Joseph,
I'm glad to see you chime in. Physics and philosophy are inherently head-hurting, which I must confess is part of the fun of them for me. That said, their pursuit is necessary and is a serious endeavour for me, though I can only do it in passing.
I guess the root of the matter, and why I brought up the question, is that the Church teaches things as true which we then try our best to explain or understand. To seek to understand is part of our humanity. In doing so, at least in this particular instance, we invoked the language of the science of the day. This science has long been discredited, but we still use its language and terminology due to the clarity with which they convey the truths that the Church intends to teach. However, since the science has changed and one of the ways in which transubstantiation was made so powerful of a tool has gone from the common parlance, we ought to think of ways in which that same truth might be conveyed, or perhaps ways to explain and thus re-enervate the underlying concepts and principles behind St. Thomas's work and that of the other scholastics.
This need not be a discussion just for dealing with troublesome protestants. I guess that having thought about the nature of the Eucharist and how it might be understood by us humans would probably be beneficial for us as well. This is the central mystery of our faith.
Iosephus Minor
I'm glad to see you chime in. Physics and philosophy are inherently head-hurting, which I must confess is part of the fun of them for me. That said, their pursuit is necessary and is a serious endeavour for me, though I can only do it in passing.
I guess the root of the matter, and why I brought up the question, is that the Church teaches things as true which we then try our best to explain or understand. To seek to understand is part of our humanity. In doing so, at least in this particular instance, we invoked the language of the science of the day. This science has long been discredited, but we still use its language and terminology due to the clarity with which they convey the truths that the Church intends to teach. However, since the science has changed and one of the ways in which transubstantiation was made so powerful of a tool has gone from the common parlance, we ought to think of ways in which that same truth might be conveyed, or perhaps ways to explain and thus re-enervate the underlying concepts and principles behind St. Thomas's work and that of the other scholastics.
This need not be a discussion just for dealing with troublesome protestants. I guess that having thought about the nature of the Eucharist and how it might be understood by us humans would probably be beneficial for us as well. This is the central mystery of our faith.
Iosephus Minor
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