Vuja De

Deja Vu is going somewhere you've never been and feeling like you've been there before. Vuja de is going somewhere you visit all the time and wondering where the hell you are. Welcome to my life. Also, welcome to my blog.

As the title indicates, I am Catholic, a happy (and, after a fashion, relieved) convert from the Baptist church (or "church"). I am indeed a proud Papist. This blog is an attempt to account for that pride, to explain, not necessarily the classical apologetic arguments for Catholicism, but rather my own way of thinking about some of the issues.

A large part of knowing where you are is having a clear grasp on how you got there. These posts will record some of my arguments for the various Catholic teachings with which many Protestants disagree. My primary tool will be reason, rather than Scripture. Many Protestant readers will reject my arguments on that basis alone. I know many good believers who don't actually believe that logic is a sufficient reason to believe a theological truth. That's fine, but we have a problem if we can only argue from Scripture and fail to accord reason an equal probative value on those question that it can address.

Put simply, we may disagree about what Scripture means, but we may not disagree about reasoned insight without denying the law of non-contradiction and the basic intelligibility of the world. That is not to say that I will make no appeal to Scripture, but I have no interest in a game of "whose proof text is better." Indeed, in my experience, even the more sophisticated argumentation, making use of highly nuanced readings of the original languages tend to be little more than glorified proof texting. Reason has its limits. There are certain questions it can't answer, but it can answer many that are very important.

Understand that my goal is not to convert, but to elucidate. Note that I am neither a theologian nor a philosopher. Do not take my words as an official presentation of Catholic teaching. While I want to be faithful to the Magisterium, I am fallible, and expect to miss some things. Any Catholic readers are invited and even requested to point out any errors you see. Confutations from non-Catholics are welcome, but don't start an argument you aren't willing to finish. If you aren't interested in genuine dialog, please save a few electrons. Enough for now.