Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Leo the Great's second sermon on the Ascension, Sermon 74 . I. The mystery of our salvation, dearly-beloved, which the Creator of the universe valued at the price of His blood, has now been carried out under conditions of humiliation from the day of His bodily birth to the end…
Life, Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy says, is suffering, battle, pain, shock, failure, elation. Human beings are always torn, always riven. Much of human life, individually and collectively, is an effort to deal with suffering and death. By being the first Man, Jesus establishes the possibility of a different stance toward suffering and…
Is Christian baptism given to believers only or to believers and their children? That’s the question that must be answered—but only if you’re Baptist or Presbyterian. That’s how the question is framed between these two denominations in this dispute, and it’s along these lines the debate unfolds as each side…
Again and again the liturgy of St Chrysostom calls God a lover of mankind. He is Philanthropolos Theos (man-loving God), Kurios Philanthropolos (man-loving Lord), Philopsychos (lover of the soul). Philanthropy wasn’t a Christian invention. Roman benefactors gave benefits to subordinates. What was new was the shape of philanthropy, for the…
Perhaps the most fearful of all possibilities in the world is the possibility of betrayal on the part of someone who is in a “position of trust.” This, unfortunately, is the first block in what ought to be the foundation of every marriage in the world. Every woman has a…
It seems that denominationalism has had its day. A 2009 Barna survey found that denominational commitments have gone squishy in mainline Protestant churches, and Evangelicals don’t fare much better than the rest. After a similar survey, Ron Sellers of Ellison Research said that Protestants are as “loyal to their denominations…
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Robert Bellamy states the thrust of his "republican defense of constitutional democracy" up front ( Political Constitutionalism , viii). He rejects the common assumption that "a written, justiciable constitution, incorporating a bill of rights" is a "necessary safeguard against the abuse of power by democratic governments." Written constitutions often have…
Adam Kirsch can't bring himself to say that poet Richard Wilbur, who died last weekend, was a Christian. In a 2004 New Yorker review , he comes close - recognizing religious themes and describing him as a "Transcendentalist." Kirsch recognizes that Wilbur's religious vision infused his poetry: "the clean laundry…
In Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed (33-4), Tracey Rowland takes note of the Pope's sharp critique of popular music, including contemporary Christian music. Benedict "quotes Adorno’s judgement that ‘the fundamental characteristic of popular music is standardization’ and describes this as ‘incompatible with the culture of the Gospels, which…
Evolutionary theorists want to present evolution as a theory of everything. Benedict XVI ( Truth and Tolerance , 180-1) doesn't buy it. Philosophically, the question is "whether reason, or rationality, stands at the beginning of all things and is grounded in the basis of all things or not. The question…
In his book on sacral Kingship (90-1), Francis Oakley points to the disjunction between Augustine himself and the medieval writers to claimed his mantle. Augustine's political theology in the City of God has been read through the lends of his anti-Donatist writings. A more theocratic Augustine results: "the Augustine whom…
Gaul is still divided into three parts, according to Stefan McDaniel in a 2016 essay in First Things . Three parties are vying to determine the future of France - deconstructionists, children of 1968; reconstructionists, in search for new values to guide the country, including consideration of Islam; and classicists,…
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