Who Are the Parousians?

In January of 2006, eight LSU students began to discuss the ideas that really matter. All loyal Catholics with a desire to learn, we leaned on each other's background in disciplines across the liberal arts and sciences to seek a comprehensive worldview where the faith and the culture met head-on, hoping to know the times and what we ought to do. A sort of informal philosophical and literary circle emerged, much akin to the Inklings, except perhaps in the way of brilliance. May the reader judge with charity. Still, we persisted. The Parousians were born, and this blog will contain our ponderings and pontifications. Please forgive us for thinking out loud, but at least there are some in this wayward generation who still choose to think.

Why choose the Parousians as our moniker? The Parousia is the Greek word for arrival, and all of us are at least hoping to get there. In extended Christian circles, it refers to the second coming. While we are not expecting the apocalypse in our lifetime, we figure we best be ready for it anyway. God has His way of bringing down the proud, and it reminds us to be humble. Kings and kingdoms fall, and one day each of us will be judged. And "Lord, come quickly" should be every Christian's prayer. More specific to our circle, the Catholic sees the Parousia at the moment of consecration when the bread and wine become the Body and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus arrives everyday in the flesh. It is this sacramental view of life that teaches us how to see our culture.

Our heroes include the Chesterbelloc and the Inklings; St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine and St. Therese; Walker Percy and Flannery O'Connor; Thomas Merton and Fulton Sheen; Dorothy Day and Russell Kirk; Cardinal Newman, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Alasdair MacIntyre, Wendell Barry, Eric Voegelin, Whit Stillman; Jim Stoner,LSU political theory and constitutional law professor, and Chris Baglow, theology professor at Holy Cross in New Orleans; the writers at Godspy; Father James Schall, Father Clifton Hill, Father Jason Labbe, and Father Bryce Sibley, as well as any other priest or religious who cares enough to write us or come hang out with us; Mother Teresa; Popes John XXIII, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI. Our heroes are more talented than us, and they have already made the world a better place. Please bear with us as we attempt to imitate them.