Archives for 2009

WWJD – Healthcare edition

1 August 2009 · by Fr. Orthoduck 27 Comments

Mamma Mia! And memories

31 July 2009 · by Fr. Ernesto 13 Comments

So, I have now seen the Mamma Mia! movie for the third time. And, because I am the same age as Sophia’s parents and because I like the music of ABBA, it appeals to me. But, I found myself catching one line, when the three putative fathers and Sophie are out on the boat reminiscing […]

Of Bible, interpretation, and Supreme Court judges, part 07

30 July 2009 · by Fr. Ernesto Leave a Comment

Here is the bottom line of what I have been saying. In almost all scholarly fields, when questions of knowledge come up that are hard to solve, they are referred to a group that represents the community. The larger the “truth” that is being debated, the larger and more representative is the group to which the argument is […]

Of Bible, interpretation, and Supreme Court judges, part 06

29 July 2009 · by Fr. Ernesto Leave a Comment

So, what solutions have the law, science, and, yes, the Church come up with in order to minimize bias and misinterpretation? Yes, what do all three fields share in common as a way to overcome the inherent bias of humans? Interestingly enough, all three fields have “developed” the use of a panel of multiple people […]

On “stupidly” and Jon Stewart

29 July 2009 · by Fr. Ernesto 2 Comments

I must admit to being a Jon Stewart fan. I watch his Daily Show as often as I can. And, yesterday, I think he hit a nail on the head with his analysis of “stupidly.” Watch and enjoy! The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c Henry Louis-Gate – Race Card […]

Michael Vick redux

28 July 2009 · by Fr. Orthoduck 4 Comments

Just last May, Fr. Ernesto ran a series on penology in the USA. As part of that series he pointed out our tendency to never forgive or forget what a criminal has done. In fact, part of the problem of rehabilitation is our USA tendency to “speak with forked tongues.” Ask any good conservative Christian, […]

Of Bible, interpretation, and Supreme Court judges, part 05

28 July 2009 · by Fr. Ernesto Leave a Comment

In 1950, a work destined to become a classic was released, Protestant Biblical Interpretation by Bernard Ramm. It quickly became a textbook used by a huge number of Protestant seminaries. It was one of the last hermeneutics textbooks of wide acceptance that still took the viewpoint that by the use of a type of “scientific” […]

Of Bible, interpretation, and Supreme Court judges, part 04

27 July 2009 · by Fr. Ernesto 3 Comments

So, if our civil system relies on both written law and common law, are there any western systems that fully and only rely on written laws, with no common law? Well, actually there was an attempt at such a system. What is that system? The Code Napoleón of France, promulgated by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804. […]

Of Bible, interpretation, and Supreme Court judges, part 03

26 July 2009 · by Fr. Ernesto Leave a Comment

OK, so in the USA (and the entire British Empire) we run a mixture of written law and common law. While we say in the USA that the Constitution is the maximum law of the land, that actually does not say as much as we think it does for a two reasons. One is the […]

Of Bible, interpretation, and Supreme Court judges, part 02

25 July 2009 · by Fr. Ernesto 1 Comment

Now yesterday, I laid out just some of the very conservative approaches to constitutional law in the United States. But, those are not the only interpretations, and they do not take into account a very important concept called “common law.” You see, our system of justice is not purely written law based, it is also […]