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A Progressive Marriage
Read more: A Progressive MarriageHow is your marriage progressing? This simple question is a way of focusing our attention on right-thinking about progress and the Christian life. I posed the question to myself – I have been married now for 40 years. My first thought was, “What would ‘progress’ in a marriage mean?” Do I love my wife more, […]
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The Purpose of Mystery, Paradox and Contradiction
Read more: The Purpose of Mystery, Paradox and ContradictionOrthodox Christianity is deeply associated with the word “mystery.” Its theological hymns are replete with paradox, repeatedly affirming two things to be true that are seemingly contradictory. Most of these things are associated with what is called “apophatic” theology, or a theology that is “unspeakable.” This same theological approach is sometimes called the Via Negativa. […]
Communion, Hell, Knowledge of God, Last Things, Mystical Theology, Orthodox Christianity, Reflections, The Church
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Is the Universe Tragic?
Read more: Is the Universe Tragic?Tragedy is among the older forms of story-telling. The ancient Greeks can be said to have perfected it, and theorized about it with great care. One need only read the plays of Aeschylus or Sophocles to come away with a deep appreciation of the very nature of tragedy. I will not offer anything like the […]
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An Unnecessary Salvation
Read more: An Unnecessary SalvationOne of the oddest thoughts to have crept its way into the Christian mind is the notion of what is “necessary to salvation.” The simple questions within the New Testament, “What must we do to be saved?” quickly become the stuff of bumper-stickers and a reduced version of Christianity unable to sustain a genuine spiritual […]
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The Life of the Cosmos
Read more: The Life of the CosmosWhat does it mean to be alive? This is a question whose answer would seem so obvious that it is hardly worth asking. And yet. A recent comment drew attention to a different way of thinking about what is “alive.” I will offer some quotes from the comment and then some observations of my own. […]
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Conversations with a Flatlander
Read more: Conversations with a FlatlanderI have been engaged in what appears to be a useless conversation. I’m having a private email chat with an atheist/materialist who insists that there are no miracles – everything can be explained by “natural” means and that the world will be better off when everyone finally agrees this is true. He is a crusader. […]
Allegory, Interpretation, Modernity, Mystical Theology, Orthodox Christianity, Reflections, Scripture, The Sacraments
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The Hidden Gospel
Read more: The Hidden GospelThere is a genre of Scriptural writings that are described as “apocalyptic.” The book of Revelation, in Greek, is called “The Apocalypse.” Ezekiel and Daniel also have very strong passages described as apocalyptic. The term is very straightforward: it means “revealing what is hidden.” These books are described as “making known hidden things,” because their […]
Allegory, Interpretation, Modernity, Mystical Theology, Orthodox Christianity, Reflections, Scripture, Scripture
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From the Beginning – True Authorial Intent
Read more: From the Beginning – True Authorial IntentI read a discussion concerning my earlier article on allegory in which someone identified himself as a writer. He stated that if a reader saw something in his writing that he had not intended, then either he or his reader had failed. His statement is an extreme example of what is called “authorial intent”: what […]
Allegory, Communion, Interpretation, Knowledge of God, Modernity, Mystical Theology, Orthodox Christianity, Reflections, Scripture, The Sacraments, Tolkien
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Reading Beneath the Words
Read more: Reading Beneath the WordsThe relationship between Old and New Testaments is much less straightforward than most people realize. A majority of Christians, particularly in our contemporary world, probably assume that their relationship is mostly historical, that the Old Testament is about things that happened before Christ while the New Testament speaks of Christ Himself and things that come […]
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Thank you for this. The words (describing where our heart needs to be) “Noble” “Sensitive” and “Pure” immediately gave me…
Dee, When I think about this reality (ontological prayer and repentance) I think mostly about grace. St. Sophrony recognized that…
Matthew – and Matthew W, I thought I would share a brief anecdote regarding Orthodoxy and St. Francis of Assisi.…
Fr. Stephen said: “In such prayer, we would wonder whether we are praying or the Spirit is praying within us…and…
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Thanks Father for your reassuring words!