Through the Church Fathers

The Epistle of Barnabas brings the whole letter to a practical edge by laying out the Two Ways—light and darkness—not as abstract theory but as a concrete pattern of daily obedience, speech, humility, purity, generosity, and peace, set against the crooked path of hypocrisy, violence, envy, and deception. Augustine then shows what it feels like to be pursued in real time: a mother’s tears, a bishop’s refusal to argue too early, and a single sentence that lands like a prophecy—God can outlast our errors without being rushed by them. Aquinas gives the foundation beneath both: God’s knowledge is not a process, not a discovery, and not an improvement; God knows Himself perfectly and immutably, and in that unwavering self-knowledge He is never caught off guard by our wandering, our resistance, or our return—so the call to walk the way of light rests on the steady reality of who God is, not the instability of who we are.
Readings:
Barnabas The Epistle of Barnabas Chapters 19–21
Augustine of Hippo The Confessions Book 3, Chapter 12 (Section 21)
Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica Part 1, Question 14, Article 2
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Today’s readings move from a mother’s tears, to the structure of the soul, to the mind of God Himself. Augustine recounts how God quietly answered Monica’s relentless prayers—not by immediate rescue, but by a promise that slowly reshaped both of their lives. Aquinas then takes us into the inner life of God, arguing that God knows Himself perfectly, and in knowing Himself, knows all things—past, present, and possible—without receiving anything from the world. Together, these readings remind us that divine knowledge is not reactive, human, or improvised. God does not learn as we do; He knows by being. And yet that perfect, eternal knowledge bends patiently toward the cries of a weeping mother.
Readings:
Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions Book 3, Chapter 11 (Sections 19–20)
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica Part 1, Question 14 (Articles 2–4 Combined)
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Today’s readings circle a single, demanding question: How does God give life, judge rightly, and know all things without becoming subject to change? Barnabas presses the Church to see itself as the true heir of the covenant, reading Israel’s history not as abandoned, but fulfilled in Christ and extended into a new creation shaped by the cross, the Sabbath, and the eighth day. Augustine then exposes the moral confusion of his former Manichaean life, showing how distorted views of creation and purity lead not to mercy, but to absurd cruelty and misplaced compassion. Aquinas brings the thread to its metaphysical center, arguing that knowledge belongs to God most perfectly—not as something acquired, but as identical with His very being—so that God knows all things by knowing Himself. Together, these readings confront false inheritances, false piety, and false notions of divine knowledge, replacing them with a vision of God who saves, judges, and knows in perfect unity.
Readings:
The Epistle of Barnabas, Chapters 13–15
Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions Book 3, Chapter 10 (Section 18)
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica Part 1, Question 14, Article 1
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Today’s readings press a single question from three very different angles: How does God make Himself known without becoming small? Barnabas traces the cross through Scripture as a divine pattern hidden in plain sight, Augustine wrestles with the difference between God’s judgment and human judgment when actions look the same on the surface but differ at the level of intention, and Aquinas brings precision to the question by asking how names truly apply to God at all. Together, these readings slow us down, forcing us to reckon with the limits of human language, moral perception, and religious inheritance, while insisting that God is still genuinely knowable—though never on our terms.
Readings:
The Epistle of Barnabas, Chapters 12–13
Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions Book 3, Chapter 9 (Section 17)
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica Part 1, Question 13 (Articles 9–12 Combined)
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Today’s readings press us to rethink how we know God, how we obey Him, and how His unchanging righteousness meets us within changing times. Barnabas reads the Law spiritually, showing how food laws, water, and the cross were never about fleshly regulation but about forming a people renewed in heart and mind. Augustine then turns inward, tracing how violence, pride, and disorder arise when love bends away from God, revealing that sin ultimately wounds the sinner more than it offends God. Aquinas brings these strands together by clarifying how we speak about God at all—showing that the names we use are neither empty nor simplistic, but analogical, grounded in God as their source, while safeguarding His simplicity and transcendence. Together, these readings train us to see Scripture, sin, and speech about God with greater precision, humility, and reverence.
Readings:
The Epistle of Barnabas, Chapters 10–11
Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions Book 2, Chapter 8
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica Part 1, Question 13 — Articles 5–7 Combined
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