Jacques Beaulieu
Narthex: Contents
These Essays were also published as a Book entitled
"Is It So?"
in September 2011.
The book can be downloaded in the pdf format
HERE
|
The aims of faithful fool.org
What is this website all about? What does its name mean?
The term «faithful» indicates that its
object is to examine faithfully and honestly the
words and deeds of our Lord
Jesus Christ as found in the Gospels so as to understand
as well as possible what God told us in His Son.
The term «fool» indicates that anyone who actually follows
the message of our Lord Jesus Christ is a fool in this
world order's eyes.
Indeed, Paul clearly states in his first
letter to the Corinthians:
For the preaching of the cross is to them
that perish foolishness; but unto us which
are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I
will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring
to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is
the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish
the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom
of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks
seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified,
unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks
foolishness; But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God,
and the wisdom of God. Because the
foolishness of God is wiser than men; and
the weakness of God is stronger than
men. (1 Cor1:18-25)
Jesus' message and life are foolishness
as He let Himself be tortured and
killed, without in any way trying to save Himself; as
He preached non-violence and love of those who
are said to be enemies;
as He preached God
Father, the One Who loves perfectly and equally
each and everyone of us, whether we are war criminals, torturers,
child abusers, mass murderers, rapists, victims
or saints!
Jesus' crucifixion is a «stumblingblock» for those
who believe in a God Who looks after His own faithful
followers,
Who definitely protects them against their enemies
as He definitely did not save Jesus from the
shame and torture of the Cross, but let Him go to His death
just like He did with the millions of victims of
the shoah.
Jesus' crucifixion is foolishness for those
who believe in self-defense, in just wars. We do think
that we know better: we know that we have to protect our
family against enemies in and out of our country like
our leaders repeat to us time and time again.
It is wisely that we believe in democracy, the right
of ownership and justice under the law.
Like our leaders, we know what is right, just and wise.
Unfortunately, if God
Father did not protect His Son's life, it follows that we cannot
protect that of our spouses and children as we have to
follow His example if we claim to be Christians. This means
that we as Christians have no choice but to
practice non-violence and to love those
who oppress us.
Feast of Saint
Andrew, November 30th, 2004
The author
Graduating summa cum laude from
Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf in Montréal, Canada,
Jacques Beaulieu did a Honours degree in Physics
at Université de Montréal before going to Oxford as
a Rhodes Scholar. Attached to the Oxford Engineering
Department and junior member of Corpus Christi College,
he did research in Electrical Plasma Physics at the
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority's
Culham Laboratory.
He found the hard way that something
published in the scientific litterature by
professors from well-respected institutions is
not necessary true. This forced him to take the time
to check other people's works
rather than take them for granted. He applied this
to his teaching of physics, going back to the sources
and checking how the experiments were conducted.
This same careful scrutiny is also
applied here in his research on the Gospels.
While in Oxford, he met Linda Nadin, a Catholic
Convert who had completed a B.A. in English Litterature
at Oxford's St Anne's College and
was working at the Bodleian Library.
They married at the Oxford Chaplaincy.
Together they moved to Montréal where he taught at
Brébeuf College. They have three sons.
They now have lived for more than twenty years in the Montréal Borough of
Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and
are members of the Roman Catholic Parish of
Saint Aloysius,
Archdiocese of Montréal.
After nearly thirty years of teaching, he took
early retirement and focused on theology,
a subject that had fascinated him all his life.
Life, Love and Law is his first book. He brings to this subject
a scientific mind and a down-to-earth view.
He prefers common sense to
scholarly authority, logic to tradition. When the need arises, he
goes back to the original Greek Gospel text but
without the usual preconceived translations that
have stiffled any fresh reading
of these familiar texts. He sees the Gospels
as straighforward rather than mystical, as
forming a very coherent whole rather than a set
of somewhat unrelated ideas.
James Alison's work not only
convinced him of the need of a fresh reading of the Gospels but
sowed the seed of some of the ideas found in his book Life, Love and Law.
He is also much interested in Genealogy and Québec History. His work on
these subjects as two of his Physics textbooks are available at
