Catholic Studies Academy Podcast

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith discuss St. Thomas' 2nd way of demonstrating God's existence. We cover: - We live in a changing world - Secondary or intermediary causes - The Efficient Cause - Absurd positions against this way - Sequential order vs outside of order - Wholly other Cause

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith continue their discussion on the Problem of Knowledge and discuss the topic of Classical Realism. We cover: - Overcoming errors to truth - Epistemology - Defining Classical Realism - Dialectic Refutation vs Proof - Truth exists - We can know the truth - We can trust our senses - First Principles

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith discuss issues surrounding the attainment of knowledge. We cover: - What is knowledge? - What is epistemology? - "How do you know that?" - Questions regarding "justification" of belief - Skepticism - Whether truth should be defined in terms of coherence rather than correspondence? - Whether knowledge should be defined by utility rather than truth? Donate to CSA...

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith discuss the classical distinction between nature and grace. We cover: - Modern challenges to the classical distinction - What is nature/natural - Isn't everything from God? - The interaction of grace with nature - Real distinction - To Heal and Elevate - Potency and Act Click Here to support CSA - https://catholicstudiesacademy.com/donate-to-csa/

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith discuss the reality of human evil and the cultural disregard for it. We cover: - The denial or diminishing of the reality or gravity of human evil - Erroneous Arguments - Catholic Responses - Flatly against scripture - Original sin - Concupiscence - The reality of bad men, sinners

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith discuss Modernism and Anthropocentrism in Catechesis throughout the 20th century. We cover: - The philosophical underpinnings of Modernism - The influence of Kant - What is Modernism? - Condemnation of certain positions in catechesis - Divine Revelation in Catechesis - The Theology of Revelation of Gabriel Moran - Moran's further influence on catechetical metho...

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith discuss the idea of Universals and trace its development in Medieval thought. We cover: - Plato and the Idea of Universals - Universals and Particulars - Christians and universals - How do we access universals? - St. Thomas and knowledge - The Franciscan development - Ockham and Nominalism - "Social Constructs" - The Importance of Medieval Philosophy

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith discuss salvation and the idea that all men might be saved. We cover: - Hans Urs Von Balthasar and Bishop Barron - Strict Universalism - Scriptural Passages pointing to universalism and damnation - "Reasonable" Hope - Constant teaching of the Church - What should be our disposition as Catholics?

Dr. Smith and Dr. Bulzacchelli discuss the legacy of John Paul II and in particular his moral theology. In this episode we cover: - The philosophical project of JP II - The gift of self in married love - The unique value of moral theology - The role of moral theology in understanding Christian marriage - The legacy of JP II in the arena of moral theology - Contemporary errors undermining Catholic...

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith discuss knowledge and God. Sometimes people speak of heart knowledge and head knowledge, but what is this really? We discuss: - Knowledge and relationship - Knowledge and emotions - Love and knowledge - Doctrine as God revealing himself to us - Simplicity and doctrine - The will and the intellect - The intellect is ordered to truth and relationship

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Bulzacchelli discuss the issues of celibacy and married priests, We discuss: - Celibacy in Sacred Scripture - Permanent diaconate and Sacred Scripture - Paul to Timothy about bishops - "One woman man" - Church as bride - Understanding celibacy and marriage - Marriage is about the Eschaton - Josephite Marriages - The Holy Family as the Exemplar Family - How we imitate...

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith continue their discussion on Metaphysics talking about the aspect of purpose and how it is found in being. We discuss: - Reality, being, and meaning - "Adulting" - Parts and arrangement of reality - Design in nature - Why deny natural purposes - Nature acts toward an end - Overwhelming evidence - reductio ad absurdum - Ordering of reason toward truth - Truth, p...

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith discuss the importance of metaphysics and the connection of being to truth, beauty, and goodness. We discuss: - What is metaphysics - First Causes and the question of 'Why?' - What is being - Meaning and purpose - "Think for yourself" - A philosophy forged in hell - Science and power - Essence and Existence - Loneliness and Meaning - The existential burden of d...

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Bulzacchelli discuss the Jewish Festival of Shavuot and the Christian feast of Pentecost. We discuss: - What is the Festival of Shavuot? - The idea of gift - The Torah as gift - Gift and Reception - Waiting and replacing Judas - Stone and Flesh - Tongues of Fire - Shavuot and the Church - Tower of Babel - The Holy Spirit and the Torah - The constitution of a people -...

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith continue their discussion on authenticity, this time addressing Goodness. We discuss: - Authentic Goodness and Ethics - "Shared Ethical Discourse" - Lost Vocabulary - Emotivism - Goodness tied to Reality - Goodness is a form of Being - Goodness and Desire - Nature of Man and Goodness - Pleasure and the Good Mentioned in this episode: - "After Virtue" By Alastai...

In this episode, we discuss authentic truth and the philosophical implications of truth lying in reality. We talk about: - The dictatorship of relativism - Feelings and Reality - Like beauty, truth lies in reality - Relativism's view of truth - Unicorns, Badgers, and the Mind - The world is organized and knowable - The alternative to truth is illusion Take Every Thought Captive - 2 Cor 10:4-5 "The...

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith talk about what makes up authentic beauty. We discuss: - Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? - St. Thomas on Beauty - Beauty and Goodness - Beauty, Form, and Reality - St. Thomas' 3 characteristics of beauty - Beauty and Truth - Beauty without Truth and Goodness - The intellect and beauty

In this episode, Jason, Dr. Bulzacchelli, and Dr. Smith talk about the meaning of Easter Joy. We discuss: - Is Easter joy sentimentalism? - The Eschataological Lens of the Christian - The Kingdom of God and wrong ways to think about it - Easter brings order - Metaphysical considerations - Matter and spirit - How to live this practically

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith discuss technology and several different aspects of how it affects us. we discuss: - “We become what we behold. We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.” ― Marshall McLuhan, Author of "The Medium is the Message" - The issue of immediacy - Constant stimulation - Communication and Technology - Vanity and Envy - Duplicity of Persons - Disembodied cha...

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith discuss the topics of the cross and the Resurrection within the Catholic intellectual tradition. We discuss: - Why the cross? - St. Thomas on Satisfaction - St. Anselm's Theory of Satisfaction - Mercy and Justice - Penal Substitution Theory - The Resurrection - The importance of the Ascension - Keeping up your prayer and study habits during Easter Season

In this episode, Dr. Benjamin Smith and Jason discuss a paper presented by Jason at the 8th Annual Symposium on Advancing the New Evangelization at Benedictine College in Kansas. We discuss: - Cardinal Ratzinger's "eclipse of the sense of God" - Technology and the Human Person - Social Media - The subjectification of reality - The need for Metaphysical Realism - Realism and the nature of things -...

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith discuss a paper recently presented by Dr. Smith at the American Maritain Association on the topic of the common good. We discuss: - St. Thomas Aquinas and the Common Good - Acquired Actual Happiness - Utilitarian Error - Statist Error - Egalitarian Error - Theological Error

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Bulzacchelli talk about Christology and its primacy within the other disciplines of theology. We discuss: - The early Church and the Christological Controversies - Christology and the Sacraments - Christology and Salvation - Christology and Ecclesiology - Christ and John 6 - Christology and the Eucharist - Christology and Eschatology Check out Dr. Bulzacchelli's new...

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Bulzacchelli discuss Lent and some historical considerations. We discuss: - Early origins of Lent - Fasting and Abstinence - What the word Lent actually means - The idea of "doing something extra" for Lent - The importance of sacrifice during Lent - Simplicity in our Lenten offerings

In this episode, Jason and Dr. Smith discuss our society's confusion of different kinds of love. In order to evangelize people and the culture, we need to restore a proper understanding of love. We discuss: - Passionate Love - Human Love - Love is not primarily a feeling (passion) - Love is an act of the will - Discussion of the good in relation to the love - Discipline and Love - Brief discussion...