Monthly Archives: February 2012

Misery loves company

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“See how a teacher’s task, to my discomfort, is many sided.  Never, unless compelled by a teacher, does a boy take a book into his hands.  When he receives it, his eyes and mind wander off.  A teacher explains something, … Continue reading →

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Martin Luther on evil lawyers

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“Lawyers’ craftiness is dangerous business.  A godly man ought to know the law only for the sake of defense, to enable him to understand and prevent the wicked tricks of the world….Other lawyers are godless; they seek only their own … Continue reading →

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Human beings and search for truth

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“The search for truth and its investigation are, above all, peculiar to man.  Therefore, whenever we are free from necessary business and other concerns we are eager to see or to hear or to learn, considering that the discovery of … Continue reading →

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Study as Eating

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“Study is, so to speak, the pabulum of the mind by which the intellect is trained and nourished.  For this reason, just as gastronomes are careful in the choice of what they put in their stomachs, so those who wish … Continue reading →

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Martin Luther, doctors, lawyers and such…..

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“Where are the preachers, jurists, and physicians to come from, if grammar and other rhetorical arts are not taught? For such teaching is the spring from which they all must flow.” Martin Luther, “A Sermon on Keeping Children in School,” … Continue reading →

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All the liberal arts flow from history

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“I do not know if our world would suffer less harm without the sun, its soul as it were, than without history, the principle of all civil activities.  Our forebears have often insisted unanimously that the Muses were born from … Continue reading →

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The Duty to Understand History

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

For it is our duty to understand the origins of our own history and its development; and the achievements of Peoples and of Kings.  For the careful study of the past enlarges our foresight in contemporary affairs and affords to … Continue reading →

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All men by nature desire to know

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“All men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and above all others the sense of sight.  For not … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristotle, Learning, memory | Tagged | Leave a comment

Luther’s Early Call for Reformation of the Universities

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“Moreover, even if the universities were diligent in Holy Scripture, we need not send everybody there as we do now, where their only concern is numbers and where everybody wants a doctor’s degree.  We should send only the most highly … Continue reading →

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A Light to enlighten the Gentiles

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Matthew Phillips

“Could anyone hold up a lighted candle in his hands on this day without at once remembering that old man who on this same day took up in his arms Jesus, God’s Word, clothed in flesh like a candle-flame clothed … Continue reading →

Posted in Cistercian, medieval, preaching | Leave a comment