Theology of the Body: It's election week in Texas

Monday, March 03, 2008

It's election week in Texas

And while this is a non-political blog, I thought I'd offer up this quote from St. Augustine, which you can apply to your candidate of choice:

"Fine style does not make something true, nor has a man a wise soul because he has a handsome face and well-chosen eloquence. They who had promised that he would be so good were not good judges. He seemed to them prudent and wise because he charmed them by the way he talked….Already I had learnt from you [God] that nothing is true merely because it is eloquently said, nor false because the signs coming from the lips make sounds deficient in a sense of style. Again, a statement is not true because it is enunciated in an unpolished idiom, nor false because the words are splendid. Wisdom and foolishness are like food that is nourishing or useless. Whether the words are ornate or not does not decide the issue. Food of either kind can be served in either town or country ware.”

Confessions, Book V,vi.10. (trans. Henry Chadwick)

Of course, it can also be applied to a host of preachers and priests...