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More Thoughts on Hell
Read more: More Thoughts on HellIn my recent article on hell, I offered what I called a “lesson in ontology” (the study of being). It was a way of understanding what it means to say something is real and true, and the nature of existence as a gift. But in describing hell as not “real,” many readers immediately concluded that […]
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Forgiveness – Do We Know What We’re Doing?
Read more: Forgiveness – Do We Know What We’re Doing?The first service of Great Lent in the Orthodox Church is “Forgiveness Vespers,” served on the eve of Monday of the First Week. There is nothing unusual about the service itself – other than the “rite of forgiveness” appended to it. In this, the priest and the faithful ask forgiveness of one another. Often this […]
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Eating Your Way to Paradise
Read more: Eating Your Way to ParadiseIt is interesting that the story of mankind’s first sin involved eating. We didn’t eat too much, only the wrong thing in the wrong way. But as sins go, it seems rather mundane. Murder is more dramatic (that was a second generation sin). Betrayal makes for a better novel. But there it was – we […]
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The Real Hell – Is There Such a Thing?
Read more: The Real Hell – Is There Such a Thing?Because sometimes the people of God need a basic lesson in the nature of existence… On one of the roads leading into my small city a billboard has recently appeared. It is part of a larger campaign by a nationally known evangelist who is to have a revival in Knoxville. The sign is simple. In […]
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Dying to Become Human
Read more: Dying to Become HumanSt. Irenaeus was perhaps the first to suggest that the creation of man was a “project.” “Let us make man in our own image,” is strikingly different from “Let there be man!” And the project goes wrong from the beginning. Rather than becoming fully what he is created to be, man breaks communion with God […]
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Nostalgia for Paradise
Read more: Nostalgia for ParadiseRecent conversations have brought up the name of Dr. Alexander Kalomiros. Author of the River of Fire and other well known Orthodox writings, his work was no stranger to controversy. But his work also came from a wonderful heart. Here is a short offering from the small book, Nostalgia for Paradise. When the ascetical life […]
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Creation and Evolution
Read more: Creation and EvolutionThe crucifixion, death and resurrection of Christ is the proper beginning point for all Christian theology. Christ’s Pascha should be the source for all Christian reflection. It is clear that the disciples themselves did not understand the Scriptures nor Christ Himself until after the resurrection (Luke 24:45). We cannot approach Pascha as a midpoint in […]
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Evolution, Creation and the Hidden Cause
Read more: Evolution, Creation and the Hidden CauseRecent pop culture presented a debate between a scientist and a fundamentalist Christian over evolution and creation. The Christian, a Biblical literalist, holds to the idea of a “young creation,” a universe that is roughly 6,000 years old – this – based on calculating from the Biblical record. It is the most extreme form of […]
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Saving the Atonement
Read more: Saving the AtonementI am speaking this week in Mississippi, in a place where Orthodoxy is thriving, but not a place where you would expect to find it. The parish (a former Presbyterian facility) has a sign with variable letters, where a changing “message” can be displayed. It reads something like, “Father Stephen Freeman speaking Tuesday, Wednesday and […]
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Discerning the Mystery
Read more: Discerning the MysteryAndrew Louth, writing in his book, Discerning the Mystery, says: If we look back to the Fathers, and the tradition, for inspiration as to the nature of theology, there is one thing we meet which must be paused over and discussed in some detail: and that is their use of allegory in interpreting the Scriptures. We […]
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Latest Comments
Thanks, Margaret. Lewis says it so well. I know I’m far too easily pleased.
Owen, Your comments makes me think of CS Lewis in his address The Weight of Glory: “It would seem that…
Father, I agree about distractions. Apatheia is “inner freedom,” or “detachment.” Detaching from the distractions of “the world” is, somehow,…
Matthew / Justin, I too fondly remember hearing that oh so distinctive voice of J. Vernon McGee on the radio!…
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I mean, Margaret Sarah. Sorry about that.