Recently I’ve been toying with the idea that in the realm of prayer, there are two vast and ill-defined regions: the occasional prayer and the non-occasional. Allow me to explain (and I certainly hope that my explanation offers some small measure of consolation to those who suffer from what they perceive to be an ineffective prayer life). In the 18th century composers would often produce works to celebrate or mark a particularly important event in the personal life of a... Read more
On those surprisingly frequent occasions when we imagine what Hell must be like, most of us, I think, tend to see tormented souls languishing in regret and misgiving. We see them writhing in an agony of repentance, sorry that they had wasted their lives in vain pursuits and ignominious sins. If we picture them at all – in any kind of psychological detail – I suppose we picture them in a state of perpetual repining, and ready (if the chance... Read more
I’m certainly not the first one to point out that Christianity is a faith that entails a thousand paradoxes (G. K. Chesterton, of course, was the master at delineating them). But it may be possible that I can shed a little light on one in particular, and I feel that this paradox is especially odd. As Christians, we are called upon to be soldiers, of a sort – marching ever onwards, as the hymn has it, waging spiritual warfare and... Read more
Tristitia is the Latin name for a sin, or a negative spiritual state, that is the subject of some degree of controversy. Usually, of course, sins are not very controversial — you won’t find many people defending theft, for example, or singing lauds to the glories of unadulterated envy. Murder is universally deplored, and adultery — if glanced at somewhat admiringly by the vanguard of degeneracy in our contemporary culture — retains its pejorative shading in most circles. But tristitia... Read more
We are all aware of the fact that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh when Moses demanded that the Jewish people be allowed to leave Egypt. Pharaoh said No, and he said it repeatedly. And we know from our studies of Hebrew that when the Old Testament text says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, it means that God accelerated the man’s already-established predilection in the direction of refusal. Pharaoh had already determined on a course of stubbornness in regard to... Read more
It’s a vexed question to be sure, but here’s how I have come to envision a possible solution to the problem of how individual sinners become saved through grace. I have employed the help of a classic fairy tale, because I find that fairy tales — being the imaginative products of a Christian civilization — embody profound Christian truths in vivid, colorful and memorable images. I have pointed out before, in my book Moral Majesty, Spiritual Splendor, how Rumpelstiltskin spinning... Read more
On the one hand, Jesus tells us to pray that extreme trials and testings will swerve and avoid us in their providential careening round the world (Matthew 6:13). On the other hand, we’re told in various passages that afflictions are headed our way, and we should rejoice in them. Christ says: “In this world you will have troubles, but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.” I believe that. But what about us? How does His overcoming the... Read more
Anyone who seriously studies the Bible for any length of time comes to a point, I suppose, where he or she must say: “I just don’t know concerning this point of doctrine.” Or this element of the Faith, or this particular tile in the mosaic of my theology. In fact, it may so happen that one’s field of “unknowing” grows over time, and actually increases with biblical study. It has happened in my own experience, and I’m beginning to suspect... Read more
It’s the long slog through the desert that is the most depressing and debilitating for many believers – that interminable “race” (in Paul’s words) that seems to be much more like a crawl through parched and draining sand traps, spiritually speaking. It is when there appears to be no advancement in sanctification that one is most defeated – or at least that is when one is most tempted to see no hope in the Christian life of (apparently) overblown promises.... Read more
Anson: You do know, my friend, that a defining feature of ancient Canaanite religion was a constant solicitation of the dead for help in everyday affairs. You are aware of the fact that communication with revered ancestors, who had gone on to the land of Mot, was an integral part of their daily devotions. Squire: And what, pray tell, does that have to do with the Roman Catholic veneration of saints? Or with the intercession of the saints in the... Read more
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