Love Hopes For All As It Works For All

Last updated on: August 8, 2017 at 4:01 pm By Henry Karlson

Ralph Martin’s Will Many Be Saved? systematized the basic criticism many have had concerning modern theologians who have hoped that many, if not all, might end up saved. Hans Urs von Balthasar and Karl Rahner are central to Martin’s book, where he believes their theological opinions, even if they end up not being heretical, have hindered Christian evangelization because of their hope that those who do not affiliate themselves as Christians can still be saved. Martin suggested that from their... Read more

In Silence, Love Remains

Last updated on: June 20, 2017 at 5:37 am By Henry Karlson

Silence. In our active, daily lives, we should find time to slow down and embrace silence. We should silence our minds. We should try to throw out all thoughts, all self-centered perceptions, all engagement in and of the world which holds to ourselves as the center of our being. If we want to experience the truth outside of ourselves, me must silence ourselves, and all the distractions which would otherwise divert us from the truth. We must pause from our... Read more

Book Review: Pavel Florensky: Early Religious Writings

Last updated on: June 19, 2017 at 5:37 am By Henry Karlson

Pavel Florensky. Early Religious Writings: 1903 – 1909. Trans. Boris Jakim (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman’s Publications, 2017),228 +xiii pages. Pavel Florensky, perhaps the most poetic and beautiful theological stylist of the Russian Silver Age, has within the last couple decades become much more known and recognized for his greatness by a Western audience. His greatest work, Pillar and Ground of the Truth, also translated by Boris Jakim, should be the first of his works which interested readers should... Read more

Do Not Become Like A Fish Out Of Water

Last updated on: June 16, 2017 at 5:36 am By Henry Karlson

He also said, “Just as fish die if they stay too long out of water, so the monks who loiter outside their cells or pass their time with men of the world lose the intensity of inner peace. So like a fish going towards the sea, we must hurry to reach our cell, for fear that if we delay outside we will lost our interior watchfulness.”[1] While this saying of Anthony was clearly stated for the sake of monks, showing... Read more

On The Sacrament of Chrismation (Confirmation) Conclusion

Last updated on: June 14, 2017 at 5:37 am By Henry Karlson

This is the fourth and last post on a series exploring the sacrament of chrismation. Click here for Part One, here for Part Two, and here for Part Three. St. Seraphim of Sarov famously stated that the goal of the Christian life should be the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. Now, since they are given it at their chrismation, what is there for them to attain? The answer is that they are to realize their full potential, to be open... Read more

On The Sacrament of Chrismation (Confirmation) Part Three

Last updated on: June 12, 2017 at 5:38 am By Henry Karlson

This is the third post on a series exploring the sacrament of chrismation. Click here for Part One and here for Part Two. We are meant to be incorporated into the body of Christ, and so live in the life of Christ, even as we are to find our life to be spiritualized, to be a life in the Spirit. The two go together, like body and soul. Baptism relates to our incorporation into Christ, serving as a parallel of... Read more

All Saints

Last updated on: June 9, 2017 at 5:39 am By Henry Karlson

The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we knew him not. He preached the way, the truth, and the life, and we knew him not. The Word was taken captive, placed upon the cross, and was executed as an enemy of the state, as an enemy of the powers that be in the world. We still did not really know him. We knew not what we were doing. The Word let the rage of sin be taken out... Read more

I Have Published A Book: The Eschatological Judgment of Christ

Last updated on: June 7, 2017 at 4:01 am By Henry Karlson

Years ago, when I was chrismated and became a Byzantine Catholic, a friend of mine sent me a copy of Balthasar’s Presence and Thought: An Essay on the Religious Philosophy of Gregory of Nyssa as a gift to commemorate the event. When I read it, I was not impressed; it did not engage me where I was at. Only after I read some of Henri de Lubac’s works, such as his Catholicism, would I manage to make my way back... Read more

On The Sacrament of Chrismation (Confirmation) Part Two

Last updated on: June 6, 2017 at 5:57 am By Henry Karlson

This is the second post of a series discussing the sacrament of confirmation. Click here to read part one. Scripture talks about those who have received the Holy Spirit, that is, those who have been anointed or sealed by the Spirit. When reading such texts, we must not consider the word “sealed” as being merely symbolic. It represents an event. Christians receive the Holy Spirit in the laying on of hands, in the anointing of the holy chrism oil upon... Read more

On The Sacrament Of Chrismation (Confirmation): Part One

Last updated on: June 5, 2017 at 5:43 am By Henry Karlson

After his baptism, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, revealing him to be the anointed one, the Christ, the Son of the Living God: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.” Then he... Read more

What Christian group follows the Augsburg Confession?