Practical Theology

Name: Practical Theology
Author: Peter Kreeft

Peter Kreeft

Theology

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Chapters 362

Cover design by Enrique Javier Aguilar Pinto ≈ 1 min
CONTENTS ≈ 18 min
Introduction ≈ 12 min
1. Religion ≈ 6 min
2. The need for theology ≈ 6 min
3. Saints compared with theologians ≈ 4 min
4. How to interpret the Bible ≈ 5 min
5. The (a) reality and (b) inadequacy of our innate knowledge of God ≈ 4 min
6. The “problem of evil” ≈ 5 min
7. God’s necessity: “His essence is existence” ≈ 6 min
8. All perfections are in God ≈ 11 min
9. All that is, is good ≈ 6 min
10. Only three kinds of goods ≈ 6 min
11. Seeing God everywhere: the presence of God in all things ≈ 11 min
12. “Seeing” God in Heaven ≈ 6 min
13. Reason’s power to know God ≈ 5 min
14. Knowing God by analogy ≈ 8 min
15. We , not God, are the analogy ≈ 7 min
16. God’s knowing is creative ≈ 6 min
17. Human science = the knowledge of God’s art ≈ 4 min
18. Is God alive? ≈ 6 min
19. Predestination and free will ≈ 6 min
20. Does God love mosquitoes? ≈ 6 min
21. Why God loves all the different things in the universe and why we should too ≈ 6 min
22. Inequality is good ≈ 5 min
23. Do men or angels rank higher in God’s love? ≈ 5 min
24. Reconciling justice and mercy ≈ 4 min
25. How we can aid predestination ≈ 5 min
26. Personalism ≈ 5 min
27. Pain or sin: Which is worse? ≈ 6 min
28. God and evil ≈ 5 min
29. Why good must be stronger than evil ≈ 3 min
30. Do angels know the future? ≈ 5 min
31. How is the human heart known by God, men, angels, and demons? ≈ 4 min
32. The ultimate reason for patience ≈ 4 min
33. The greatest sin ≈ 5 min
34. Do creatures withdraw us from God? ≈ 4 min
35. Why is it important that we have only one soul, not many? ≈ 6 min
36. The innocence of the body ≈ 5 min
37. Why practicing the presence of God is the key to sanctity ≈ 6 min
38. Love vs. knowledge ≈ 5 min
39. Proof that we have free will ≈ 5 min
40. Free will is based on reason ≈ 5 min
41. Human freedom and divine grace ≈ 5 min
42. Do we know objective truth? ≈ 5 min
43. Human equality and inequality ≈ 5 min
44. The goodness of human authority ≈ 5 min
45. Chance ≈ 5 min
46. The connection between monotheism and peace ≈ 5 min
47. How our free choices share in God’s sovereign government ≈ 4 min
48. God’s action and presence in all things ≈ 5 min
49. How God is in His creatures ≈ 5 min
50. Angels can teach us ≈ 4 min
51. Guardian angels are real ≈ 6 min
52. Why evil spirits assault us ≈ 4 min
53. How “everything has a purpose” changes the meaning of life ≈ 6 min
54. Why life must have some single ultimate purpose or end ≈ 6 min
55. How even trivia are related to our union with God ≈ 5 min
56. Why wealth can’t make you happy ≈ 6 min
57. Why human honors can’t make you happy ≈ 4 min
58. Why being famous can’t make you happy ≈ 6 min
59. Why power can’t make you happy ≈ 6 min
60. Why a perfect body in perfect health can’t make you happy ≈ 5 min
61. Why pleasure can’t make you happy ≈ 5 min
62. Why even moral virtue alone can’t make you happy ≈ 5 min
63. Why nothing but God can possibly ever make you completely happy ≈ 6 min
64. What role our bodily senses play in our happiness ≈ 5 min
65. Happiness is the “Beatific Vision” ≈ 6 min
66. How we can get there from here ≈ 3 min
67. God alone suffices ≈ 4 min
68. Don’t expect perfect happiness in this life ≈ 6 min
69. Eternal security? ≈ 6 min
70. Happiness is unattainable by human power ≈ 5 min
71. The importance of knowledge ≈ 5 min
72. Why God can’t force us to will the good ≈ 5 min
73. Is there such a thing as partial freedom and responsibility? ≈ 4 min
74. Is sin due to ignorance? ≈ 8 min
75. Will vs. passions ≈ 4 min
76. Does God move my will or do I? ≈ 5 min
77. Man vs. animal ≈ 5 min
78. Reason and freedom ≈ 4 min
79. Being as such is good; all being is good ≈ 6 min
80. A map of good and evil ≈ 4 min
81. How much of life does ethics cover? ≈ 5 min
82. Listening to reason is listening to God ≈ 6 min
83. The sacredness of conscience ≈ 6 min
84. Holy subjective intentions or holy objective deeds? ≈ 4 min
85. Holiness in the passions ≈ 6 min
86. “My love is my gravity” (Augustine) ≈ 5 min
87. Love is cosmic ≈ 5 min
88. Loving God more than knowing God ≈ 5 min
89. Love’s end is union ≈ 6 min
90. Ecstasy ≈ 5 min
91. Zeal ≈ 6 min
92. St. Thomas the “soft-hearted” ≈ 4 min
93. Hatred ≈ 3 min
94. Self-hatred? ≈ 6 min
95. Hating the truth ≈ 6 min
96. The danger of unnatural desires ≈ 6 min
97. A recipe for happiness ≈ 6 min
98. Love and pleasure ≈ 6 min
99. Is pleasure helpful or harmful? ≈ 4 min
100. The pleasures of contemplation ≈ 5 min
101. Accentuate the positive ≈ 4 min
102. Three evils: sorrow (misery) is worse than pain, and sin is worse than sorrow (misery) ≈ 5 min
103. The worst thing about physical pain ≈ 5 min
104. The importance of well-disposed emotions ≈ 5 min
105. The importance of reason in morality ≈ 5 min
106. The proper role of feelings in a good man’s life ≈ 5 min
107. Why there are four cardinal virtues ≈ 6 min
108. The need for supernatural virtues ≈ 5 min
109. Is man innately good? ≈ 6 min
110. How to become virtuous ≈ 4 min
111. Moderation and extremism ≈ 5 min
112. “The greatest of these is love” ≈ 6 min
113. The reason there must be a “ natural law” morality ≈ 5 min
114. The three dimensions of ethics ≈ 5 min
115. Spiritual vs. carnal sins ≈ 5 min
116. Evil and ignorance one more time ≈ 6 min
117. Passion and responsibility ≈ 5 min
118. Why God doesn’t give us enough grace to overcome sin ≈ 6 min
119. “The Devil made me do it”? ≈ 6 min
120. Why there is always hope for conversion even of the worst sinner ≈ 5 min
121. Evidence in our experience for Original Sin ≈ 5 min
122. The purpose of law, and why not to obey bad laws ≈ 5 min
123. The sacredness of the natural moral law ≈ 6 min
124. What the natural law is and how obvious it is ≈ 6 min
125. Why you must go beyond legal goodness to be good ≈ 5 min
126. Our obligation to secular human laws is not just secular but sacred ≈ 3 min
127. When may we and when should we disobey unjust laws? ≈ 6 min
128. The spirit vs. the letter of the law ≈ 6 min
129. The ultimate purpose of morality ≈ 6 min
130. The different levels of moral instruction ≈ 6 min
131. Why we need “organized religion” ≈ 6 min
132. Kindness to animals ≈ 6 min
133. The heart of the gospel is not its creeds or codes ≈ 6 min
134. “Progress”: Will there be a “third testament”? ≈ 6 min
135. The difficulty in being a Christian ≈ 6 min
136. Spirit and letter, internal and external ≈ 6 min
137. Going beyond the commandments ≈ 6 min
138. God’s presence in ordinary knowledge ≈ 6 min
139. Grace ≈ 5 min
140. Nature and natural virtue ≈ 6 min
141. Can we know that we are in the state of grace? ≈ 5 min
142. Grace and free will ≈ 4 min
143. How salvation “works” and why faith alone is not enough ≈ 5 min
144. The greatest, most dramatic event of all time ≈ 5 min
145. The main qualification for religion teachers ≈ 4 min
146. Faith and certainty ≈ 5 min
147. Faith is a gift of God ≈ 6 min
148. Faith and fear ≈ 5 min
149. How unbelief is a sin ≈ 6 min
150. The good done by unbelievers; and “implicit faith” ≈ 6 min
151. Why lust is harmful ≈ 5 min
152. The fear of God ≈ 5 min
153. Love and fear ≈ 5 min
154. Presumption ≈ 5 min
155. Is love in us from God or from our own active choice? ≈ 6 min
156. The infinity of charity ≈ 6 min
157. Charity and sin ≈ 6 min
158. Loving your body ≈ 6 min
159. Loving sinners, hating sins ≈ 6 min
160. Self-love ≈ 6 min
161. How to love enemies ≈ 5 min
162. Love’s two dimensions, objective and subjective ≈ 6 min
163. Love of parents compared with love of children ≈ 6 min
164. Love of spouse compared with love of self ≈ 5 min
165. Order and hierarchy of loves in Heaven ≈ 6 min
166. Loving enemies vs. loving friends ≈ 6 min
167. The secret of joy ≈ 6 min
168. The fullness of joy ≈ 6 min
169. Peace ≈ 5 min
170. Virtue and peace ≈ 5 min
171. Motive and deed ≈ 5 min
172. Alms ≈ 4 min
173. Guidelines for giving ≈ 5 min
174. “Fraternal correction” ≈ 9 min
175. When it’s right to correct your clergyman ≈ 5 min
176. Denouncing public sins ≈ 5 min
177. Hating God ≈ 6 min
178. Hating sins without hating sinners ≈ 5 min
179. “Hate crimes” vs. adultery: which is worse? ≈ 5 min
180. Sloth ≈ 5 min
181. When sloth becomes a mortal sin ≈ 5 min
182. Sloth as the origin of lust ≈ 5 min
183. Why the military is an honorable occupation ≈ 6 min
184. Sinning alittle sin to avoid abig scandal? ≈ 6 min
185. Actual vs. habitual charity ≈ 4 min
186. Anger ≈ 5 min
187. Why God does not give you grace to overcome lust ≈ 6 min
188. Pride ≈ 5 min
189. Women’s punishment for the Fall ≈ 6 min
190. Cruelty vs. savagery ≈ 4 min
191. Why we are tempted ≈ 5 min
192. Curiosity ≈ 5 min
193. Games and jokes ≈ 5 min
194. How play and jokes go bad ≈ 4 min
195. Modesty in dress ≈ 5 min
196. “The adornment of women” ≈ 4 min
197. The truths in false prophets ≈ 5 min
198. The importance of words ≈ 5 min
199. Apparent miracles ≈ 4 min
200. The contemplative life ≈ 6 min
201. Beauty, lust, and contemplation ≈ 5 min
202. How nature aids contemplation ≈ 5 min
203. Contemplation and joy ≈ 5 min
204. Active vs. contemplative lives ≈ 5 min
205. Comparing the merit (worth) in the two lives, contemplative vs. active ≈ 4 min
206. Are the active and contemplative lives opposed? ≈ 5 min
207. The limits of perfection in this life ≈ 5 min
208. Perfection = charity beyond measure ≈ 6 min
209. How the Incarnation completes the purpose of the creation ≈ 6 min
210. The necessity of the Incarnation ≈ 5 min
211. A good but unanswerable question ≈ 6 min
212. Christ on other planets? ≈ 5 min
213. Adoration of an image of Christ ≈ 6 min
214. Mary-worship? ≈ 5 min
215. Relics ≈ 5 min
216. The Immaculate Conception ≈ 5 min
217. Mary’s humility ≈ 4 min
218. Mary’s sinlessness ≈ 4 min
219. The name of “Jesus” ≈ 6 min
220. John the Baptist ≈ 5 min
221. The meaning of Christ’s Baptism ≈ 3 min
222. Why Christ was tempted ≈ 5 min
223. Demonic strategy ≈ 6 min
224. Why Christ offended people ≈ 6 min
225. Why Socrates was the greatest philosopher ≈ 5 min
226. The reason for miracles ≈ 6 min
227. What Christ’s miracles taught ≈ 4 min
228. Why Christ had to suffer ≈ 4 min
229. Why Christ had to die on the Cross ≈ 5 min
230. Christ suffered everything ≈ 5 min
231. Christ’s pain ≈ 5 min
232. Why Christ died young ≈ 4 min
233. Why Christ died in Jerusalem ≈ 5 min
234. Why Christ died between two thieves ≈ 4 min
235. How God could have suffered and died ≈ 5 min
236. How Christ’s death was martyrdom, not suicide ≈ 5 min
237. Christ’s death as obedience ≈ 6 min
238. How Christ’s death opened Heaven ≈ 6 min
239. Why Christ had to rise ≈ 5 min
240. Why Christ rose the third day ≈ 6 min
241. Why Christ’s Resurrection body had scars ≈ 6 min
242. Christ’s presence before and after His Ascension ≈ 6 min
243. What the Eucharist signifies ≈ 5 min
244. Why sacraments are visible ≈ 5 min
245. The place of sacraments in our historical story ≈ 6 min
246. Sacraments and grace ≈ 6 min
247. How the sacraments get their power ≈ 6 min
248. How sacraments make us Christlike ≈ 5 min
249. Why there are seven sacraments ≈ 5 min
250. The greatest sacrament ≈ 5 min
251. Water ≈ 5 min
252. Baptists vs. Catholics on immersion ≈ 5 min
253. The finality of Baptism ≈ 5 min
254. How God’s grace is not confined to His physical sacraments ≈ 6 min
255. Who should be baptized ≈ 6 min
256. Infant Baptism ≈ 5 min
257. The need for the parents’ will in infant Baptism ≈ 5 min
258. Why the Eucharist is greater than Baptism ≈ 6 min
259. The Eucharist as the end and purpose of Baptism ≈ 4 min
260. Three meanings of the Eucharist ≈ 4 min
261. Real Presence ≈ 6 min
262. Transubstantiation ≈ 6 min
263. Real Presence: “Body and Blood, soul and divinity” ≈ 6 min
264. Bread without wine = the whole Christ ≈ 5 min
265. How Christ is “here” in the Eucharist ≈ 4 min
266. When Christ’s Presence departs from the sacrament ≈ 6 min
267. Why Christ’s Presence is invisible ≈ 6 min
268. Eucharistic appearances of bread and wine without their realities ≈ 6 min
269. How complete is Christ’s disguise in the Eucharist? ≈ 5 min
270. We hear Christ’s words, not the priest’s ≈ 6 min
271. The greatest sentence ever spoken ≈ 5 min
272. Drinking Christ’s own Blood from His own wounds ≈ 6 min
273. The Eucharist and our future Heavenly glory ≈ 5 min
274. The Eucharist and forgiveness ≈ 5 min
275. The Eucharist and Purgatory ≈ 6 min
276. How the Eucharist keeps us from sin ≈ 5 min
277. How the Eucharist helps your friends ≈ 5 min
278. Venial sins vs. the Eucharist ≈ 4 min
279. Can forgotten or unconscious sins impede the Eucharist? ≈ 6 min
280. Denying Communion to public sinners ≈ 6 min
281. Eucharist for the mentally disabled? ≈ 6 min
282. Daily Communion ≈ 5 min
283. Bread alone vs. bread and wine ≈ 6 min
284. The content of the Mass ≈ 7 min
285. How the Church deals with problems during the Mass ≈ 4 min
286. Absolution ≈ 5 min
287. Frequent Confession ≈ 6 min
288. Repentance is not essentially a feeling ≈ 6 min
289. Penance and fear ≈ 5 min
290. What penance does to sin ≈ 6 min
291. Why forgiveness requires repentance ≈ 5 min
292. How to distinguish true repentance from its counterfeit ≈ 6 min
293. We don’t get off scot-free ≈ 5 min
Section 297 ≈ 5 min
295. Exchange: bearing one another’s burdens ≈ 6 min
296. Why God punishes ≈ 5 min
297. Excommunication ≈ 5 min
298. Group guilt? ≈ 5 min
299. Indulgences ≈ 6 min
300. Matrimony: natural or supernatural? ≈ 5 min
301. Why sex is not sinful ≈ 6 min
302. The essence of Matrimony ≈ 5 min
303. Married sex as sacramental ≈ 6 min
304. Heaven as a real place ≈ 5 min
305. Immediate judgment after death ≈ 6 min
306. How souls in Heaven can be present on earth ≈ 5 min
307. Heaven is pure good but Hell is not pure evil ≈ 5 min
308. The experience of the soul separated from the body ≈ 5 min
309. The extent of the power of the communion of saints ≈ 5 min
310. How we can help the dead ≈ 5 min
311. Who are funerals for? ≈ 4 min
312. Whether suffrages offered for several are of as much value to each one as if they had been offered for each in part ≈ 5 min
313. Are we being watched as we pray? ≈ 6 min
314. Why it is good to pray to saints ≈ 5 min
315. The time of Christ’s Second Coming and the end of the world ≈ 6 min
316. A new universe ≈ 6 min
317. The resurrection of the body ≈ 6 min
318. The personal identity of the resurrection body ≈ 5 min
319. The organs in the resurrection body ≈ 6 min
320. Hair and nails in Heaven ≈ 5 min
321. Youth and age in Heaven ≈ 6 min
322. Gender in Heaven ≈ 4 min
323. Animal activities—eating and copulating—in Heaven? ≈ 5 min
324. The agility of the resurrection body ≈ 6 min
325. Wounds in the resurrection body ≈ 4 min
326. The concreteness of the resurrection body ≈ 5 min
327. The clarity, or light, of the resurrection body ≈ 6 min
328. The “impassibility” of the resurrection body ≈ 6 min
329. Remembering sins in Heaven ≈ 6 min
330. The need for two judgments ≈ 6 min
331. The time of the end of the world ≈ 5 min
332. Three categories of persons at the judgment ≈ 5 min
333. The new world ≈ 5 min
334. The “Beatific Vision” ≈ 5 min
335. The role of the bodily eye in seeing God ≈ 6 min
336. The communion of saints in Heaven ≈ 5 min
337. What the resurrection body adds to Heavenly happiness ≈ 6 min
338. Degrees in Heaven ≈ 5 min
339. The blessed’s attitude toward the damned ≈ 6 min
340. Can Hell make Heaven happy? ≈ 6 min
341. Damnation ≈ 5 min
342. Hellfire ≈ 5 min
343. Is Hell “down”? ≈ 5 min
344. Repentance in Hell? ≈ 5 min
345. What the damned want; and why suicide can never work ≈ 5 min
346. Sins in Hell ≈ 4 min
347. Memory in Hell ≈ 4 min
348. Hell’s eternity ≈ 6 min
349. How can God refuse the prayers of the saints for mercy to the damned? ≈ 5 min
350. The harrowing of Hell? ≈ 5 min
351. More on the eternity of Hell ≈ 6 min
352. Limbo: reasons for its existence ≈ 5 min
353. What they experience in Limbo ≈ 3 min
354. Purgatory’s pains ≈ 5 min
355. Purgatory’s freedom ≈ 4 min
356. The amount of time you spend in Purgatory ≈ 5 min
357. The existence of Purgatory ≈ 4 min
358. Purgatory and Hell compared ≈ 3 min
Postscript: What St. Thomas didn’t say ≈ 4 min

Author	Peter Kreeft
Language	English
Era	1900s
Categories	Theology
Length	362 chapters · ≈ 32 h 4 min read
Formats	Web Book · EPUB

Practical Theology

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