On contrition and compassion

Alasdair MacIntyre, one of the worldโ€™s great twentieth-century philosophers, died on Wednesday. He is best known for reintroducing virtue ethics as a viable alternative to consequentialism. He also saw his faith and his philosophy as mutually enriching.  Reading the obituaries, I was reminded of this quotation from one of MacIntyreโ€™s twenty books: Man is in …

Nothing in my hand I bring

Last week, I suggested that, in his inaugural sermon at the Nazareth synagogue (Lk 4:16-21), and in the Beatitudes which must have been taught very soon after, Jesus echoed the words of Isaiah 61:1-7. I said that Jesus came to change the world, to turn the world upside down, to right wrongs, to pour out compassion, …