Jacques and Raissa Maritain

My partner bought a bunch of magazines to send to soldiers serving in Afghanistan, so I've read Esquire, Maxim, and Gentleman's Quarterly cover to cover, in addition to this week's New Scientist and New Yorker. Otherwise, my reading has been plowing through Jacques and Raissa Maritain's complete works, in French. I have read primarily Jacques so far, and I find him clear and easy to read, and witty at times, and able to admit mistakes easily. I also find him elegant. In his book on artistic intuition, he talks about how talent is given, not created, but that the poet can keep his intuition free of obstacles and distractions. I agree with that. In one of his last books (I'm still waiting for volumes 7 and 9 of the complete works), Le Paysan de la Garonne, he writes about how it is entirely possible to admire the resources of human stupidity and the fact that it can coexist very easily with faith in the same brain. I laughed out loud. How right he is! He also makes an argument that Jesus died ahead of his wounds and crucifixion, as a final loving choice to save humanity. I'm not sure this is accurate (and I am struck afresh at how irrational the whole faith thing is, but then, I've known that since high school), but it's an intriguing thought