Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
When a certain Samaritan village refused Jesus’ attempt to visit, James and John asked Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven upon it. The allusion to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is evident, but, as the story shows, James’ and John’s thinking was entirely warped. Jesus rebuked…
In the first part of this essay, I considered paideia (formation)and mimesis (imitation) in the context of Aristotle’s virtue ethics and that of the New Testament. The overall concern is to realize how relevant is Aristotle’s ethics both to diagnosing our current malaise and to enculturing our children, though we…
In these posts I am inviting you into my philosophical reflection about integration , the absence of which we feel palpably in our fragmented world. My hope is for us to understand it more deeply, and to be ourselves reintegrated in the process. At this point in this extended inquiry…
It’s hard to imagine someone, centuries from now, mistaking our culture for a moral highpoint in the history of the West. Increasingly the news is dominated by school shootings, abusive policing, sexploitation of women, and increasing rates of suicide, addiction, and divorce. In response, the Left calls for regulations, surveillance,…
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.” (Ps. 34:17-18) God is listening. He is listening when we ask Him for financial provision,…
The allusions to Mt. Sinai in the transfiguration story point to Jesus as a new Moses and even more as Yahweh, the God who met Moses and Elijah on the mountain. The fact that Jesus, Moses, and Elijah spoke of Jesus’ “exodus” suggests that the mountain of transfiguration was intended…
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Late dating of the gospels is historically preposterous. Even the most “conservative” dating assumes that Jewish Christians, who believed that the long-awaited salvation had finally occurred in Jesus, would wait over a decade before putting an ordered account on paper. On the contrary: The very first thing a Jew would…
Steve Martin, The Pleasure of My Company . New York: Hyperion, 2003. 163 pp. In his second novel, Steve Martin (yes, the actor) tells the story of the “redemption” of Daniel Pecan Cambridge. Daniel is a narcissistic neurotic so frightened of walking off curbs that he maps out a serpentine…
As mentioned in an earlier post, Paul says that God works out salvation through the cross and resurrection so that “God might BE just and the justifier of those who are of the faith of Jesus.” That “be” is crucial; God would not BE just if He did not manifest…
As mentioned in an earlier post, Paul says that God works out salvation through the cross and resurrection so that “God might BE just and the justifier of those who are of the faith of Jesus.” That “be” is crucial; God would not BE just if He did not manifest…
Eucharistic Meditation, Feb 1: Luke 17:26-29 Jesus describes the coming of the Son of Man by comparing it to the coming of the flood in the days of Noah and the rain of fire and brimstone on Sodom in the days of Lot. One of the main points of the…
Exhortation for February 1: Jesus has many things to say about faith in our sermon text this morning. One of the main things has to do with the power of faith: He says that anyone who has faith the size of a mustard seed can say to a deeply rooted…
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