The Nature of Things and Our Salvation
Reflecting on yesterday’s post, I thought it worthwhile to share these thoughts again on the nature of our salvation. Few things are as critical for me as the distinctions given here. Perhaps it is timely. It offers a short summary of the difference between a moral and an existential understanding of the Christian faith and why the difference matters. Indeed, … Continue reading
To Tell the Truth
Abba Poemen said, “Teach your mouth to say that which is in your heart. Speaking the truth is as fundamental as the Ten Commandments. It also receives a great deal of attention within the pages of the New Testament. Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on … Continue reading
Tradition and the Heart
He who possesses in truth the word of Jesus can hear even its silence. St. Ignatius of Antioch (To the Ephesians, XV, 2) The faculty of hearing the silence of Jesus, attributed by St. Ignatius to those who in truth possess His word, echoes the reiterated appeal of Christ to His hearers: “He that hath ears to hear, let him … Continue reading
Reading Tradition
For those who are unused to the place of Tradition in the understanding and interpretation of the Christian faith, it is easy to assume that Tradition is simply an additional set of texts to be read alongside and in addition to Scripture. There are certainly texts which belong to Tradition (indeed the Church would consider the texts of Scripture itself … Continue reading
Reason’s God
In a comment to my recent post on the “problem of goodness,” I was challenged on the question of “proving God’s existence.” I understand the question but I do not think the question understands God. There is a definition of God that has floated around philosophical circles for centuries – a very reasonable definition – but not a definition that … Continue reading
Pardon my absence
I ask readers to pardon my absence for most of this week. I am leading a youth retreat at a monastery. Your prayers for the youth are much appreciated. And remember this sinner. I’ll be back posting Sunday evening. And my thanks for the prayers.
Here and Now
Strangely enough, the one place that most of us avoid is here and now. In the observations of Fr. Meletios Webber, we prefer either the past or the future. The past is marked by the thoughts of “if only,” the future with thoughts of “what if.” These thoughts are the voice of the logismoi, the constant barrage of thoughts and … Continue reading
The Problem of Goodness
From my first class in Philosophy 101 in college, the so-called “Problem of Evil” has been tossed up as the “clincher” in arguments against the existence of God. How can a good God allow innocent people to suffer? The most devastating case ever made on the subject was in Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov. Ivan Karamazov, in the chapter entitled “Rebellion,” which is … Continue reading
The Crisis of Religion
The term “sacramental” means here that the basic and primordial intuition which not only expresses itself in worship, but of which the entire worship is indeed the “phenomenon” – both effect and experience – is that the world, be it in its totality as cosmos, or in its life and becoming as time and history, is an epiphany of God, … Continue reading
Recent Comments
- Rhonda on Scattered Thoughts and the One God
- Michael Bauman on Scattered Thoughts and the One God
- Dominic Albanese on Scattered Thoughts and the One God
- Orthodox Collective on Scattered Thoughts and the One God
- Michael Patrick on Beauty and the Face of God
Read “Everywhere Present”
Have you ever referred to God as “the Man upstairs”? Most Christians living in a secular society have unwittingly relegated God and all things spiritual to the “second storey” of the universe: Read More...
Christianity in a One-Storey Universe
On Ancient Faith Radio
Click on the icon to listen to Fr Stephen on
"Ancient Faith Radio""
Orthodox News – Pravmir
Information on the Orthodox Faith
Please Read
Archives
Orthodox Blogs
- A Mule in the Chapter House
- Ad Orientem
- Again and Again
- Christ is in our Midst
- Curmudgeon in Training
- Energetic Procession/Energies of the Trinity
- Frederica
- Hexaemeron
- Just Genesis
- Monachos.net
- Orthodixie
- Orthodox Way of Life
- Orthodoxy Today
- Priest Matthew Jackson
- Prudence True
- Slava lui Dumnezeu Pentru Toate
- St. James Kids
- Teologia Pentru Azi
- The Blog of Seth
- The Cost of Discipleship
- Two Natures