A little while ago I posted a little about Helen Montgomery. {Read Here} I thought I would post a few more thoughts i had from reading the book I quoted. Helen’s book was a great resources. It provides a great overview of God’s Missio Dei in the world. She does a great job of recognizing important points in the scriptures and bringing them to our attention. Her thesis seems to be: The Bible, in both Old and New Testaments, is the primary textbook through which we can... Read more

I believe in the Bible. I find it is a beautiful book and when rightly divided it is a reliable rule for what I believe and how I behave. However there is a great deal of things I believe in which are not explicitly mentioned in the scriptures. Chief among these is the doctrine of the Trinity. Although the word trinity is never mentioned explicitly in the Bible the theological underpinnings that it imparts are core to any orthodox understanding... Read more

Recently I was discussing my faith in Jesus with a friend of mine. Now I should mention that this friend is not a Christian, but has come out of a traditional Jewish family (although he is no longer practicing). He told me that he had recently been moving away from theology because, for him, it seemed like it wasn’t a useful practice. This intrigued me so we began to discuss why he felt that way. His answer was that theology... Read more

This week the Eastern Church will be remembering Cyriacus the Anchorite. For those of you who don’t know what an Anchorite lets take a little break to go over it. Anchorites are a subset within that tradition of Monasticism. Unlike Monks and Nuns who live within communities of faith (e.g. Monasteries, convents) Anchorites live in solotude. There have been many Anchorites in the history of the church some of which include: Saint Anthony the Great Julian of Norwich Nazarena And of course Cyriacus What... Read more

Today’s quote from the Church fathers is from St Gregory of Nazianzus. I have been reading a bit of him latly, and think he may show up a few more times. Great stuff! He has a great deal to say about prayer life, and the nature of Christ. Here is a quote about the limits of our minds, our wisdom, and our knowledge: No man has yet breathed all the air; no mind has yet contained or language embraced God’s... Read more

I have decided to pull the AdSense Ads from the main page. I have found that too often they were promoting services and organizations that I simply did not want to be responsible for promoting. AdSense has never made very much money for Orant. Annually we made about enough to cover the expenses of keeping the domain up, and not anymore then that. Instead of posting adsense ads on the main page I have decided to put up a donations... Read more

In the early twentieth century Helen Barrett Montgomery was the face of Woman’s American Baptist Foreign Mission Society where she served from 1914–1924 as president. During that time, she became one of the most prominent spokes people for global missions in the Church.  Part of her work to further missions involved a publication of the book in 1920 called The Bible and Missions which was published by  The Central Committee on the United Society of Foreign Mission. This book constitutes one of the best... Read more

Early Church Fathers Poem By: Deacon Nate Harburg Deacon Nate Harburg recently posted this Poem at Harburgian Haikus I thought it was great so I asked him if we could cross-publish it. ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (c.50-c.110) Brought to Rome’s arena, he was all bound up in fetters, On the way he zealously preached Christ in seven letters, Known for calling Euch’rist medicine for immortality, He became “pure bread of Christ” for lions, his fatality! * ST. JUSTIN MARTYR (c.100-c.165) His... Read more

Today the Church remembers St. Mathew the Apostle and Evangelist (on my birthday September 21st). You probably know Matthew best for the stories of him in the Gospels. Matthew was a tax collector who was sitting outside the city of Capernaum when Jesus asked him to follow him. Matthew left his life behind and become one of the 12 disciples who lived and moved with Jesus during his earthly ministry. Tradition also tells us that Matthew wrote the first Gospel in the New Testament, although this is something Scholars debate.... Read more

I have recently fallen in love with St. Isaac the Syrian. There are few church fathers who show the love of God and powerfully as he does. Expect to see more from him in the future: Here is a quote from him discussing the paradoxical nature of God’s ‘justice.’ Enjoy! “How can you call God just, when you read the passage on the wage given to the workers? ‘Friend, I do thee no wrong; I will give unto this last... Read more