The following is an excerpt of a story by Christopher Kaczor, professor at Loyola Marymount University:
“Wisdom and Wonder: How Peter Kreeft Shaped the Next Generation of Catholics” (Ignatius Press, $17.95), draws attention to the decades of teaching and writing by a beloved Boston College professor. As someone who has known Kreeft since my college days, I found that his influence in my own life echoes the stories collected in Vogt’s book.
I remember my very first day in professor Kreeft’s classroom. I had been warned by another professor not to take Kreeft’s class, so naturally that made me curious to know why this Kreeft would merit this warning. I was a sophomore in every sense of the term, and the class was called “Thinking About Religion.” Kreeft walked in the classroom with a huge briefcase that resembled a large brown cube. He set it down and picked up a piece of chalk. He wrote on the board, “Either God exists or God does not exist.” He paused. He looked at us. We looked at him. He let those words sink in.
Next, Kreeft wrote, “Either Jesus is divine, or he is not.” Again, I thought I may not be able to know which option is correct, but then again maybe I could come to know which option is correct, but I won’t know this until I look into the matter more.
I wrote a paper attempting to refute what Kreeft had taught on the first day. In this paper, I argued against what I called “binary reasoning.” The next class I turned in the paper to Kreeft, wondering how he might reply to what I considered to be a devastating refutation.
The following class, like a serve in tennis, he returned the paper. It was filled from stem to stern with comments. He indicated material fallacies I had made, corrected misspelled Latin words, and showed that I had not understood, let alone refuted, what he had taught. I looked over these comments, more than any teacher had written on any of my college or high school papers.
The more I read his comments, the more I became convinced. I was indeed wrong, and Kreeft was indeed right. I thought to myself, “I’d better start to think more clearly.” I thought Kreeft was just the person to help me. He was indeed a dangerous professor, the kind that can turn a student’s life in an entirely new direction.
The entire semester with him in the classroom was for me like bright sun burning through the dense religious fog I’d been wandering around in for many years. I was already a believer, but muddle-minded and unclear what I believed or why I believed. Kreeft changed all that in part by introducing me to C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity,” “The Problem of Pain,” and “The Great Divorce.” I also began to read many of Kreeft’s own books including “Heaven: The Heart’s Deepest Longing,” “Between Heaven and Hell,” and “Making Sense Out of Suffering.”
I think that if Kreeft had not been my teacher in 1989, my life would be fundamentally different, fundamentally worse. If it were not for him, I doubt I’d be a philosopher now. If it were not for him, I wouldn’t have had seven children. If it were not for him, I would not pray as I do (Kreeft’s “Prayer for Beginners” was and is so helpful). Part of his great influence was what he did in the classroom, and what he wrote in his books, but part of his influence was how he treated his students.
Full story at Angelus News.
https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/contributors/giver-of-wisdom-and-wonder-5-lessons-from-peter-kreeft/
Wordonfire is the website of Bishop Barron, who hires muscle men on his staff. Clean the Church website has a story about it.
So does National Catholic Reporter.
And what do you have against that sport?
I guess I should have elaborated. This is an adaptation from the book by the editor Brandon Vogt
There is a picture of Brandon Vogt at the bottom.
He does not appear to be a bodybuilder but the picture does not show his biceps.
I am duly impressed. For once, the “A” word is not mentioned, and thus the angry Catholic cause celebre for way too many articles here, or articles that point out individuals or programs that support a given way of thinking. I was indeed made curious about Professor Kreeft and his writings, and will in fact make an effort to read them. It was, at last, a joy to read an article in this website that left me wanting more in a joyous way. May the readings I am led to read and the meditations from that bring new understanding to my life. Kudos to the author!
I didn’t know Dr. Kaczor taught at LMU. Kudos to LMU for hiring and retaining such a fine Catholic scholar. It’s too bad not all the faculty share the faith. Dr. Kaczor called the association of Robbin Crabtree, the dean of the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, with Planned Parenthood “problematic, in light of Planned Parenthood’s opposition to Catholic teaching on the sanctity of human life, chastity, and other areas of sexual morality. It seems to me that the person who oversees these parts of the university needs to be someone very much committed to the Jesuit understanding of faith and justice, which includes defense of the unborn.” (Crabtree served on the advisory board and media relations committee for Planned Parenthood of Putnam County in Indiana from 1991-1993 and appears to have not changed her position on abortion extremism and Big Abortion.)