Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Some Christmas reading

During the Neo-Scholastic period prior to Vatican II, Fr. Joseph Pohle produced a widely used series of textbooks on theology, which were translated into English and edited by Arthur Preuss. These "Pohle-Preuss" volumes were long out of print, though reprints are now available from various publishers. But via the magic of Google books, I now provide four of them to you free of charge. They make excellent reading for someone interested in a solid overview of basic, traditional Christian theology, informed by sound philosophy and devoid of the woolliness that afflicts even much of what passes for orthodox theological writing these days. Since it is Christmas, you might start with Christology. Then work your way through God: His Knowability, Essence and Attributes, The Divine Trinity, and Eschatology.

Merry Christmas!

6 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Best wishes for the New Year.

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  2. Best Christmas present I got this year - thanks!

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  3. Well, my copy of The Last Superstition was left in my stocking by Santa (I was the guy asking about the paperback edition a couple of posts back), and so far I'm really enjoying. One thing to note for the next edition though, Ed - the endnotes for chapter two seem to get out of sync - 32 notes and only 31 markers.
    Hope you had a great Christmas!

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  4. I'm on my honeymoon, and I brought The Last Superstition with me. (I'm a philosophy professor--it's pleasure reading!) I have to say, it's a real pleasure to read; superbly clear and illuminating. There are some problems I have with some of your claims that I'd like to bring up to you at some point, but I may hold off until I finish reading the book.

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  5. You need to take a run at Nigel Warburton over at The Virtual Philosopher in his thread The Pope's Immoral Message for Christmas:

    http://nigelwarburton.typepad.com/virtualphilosopher/2008/12/the-popes-immoral-message-for-christmas.html

    Oh, and Merry Christmas.

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  6. Thanks, everyone, and Merry Christmas to you. I will check out Warburton.

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