Via Sirus a translation by Brother Kenney of a letter of St. Thomas Aquinas to Brother John on how to study.
One point that keeps surfacing for me, and one that is so very difficult to gauge:
Do not spend time on things beyond your grasp.
How do you know if it is beyond your grasp until you've tried to grasp it, and by then you've already spent so much time on it that it seems a shame to give it up.
from Prescription Against Heretics
TertullianChapter I.-Introductory. Heresies Must Exist, and Even Abound; They are a Probation to Faith.
[1] The character of the times in which we live is such as to call forth from us even this admonition, that we ought not to be astonished at the heresies (which abound)2 neither ought their existence to surprise us, for it was foretold that they should come to pass;3 nor the fact that they subvert the faith of some, for their final cause is, by affording a trial to faith, to give it also the opportunity of being "approved."4 [2] Groundless, therefore, and inconsiderate is the offence of the many5 who are scandalized by the very fact that heresies prevail to such a degree. How great (might their offence have been) if they had not existed.6 [3] When it has been determined that a thing must by all means be, it receives the (final) cause for which it has its being. This secures the power through which it exists, in such a way that it is impossible for it not to have existence.
Interesting and arresting words for our time. Rather like--"There will always be wars and rumors of war." So too, "Heretics will always be among you--they try the word and find error so that those who stay loyal to the path can know the truth."
Don't know about the reasoning, but at least an interesting document from the Tertullian project.
How to argue with heretics and how not to--with reference to my last post and to recent debacle in the Episcopal Church this synopsis of the On the Prescription of Heretics just packed a wallop.
This book is about how Christians think about heresy and respond to the arguments of heretics. Tertullian is concerned at the way Christians are disputing with heretics and pagans, and the effect this is having on believers. He feels that it is never possible to convict a heretic from the scriptures, because they simply deny the authority of whichever bit of scripture they are quoted, and shift their ground every moment. At the same time the spectacle of the dispute seems to put their opinions on the same level as that of the scriptures. In general, how do we recognise and deal with heretics - people who pretend to be Christians but actually accept no authority but their own opinions?
