Glory to God For All Things

July 5, 2013

Truth and the End of All Things

This is a reposting for the sake of our present conversation… In the Gospel record of Christ’s trial before Pontius Pilate, we are told that Christ said He had come to bear witness to the Truth. Pilate, in what he must have thought was a clever response, says, “And what is Truth?” We know from […]
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Icons, Last Things, Orthodox Christianity
July 1, 2013

The God Who Is No God

My mind has been returning lately to this article as I think about issues between Christianity and the State. It has become an increasingly common legal opinion in the Western world that religion is an inward belief, a private matter. At the same time it has used this understanding to restrict various expressions of belief. […]
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Culture, Secularism, The Church
June 26, 2013

Obstacles to Faith

My writing and thoughts often carry me to the “edges” – to the edge of unbelief and to the edge of the depths of belief. My instinct for these places is an instinct for the obstacles to faith. Why do some believe and others not? And what is the exact nature of belief and unbelief? […]
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atheism, Communion, Conversion, Existence, Knowledge of God, Modernity, Orthodox Christianity, Secularism, The Sacraments, Union with God
June 21, 2013

Pentecost and Creation

Earth is a wondrous place – no matter where we go – how deep, how far, how high, how hot, how inhospitable – in this place we find life. Everywhere we look on our nearest neighbor – Mars – we find – no life. We want to find life. We hope to find life. We […]
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Beauty, Orthodox Christianity, The Church, Tradition
June 17, 2013

Modern Loneliness and Staying Put

This article is among the first written for the blog. There is something to be said for the blog itself having “stayed put.” The internet is an ephemeral creation. I hope to be providing a stable platform for learning, for questioning, for conversation. With a few emendations, I offer this reprint. That the article is […]
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Culture, Modernity, Orthodox Christianity
June 13, 2013

What Matters Now

In October of 2006 I wrote the first article for this blog. The second article written is the short set of paragraphs offered in italics below. It was a sober beginning – written mostly for myself – stating what matters. Time has passed. The blog now has about a million views a year. It has […]
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Orthodox Christianity, The Journey of Faith
June 9, 2013

Thinking about the One God

There are many things Christians can learn from science – among them is how to think. In thought about the deeper matters of science (particle physics, mathematical theory, etc.), there are a number of accepted rules that are useful in theology as well. One of those is the requirement of “elegance” when constructing a plausible […]
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Atonement, Beauty, Knowledge of God, Modernity, Orthodox Christianity, Union with God
May 29, 2013

Prayers and the One God of All

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! So runs a common exclamation in Orthodox services of prayer. And so begins another offense for those who wonder why the Orthodox “don’t pray directly to God”…or “why do you pray to the saints”…or, worst […]
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Communion, Orthodox Christianity, Prayer, Saints, Salvation, The Church, Union with God
May 28, 2013

The One You Don’t See

My recent post on the One God has shown me that there is much more to say on the subject. “We believe in One God…” but do we? In a recent conversation, someone said to me that they had difficulty believing in “one supreme being who created everything…etc.” Christians don’t actually believe in one supreme […]
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Knowledge of God, Modernity, Orthodox Christianity, Salvation, The Church
May 25, 2013

Scattered Thoughts and the One God

“My thoughts are scattered…” It’s an observation I make frequently to myself, and one that I hear constantly from others. It is not that we think about many things (though we do), but we think many things about everything often with contradictions, questions, competing allegiances and inner struggles. The inner world of modern man is […]
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Beauty, Knowledge of God, Modernity, Orthodox Christianity, Secularism, The Church

Janine, Thank you. Your questions are good – and I’ll answer them as best I can. Satan’s role as the…

Jenny, may I echo Father’s words to you? May God bless you with illumination

This is a fascinating discussion. Thank you Father for the article. Dee, your explanations of science and your approach is…

Jenny, It’s not a problem. God give us all grace.

Father, I did not realize, as I was writing out my last comment, that in the light of Orthodoxy, its…