Our relationship to pleasure has been tormented since the serpent appeared in Eden, right after the repeated affirmation of the goodness of creation. How are we to look at trees that are good for food, a delight to the eyes, and desired to make one wise? Such trees lie in the midst of paradise, always…

Keen for the Fire “Unless you’re bitten by the fire,” the angel at the top of the mountain shouts joyfully, but Dante, understandably, balks at being called to pass through a wall of flame. Dramatically, he says “I was like a corpse put in the grave, / the words I heard so touched my heart…

You’ve probably seen the videos for Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. They usually begin with women describing their appearance  as inadequate or inferior before another woman or a man or an artist do or say something that reveals that, in fact, others see them as quite beautiful. The videos are well-made, sincere, and legitimately powerful…

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. —Paul to the Romans (7:15) “What is this negligence, this standing still? On your way to the mountain, running, and peel away the dead skin that keeps you from seeing God.” —Cato…