When life seems bent and sorrowed And love a cruel illusion Remember that somewhere in the desert The sun illumens sage and fiery rock; and In a Canyon blessed with shade and quiet The Coyote sleeps in cottonwoods Where the wind knows no hurry Where sand and pebble and sacred silence Have never heard of trouble. Read more
A dear friend and mentor of mine, Timothy Leonard, is a strange sort of Quaker: a Quaker who supports universal conscription. His reasoning is compelling in many ways and is clearly motivated by a genuine concern for peace, not war. He argues that, if politicians were voting to send their children into battle, they would avoid war at all costs. So, he supports a universal draft into the military. (more…) Read more
Pope John Paul II famously said, “War is not always inevitable, it is always a defeat for humanity”.[1] For those of us living in the United States, Memorial Day can and should serve as the ultimate example of this fact. Today, we should remember the lives lost due to the ravages of war. We should remember the sacrifices of the past. So many people have had their lives ruined by war. Not only do we see a countless number of... Read more
One of the major problems of heresy is that it oversimplifies the truth. Heresies take an aspect or two of truth, and reduce the truth to those aspects which they express; this, then, is turned into “the fullness of the truth” and is then used to judge and criticize everything. In this way, heresy ignores the mysterious aspects of truth which cannot be expressed by mere words. Eunomius, who believed he understood God as God understood himself, represents the kind... Read more
I recently completed my third (and final!) comprehensive exam. This means that the only thing remaining in my doctoral studies is to propose and write a dissertation. I was fortunate that the Toronto School of Theology Liturgy Seminar invited me to present my work for colleagues here at the TST. Because the Liturgy Seminar records and podcasts all the presentations it hosts, I am able to share my third comp with you in an audio form. (It was 39 pages,... Read more
Despite being known as reactionary, and often inquisitional, Pobedonostsev, when writing on faith, has remarks which might surprise his readers. He had a tremendous respect for popular piety, because he understood it helped preserves the truth in a way a puritanesque rejection of all that is “superstitious” would allow. Indeed, when one reads what he has to say here, one can understand how and why Pobedonostsev would be a friend and advisor to Dostoevsky – they hold the piety of... Read more
There are many other ways to formulate this question, but, insofar as they are sincere, they all drive to find the telos of the life of a Christian, the ultimate goal and the motivating desire that guides the Christian’s life. In reply, I have often heard that the purpose of a Christian life is salvation: to be saved, to go to heaven. The Christian life, then, becomes the way one ought to live in order to attain salvation—and avoid damnation.... Read more
There’s an absolutely fascinating story by Charles C. Mann in National Geographic about Göbekli Tepe (pronounced Guh-behk-LEE TEH-peh), a temple in Turkey built about 11,600 years ago–the very oldest religious structure known to us. In terms of sheer age it makes Stonehenge look modern. Göbekli Tepe and other discoveries in recent decades are reshaping anthropologists’ understanding of the origins of civilization. The old view was that it was all due to agriculture, the result of climate changes after the ice... Read more
War and violence are never means used by God in order to achieve a result. They are for the most part machinations of the devil used to achieve unlawful ends. We say “for the most part” because, as is well known, in a few specific cases the Orthodox Church forgives an armed defense against oppression and violence. However, as a rule, peaceful resolution of differences and peaceful cooperation are more pleasing to God and more beneficial to humankind. War and... Read more
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