Economics should serve humanity, not humanity, economics. Those with economic privilege, those who have accumulated mass stockpiles of wealth, often try to justify their actions by saying what they did is allowed by our current economic system and so they did nothing wrong. But the system itself is flawed; it is founded upon and promotes various sins, especially avarice. Christians, once they see the root sin which lies behind the economic system currently in place, must confront the system, rejecting… Read more
May 31, 2020
Pentecost and the Holy Spirit
May 31, 2020 By Henry Karlson
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During the Feast of Booths, Jesus promised his followers that he gives to him the gift of the Holy Spirit: On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, `Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'” Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were… Read more
May 29, 2020
George Floyd, Systematic Racism And The Need To Change Society
May 29, 2020 By Henry Karlson
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Christians must reject all forms of racism, for, as St. John Paul II declared, “Racism is a sin that constitutes a serious offence against God.” [1] Everyone is made in the image and likeness of God. Undermining the dignity of a person is an affront against God because it is an attack against a representation of God himself. [2] As blasphemy is found in all acts of irreverence against God, racism must be recognized for what it is: blasphemy. Racism… Read more
May 28, 2020
Fake And Real Virtue
May 28, 2020 By Henry Karlson
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“The virtuous may appear to be bad, but essentially they are good; superficially, the self-important and pleasure-loving may appear to be good, but they are evil.”[1] We must never judge someone by mere appearances (cf. Jn. 7:24). Many people seem to be good and holy. They put on a show making us think they are. And yet, in reality, they are anything but holy. They are manipulative and seek some inordinate gain by pretending to be something they are not…. Read more
May 26, 2020
Individualism Divides What Must Be United
May 26, 2020 By Henry Karlson
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S.L. Frank, writing about society, suggests individuals cannot exist independent from society as they are abstractions based upon society itself: “Furthermore, society is the only reality in which man is given to us concretely. An individual conceived as isolated is only an abstraction.”[1] No species exists in one person, one individual alone. They always exist in groups. And they live and thrive as a group. There is no one, no human, who exists who is entirely independent or alone, and… Read more
May 24, 2020
Ambiguity, Truth, and the Council of Nicea
May 24, 2020 By Henry Karlson
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The First Ecumenical Council, the Council of Nicea in 325 CE, became understood as an Ecumenical Council only long after it had been convened and its declarations had been promulgated throughout the church. The fathers who were there understood the council to be significant, and its declarations to be authoritative, but they did not know that they would be starting a precedent which would be employed for other divisive questions in the church: The fathers of Nicea did not call… Read more
May 22, 2020
Sophiology, Science And Technology
May 22, 2020 By Henry Karlson
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Sergius Bulgakov, for a period of his life, considered himself to be a Marxist, but that changed when, in the middle of his graduate studies in economics, he saw how Marxist analysis failed to take into consideration developments of science and technology after Marx. It can be said that science helped direct him to the Christian faith. This is not to say, once he became a Christian, Bulgakov rejected the social concerns which led him to embrace Marx. Rather, he… Read more
May 21, 2020
The Ascension
May 21, 2020 By Henry Karlson
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The final part of Christ’s earthly ministry was not his resurrection from the dead but his ascension into heaven. The two, of course, are related. The ascension should not be seen as separate from the resurrection. Rather, the ascension serves as its fulfillment, for it shows to us the spiritual transformation or fruit which emerges from the resurrection. In the resurrection, death is overcome, the wound of sin is healed. In the ascension, we see humanity received into heaven, that… Read more
May 18, 2020
Diadochos And the Centrality Of Love
May 18, 2020 By Henry Karlson
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St. Diadochos of Photiki, a bishop-ascetic who participated in the Council of Chalcedon, began his major theological work, “On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination: One Hundred Texts,” by telling his readers not only to focus on the three theological virtues, but to center upon the virtue of love: All spiritual contemplation should be governed by faith, hope and love, but most of all by love. The first two teach us to be detached from visible delights, but love unites the soul… Read more
May 17, 2020
Christians Must Not Excuse Themselves From Helping Others
May 17, 2020 By Henry Karlson
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When Jesus encountered a man who was born blind, his disciples asked him why the man was blind: was it something his parents had done, or was it, somehow, something which the man had done which had caused his blindness? Jesus answered: it was neither (cf. Jn. 9:1-3). The lesson here is simple. While, it is true, what we do, how we act, has consequences for us, and sometimes those consequences have long-standing effects upon us or the world at… Read more
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