerial bombardment and bacteriological warfare, to the impending realities of war waged by the sovereign State conditioned by the exigencies of imperialistic capitalist economy.Yet we shall be mistaken if, having done all these things, we imagine that we have done anything specifically Christian. We are perhaps too ready to call a Christian doctrine of war what are in fact only dictates of the natural reason. Grace does not destroy Nature; Revelation is not contrary to Reason. But the fact remains that we cannot give a distinctively Christian witness to the events in the world around us in terms solely of natural reason and natural law. Nor can I answer the burning question, ‘What am I as a Christian to do in the event of war?’ solely in terms of a natural ethic, however rigorous.

Extra Supplement: Good Christian Men Rejoice and Sing

Extra Supplement: Good Christian Men Rejoice and Sing

Blimpery in Exceuis

Wishing no doubt to console a group who are more noisy at the moment than they are numerous, a firm of Catholic publishers has now perpetrated an English version of the Comte de Saint-Aulaire's venomous lampoon Genève contre la Paix, a work well calculated to offset their former productions, The Church and War and Peace and the Clergy, which were—well, not quite nice.It is the “stuff to give ‘em.” M. de Saint-Aulaire is the French equivalent of Colonel Blimp. But whereas our English hero is merely reduced by the thought of that dreadful League of Nations to an inarticulate spluttering of “Gad, sir! Stuff and nonsense, what, what,” his Gallic colleague has a more vivid imagination and the gift of tongues. True, he has his lucid moments, only too rare in this book, in which his shrewdness delights us; but for most of the time he sees red, or, should I say, Red. So eloquent indeed is this excited old gentleman that it is a little difficult sometimes for one, whose humdrum job it has been for sixteen years to acquaint himself with the actual history of the League, to follow his flights of fancy. His essay is not very coherent. It begins by explaining that the League has never existed or, alternatively, (as the lawyers would say), has long since compassed its own decomposition. Having proclaimed the dogma of equality (Has it?), it has built, though decomposed, upon inequality and privilege. The real forces behind it (if it exists) are those occult Internationals, Bolshevism, Freemasonry, Judaism and Pangermanism—oddly united, these last two—which, as Colonel Blimp would heartily agree, are well calculated to make the flesh of all good Christians creep. The League is “a prostitute,” “an abortion clinic,” “a corpse,” “a fantastic hoax,” “a gravedigger,” “aparalytic,” “anassassin,” “asuicide,"etc. It has committed nothing but errors: it has told nothing but lies.