Category: Modernity
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Gifts and Talents and the Road to Hell
At some point in my past, there was a survey used in parishes that was all the rage. It was a “gifts and talents” survey, designed to make everyone in the parish find their true ministry and to work together in fulfillment of St. Paul’s description of the Body of Christ in 1 Corinthians. The…
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St. Mary of Egypt and Moral Progress
The suggestion has been made several times recently that my criticism of moral progress is not supported by the example of the saints. Surely, it is said, the transformations we read about in the lives of the saints are clear examples of moral progress. A noted such example, perhaps the greatest story of repentance and asceticism known…
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Living with a Calendar
The human relationship with time is a strange thing. The upright stones of neo-lithic human communities stand as silent reminders of our long interest in seasons and the movement of the heavens. Today our light-polluted skies shield many of us from the brilliant display of the night sky and rob us of the stars. The…
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While We’re At It – An “Unmoral” Word from the Holy Mountain
In an effort to help my critics understand my articles, friends have sent me excellent links here and there. A link to a Lenten article by Fr. Alexis Trader (of Karakalou on the Holy Mountain) gives more witness to what has been said: The problem is that salvation and transfiguration are not a matter of…
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Eschatological Eloquence – Fr. Aidan Kimel’s Response
My long-time friend, Fr. Aidan Kimel, has written a very helpful article on the topic of the “Unmoral Christian.” He enlists C.S. Lewis in the cause of a proper understanding. What could be better than that? I strongly encourage those readers who are still pondering all of this – to follow the link to his…
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Of Course We Are Called to be Moral – A Response to My Critics
Well, the firestorm has moved even to my host, Ancient Faith Blogs. There, you can find a response and a critique of my last article, The Unmoral Christian. I find nothing in the response with which I disagree. The author argues that externals are often important, certainly for beginners, and suggests that I have overplayed…
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Shopping for God
I overheard a conversation between two blue-collar workers that encouraged my soul. In the aftermath of last week’s shopping frenzy (Black Friday, etc.), they were reflecting on the madness. “I had a friend who said he bought his mother-in-law a new TV. He was excited about the bargain.” The other worker nodded. “So I asked…
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The End of the Modern World
“Welcome to the 21st Century!” Pick your issue, and if its outcome conforms to a popular, desired norm you are likely to hear such a greeting. The greeting also implies that a less than desirable outcome is wrong because it doesn’t belong to our time. It might be characterized as “medieval,” “outmoded,” “out-of-date,” “primitive,” “Neanderthal,”…
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Let’s Get Physical
If you go to the self-help section of a bookstore, any bookstore, you see row upon row of books, all promising another method to change or fix how you think, feel or imagine. It is as though we were certain that our lives would be great if only we could think feel or imagine better…
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Doubt and Modern Belief
Why do people in the modern world find belief so difficult? Obviously, many find ways to believe in God and do so with great zeal, but others, even those who describe themselves as believers, admit either to doubts about God or about many traditional teachings of the faith. The more “miraculous” teachings, the Divinity of Christ,…
Oh, Father, that is such a helpful answer. It just brings tears to my eyes! You write: “Everybody is going…