Theology Update for the Week of May 29

Dear friends in Christ, The opening chapters of Genesis intend to give us insight into the foundations of things, as if to answer the question, “Who Are We?” On Sunday, May 29, I am going to say some more about the significance of Cain — there is an interesting inversion of Genesis 3:16 at 4:7, which extends the notion of “rule” to ruling over one’s own passions — and then we’ll look at Seth and his descendants, and the quiet way the shocking fact of death appears there. In these chapters, also, is some indication of the biblically ambiguous status of human arts. I hope you can join me on the 5th floor at 10 o’clock.

My Wednesday talk on Losing Susan has been posted on our website.

I am grateful for the large number of people who came. The book is available in our bookstore, which will be closed this weekend but open on the Sundays in June. For now, I think we are the only source of the book, as its release date is still a bit in the future.

Would anybody like a set of 38 volumes? When a priest-friend up in Poughkeepsie died some time ago, his widow gave me his set of the Ante-Nicene Fathers (10 vols) and the two series of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (28 vols altogether). This collection was put together about a century ago, and is a source for many writings of the Fathers of the Church, both before the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) and after. Augustine has a number of volumes to himself! I have decided that I cannot move these, and I’ll gladly give them to anyone who wants to pick them up. The contents are available on the web, but if you like real books (as I do) and have the space (as I won’t), I think there’s nothing as satisfying as holding an old, serious book.

Peace,
Father Austin