The Importance Of Contextual Awareness For Theology

Last updated on: March 14, 2025 at 2:08 am By Henry Karlson

It is easy for many to believe that all theological engagement, especially systemic theology, when done right, will produce purely objective results. The reality, however, is that this is never true. There is always a subjective element in all theological work. Even the authors of the texts found in Christian Scripture, while inspired, wrote in and through their own subjective voice (which accounts for why many events are described differently by different authors). If this is true for those divinely... Read more

Finding The Meaning Of The Season of Lent

Last updated on: March 12, 2025 at 3:38 am By Henry Karlson

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I was raised in an evangelical Christian tradition, one which did recognize the season of Lent. I had heard of it, to be sure, but it was only when I decided to become Catholic did I start taking Lent seriously. And, as I was going to become Byzantine Catholic, I looked into and tried to engage the Byzantine traditions, some of which were quite different from their Western counterparts. Byzantine Catholics start Lent, not on Ash Wednesday, but two days... Read more

The Body And Gender Equality

Last updated on: March 11, 2025 at 2:31 am By Henry Karlson

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Despite Gnosticism being understood as a heresy which rejects many basic teachings of the Christian faith, many of its dangerous elements have been embraced by Christians throughout the centuries. They never seem to be completely overcome. Someone or another will pick them up and use them in their thought, sometimes doing so in such a way, elements of Gnosticism can even be said to have influenced (and tainted) the development of Christian thought. One such influence can be seen in... Read more

Icons And the Unity of Truth, Goodness, And Beauty

Last updated on: March 9, 2025 at 2:14 am By Henry Karlson

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Philosophy traditionally tells us about three great transcendentals, that of the truth, the good, and the beautiful. Each of them are understood as their own distinct category, and yet, they are interdependent with each other, meaning, there is a fundamental unity which connects them together. When you have one of them, you have them all. Each of them can be and should be explored in accordance to its own category of thought, but when this is done, we must not... Read more

Salvation As A Communal Journey

Last updated on: March 7, 2025 at 3:11 am By Henry Karlson

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As a theologian, Joseph Ratzinger promoted a hopeful eschatological vision. He explained that humanity has a common origin, even as they have a common destiny. Both of them are made by God, who created them to experience or participate in the divine life, and so God calls everyone to salvation: The fact of our being formed in God’s likeness (Gottebenbildlichkeit) contains an eschatological, future aspect. Just as the biological commonness of human life points to the common destiny of death,... Read more

Women’s History Month: A Call To Amplify Women’s Voices

Last updated on: March 6, 2025 at 2:37 am By Henry Karlson

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I was raised to treat everyone with respect. All my life, I have tried to do my best to treat everyone as equals. My opinions of people are formed based upon what they do, not their background. That is, I didn’t consider someone’s race or gender when forming the way I perceive them as a person. If I did not know someone, my general default has always been to see them as someone worthy of honor and respect. Of course,... Read more

To Engage Lent, Embrace Justice

Last updated on: March 4, 2025 at 8:13 am By Henry Karlson

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Pope St. Leo the Great exhorts Christians to take their Christian faith seriously, to be true children of light. We are expected to follow the ways of love, not only doing what love suggests we should do, but also what it tells us not to do. In this way, we should learn that love and justice and interdependent with each other, which means, the denial of one leads to the denial of the other: We encourage you to “abstain” in... Read more

Preparing For Lent: Embracing Forgiveness And Justice

Last updated on: March 2, 2025 at 3:04 am By Henry Karlson

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In the Byzantine tradition, the two Sundays which come right before the Great Fast (Lent) first have us consider our own spiritual status (the Sunday of the Last Judgment, on which we are encouraged to consider who and what we have become), so that we, we will come to realize how far off we are from what God intended us to be and so accept God’s help to fulfill that potential. Then, on the Sunday which comes the day before... Read more

The Timely Warnings Of Dystopian Science Fiction

Last updated on: February 27, 2025 at 3:09 am By Henry Karlson

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It is hard not to think about the science fiction movies and novels I’ve seen and read through the years, movies and novels which gave us a warning of the various dark futures which could happen if we were not careful and prevented them from coming to pass. They gave us various dystopian futures, showing us that some of them came to be because the people were complacent, and others came to pass because their worst instincts encouraged them to... Read more

Faith in Action: Why Words Alone Aren’t Enough

Last updated on: February 27, 2025 at 4:06 pm By Henry Karlson

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Actions speak louder than words. We must do more than speak, telling people (and ourselves) what should be done; we must act. If all we do is talk, we will not improve anything. This is not to say we should never speak, for speaking can help reveal to others (and perhaps ourselves) what needs to be done. However, our words will prove to be empty if they do not lead us, and others, to do something, to make things better.... Read more