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The Divine Compass
Read more: The Divine CompassI was in a small shop yesterday in a coastal town. Among its many knick-knacks were a large variety of compasses. We have become a compass-driven culture today, after a lull in which they were largely passé. Of course, the compass is now a very passive thing, hidden within the workings of the resident GPS […]
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A Faith You Can Sink Your Teeth Into
Read more: A Faith You Can Sink Your Teeth IntoIn a now-famous experiment, volunteers were fitted with inverting lenses, such that everything they saw appeared upside-down. In a few days their brains adjusted and what they saw appeared correctly. When the lenses were removed, their naked eyes now saw things inverted, though again, after a few days their vision returned to normal. We are […]
Beauty, Communion, Incarnation, Knowledge of God, Modernity, Reflections, Secularism, The Sacraments
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The Disenchanted World
Read more: The Disenchanted WorldA very apt word for the world we live in is: disenchanted. It was first used by Max Weber and a number of others to describe a certain aspect of the modern world – the absence of the sacred. Where people of earlier eras and other cultures have experienced the world around them as charged […]
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The Secular Mind versus the Whole Heart
Read more: The Secular Mind versus the Whole HeartThinking is among the most misleading things in the modern world, or, to be more precise, thinking about thinking is misleading. For a culture that puts such a great emphasis on materiality, our thinking about thought is decidedly spooky. The philosophy underlying our strangely-constructed modernity is called nominalism (of which there are many formal […]
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The Hand in the Gospel
Read more: The Hand in the GospelMy desk sits looking out of a wall of windows. My small backyard is shaded by a lush green this time of year. At any time of day or night, nature sounds mark the movement of the sun as much as the shifting shadows: birds in the early morning give way to katydids as the […]
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Secularized Sin
Read more: Secularized SinI have had numerous responses across social media about yesterday’s article on sin. It’s title, “Sin Is Not a Legal Problem,” drew some strong reactions. A particular concern is worth thinking about carefully. There is, as many have pointed out, plenty of juridical language in both the Scriptures and in the liturgical tradition of the […]
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Sin Is Not A Legal Problem – Athanasius and the Atonement
Read more: Sin Is Not A Legal Problem – Athanasius and the AtonementI often struggle when people speak of their “sins.” Indeed, it is not unusual to be asked, “Is ___ a sin?” The question always makes me feel like a lawyer. Imagine that, instead of a doctor, you have a lawyer whom you consult for your medical problems. You are having trouble breathing. You’re short of […]
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The Context of Faith
Read more: The Context of FaithShortly after moving to this side of the Smoky Mountains (the Tennesee side rather than the South Carolina side), I began to notice that the local dialect differed from my own. It was rounder, somehow, less nasal, but still with very strong “r’s.” Local phrases could also be puzzling. “I don’t care to,” for example, […]
Church, Interpretation, Liturgy, Modernity, Reflections, Scripture, Secularism, The Sacraments, Tradition
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The Long-Range Option
Read more: The Long-Range OptionIn 1981, Alasdair MacIntyre published his book, After Virtue. He offered a historical analysis of the breakdown of moral conversation, essentially noting that a once classical agreement about the grounds of moral thought and action had been shattered into many conversations, most of which were incompatible and mutually contradictory. To make matters worse, he […]
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Reading Scripture in the Kingdom
Read more: Reading Scripture in the KingdomThat which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (Joh 3:6) It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (Joh 6:63) Now this I say, brethren, that flesh […]
Allegory, Interpretation, Morality, Mystical Theology, Orthodox Christianity, Reflections, Repentance, Scripture, Tradition
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David, I heard a series of talks done by Fr. Maximus on this topic at a retreat for OCA clergy.…
Fayez, The prayer for the blessing of the waters is essentially the same as the prayer over the waters of…
Father bless, New Rome press announced some time ago an ambitious project to publish translations of the major works of…
A beautiful reflection Father, just I am wondering; do we consider the prayer of blessing water in Epiphany one of…
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