Search results for: “theology of the cross”
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Being Saved This Day in the Church
Read more: Being Saved This Day in the ChurchI thought I would bring the discussion down from the heady heights of theology and into the place where I spend my time and the bulk of my life. Being saved in the Church is a very day-to-day and moment-to-moment thing. Getting started: Do I cross myself before I get out of bed. It sure […]
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What’s At Stake in the Atonement
Read more: What’s At Stake in the AtonementOne of the more common topics both on this blog and on a number of other Orthodox sites are questions about the Atonement. In general the Atonement refers to how it is we understand that Christ reconciled us to God. When we say, “Christ died for our sins,” what does it mean? The questions of […]
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How Do We Know God?
Read more: How Do We Know God?How do we know God? The question is simple and straightforward – until we begin to answer it. I have written lately much about icons, and particularly the Seventh Council’s contention that “icons do with color what Scripture does with words.” This simple statement has such a richness of implication that it is hard to […]
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Christianity in a One-Storey Universe
Read more: Christianity in a One-Storey UniversePreliminary – Death in a Two-Storey Universe I have written before about the two-storey universe that is part of our cultural inheritance in the modern world. I have noted that the default position of our culture is secular protestantism. I have explained that I mean not that we do not believe in God, but that in […]
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The Meaning of Language – Part 3
Read more: The Meaning of Language – Part 3Having pointed out that much of popular Christian language (and some images in sacred texts) lend themselves to the notion of a “two-storey” universe – and having noted that the second storey as the dwelling place of all things spiritual has almost insurmountable problems – how should we speak about such things? First, it seems […]
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The Dormition of the Mother of God
Read more: The Dormition of the Mother of GodIn giving birth you preserved your virginity, In falling asleep you did not forsake the world, O Theotokos. You were translated to life, O Mother of Life, And by your prayers, you deliver our souls from death. Troparion of the Feast – Tone 1 It is easy to be put off by Orthodox devotion to […]
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I’m Glad We Cleared That Up!
Read more: I’m Glad We Cleared That Up!Pope Benedict XVI has just released a clarification on the documents of Vatican II where he explains what is meant by calling the Orthodox “Churches” while still maintaining that they are “defective.” In a major problem that exists between Orthodox understandings of the nature of the Church and Roman Catholic understandings of the nature of […]
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Losing My Religion
Read more: Losing My ReligionI could not resist using the title from the R.E.M. hit of a few years ago for this post, though it’s really not about losing one’s religion: it’s more about losing your soul. In one of my favorite C.S. Lewis novels, That Hideous Strength, Lewis tries his hand at the description of a soul in […]
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Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev on the Descent of Christ into Hades
Read more: Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev on the Descent of Christ into HadesThis article may also be read at the Website, Orthodox Europe Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev: Christ the Conqueror of Hell The Descent of Christ into Hades in Eastern and Western Theological Traditions A lecture delivered at St Mary’s Cathedral, Minneapolis, USA, on 5 November 2002 The Byzantine and old Russian icons of the Resurrection of Christ […]
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How Much Is Too Little? How Much Is Enough?
Read more: How Much Is Too Little? How Much Is Enough?One of the most pervasive rules in Christian believing is the Latin phrase, “Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi,” usually rendered, “The Law of Praying is the Law of Believing.” It is a simple way of saying both that we believe what we pray (praying will inevitably bring about a conformity in believing), and that if something […]
Matthew, Our life in Christ is always dynamic. We’re never only one thing or another for very long. Hold onto…