Today is the feast of the Annunciation, the feast whereby the Incarnation was made known to Mary by the angel Gabriel. Because of the brevity of the passage in the Gospel of Luke, many tend to overlook the significance of this episode in the biblical narrative, and as a result underestimate how the incarnation of the Creator hinged on the decision of one of its created to participate in this divine plan. Many would thus pay little attention to just... Read more
By now, a number of readers would be familiar with the latest viral video of the Sicilian Ursuline Sister Cristina Scuccia, who impressed the judges of the Italian version of the talent show The Voice. Those who are not familiar could see the review of the phenomenon in English here, though readers familiar with Italian can get more context by viewing the actual segment of The Voice of Italy below https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/TpaQYSd75Ak&source=uds An important exchange that takes place in... Read more
There are good days. And there are bad days. And then there are days where the circumstances of one’s life become so unpredictable that one wonders if the guiding hand of God can ever be present in the seemingly incongruent contingencies of one’s history. To this, Rabbi Edward Feld’s book on the Psalms, Joy, Despair, Hope, provides some very helpful guideposts. In a commentary on the famous Psalm 23, much is made of the stanzas that move very quickly from... Read more
Ethika Politika, a website run out of the Centre for Morality and Public Life, has released the first review of the book Justice, Unity & the Hidden Christ. The review was written by Elias Crim, who is the director of the thinking space project Solidarity Hall. It should be noted that kind mention was made of this blog and its podcasts. The full text of the book review can be accessed by clicking here. Read more
Readers in Chicago might be interested to know that Justice, Unity and the Hidden Christ: The Theopolitical Complex to the Social Justice Approach to Ecumenism, the inaugural book of The Divine Wedgie’s Matthew Tan, will be officially launched this coming Tuesday (4th March 2014), at DePaul University. Copies of the book will be available at the launch price of $10 and lunch is provided. Because of limited spaces, it would be very much appreciated if you RSVP to [email protected]. Read more
A recent conference on Pope Francis was held in downtown Chicago entitled New World Pope, and was organised by DePaul University’s Centre for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology in conjunction with the Department of Catholic Studies. One paper, presented by Emanuele Colombo, mentioned the Pope’s caution against what can be called the “over-spiritualising” of things. He cites the example of the 16th century Doctor of the Church St. Teresa of Avila, who is also one of the Church’s most famous... Read more
Below is an excerpt of Prayers by the Lake, written by the 19th-century Serbian Orthodox Monk Nikolai Vlimirovic, who is venerated as a Saint in the Serbian Orthodox Church. This excerpt is entitled “Martyrs of the True Faith”. Your faith has brought you near to the radiant throne of glory, adorned with the shining seraphim and the overpowering cherubim. You are nearer to immortality than we, and your prayer is more pure and audible. Remember us in your prayer also,... Read more
The Sydney-based internet radio station Cradio has this week released a podcast of the first instalment of a 3 part series of mini-lectures entitled “Theology, Philosophy & the Mass”. It was presented in Campion College in Australia as a way to get students to reflect on their attendance at the weekday Eucharistic liturgy in its chapel, with their studies, particularly in Theology and Philosophy. The first instalment, entitled “the Epistemology of the Mass”, looks at how the Eucharist is a... Read more
There is so much evil in the world. However, with the ubiquity of evil, comes the understandable temptation to posit individuals, groups and communities as themselves evil, or at the very least the purveyors of a thing called “evil”. Put in more philosophical terms, there is a tendency to give evil its own ontological base, such that evil is an existing thing in and of itself. In response, an old but not widely circulated podcast by Scott Stephens from... Read more
“Your Personal Lord and Saviour”. It is a phrase bandied about by street preachers and enthused evangelists across the denominational spectrum, and it might give the impression that our salvation is the result of our personal assent to something or personal allegiance to someone. Whilst there is certainly an individual dimension to the confession in Christ, such an individualistic focus seriously truncates the whole economy of salvation. A 1995 essay in the journal Communio by Avery Cardinal Dulles... Read more
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