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abortion
Abortion

Letters on Abortion, (Part 1)

What is below is fairly self-explanatory. This is an exchange I had with a local liberal clergyman on the subject of abortion. The circumstances of the debate are included in the text itself. I initially e-mailed this out to a list of clergy in our city after a local (and…

by Richard BledsoeNovember 17, 2015
wall-2
Ezra

The Perfumed Butler and the Wisdom of Civil Obedience

The seemingly humdrum parts of the Bible often hide overlooked wisdom. Take, for example, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Their stories aren't exactly the most gripping or memorable. They are far less concrete than, say, the story of the Exodus. No one in Ezra is stricken blind or devoured…

by Christian LeithartNovember 10, 2015
sparkler
Happiness

"Happy! Happy! Happy!" Authentic Happiness and Its Knock-Offs

For most of the past century, philosophical perspectives on life in the western world have been overtly grim and pessimistic. The optimism of the Enlightenment, generated by confidence in the scientific method and the potential of an increasingly civilized humanity to redress the evils of the world, was shattered by…

by Bill DeJongNovember 5, 2015
aaron-burden-1ebsmyrau-s-unsplash
Hermeneutics

How Does a Chiasm Mean?

Chiastic structures are found all over the Bible, and in recent decades commentators have become more adept at spotting them. But identifying these literary structures is only part of the challenge. There remains the challenge of understanding what they mean. Part of the answer is found in the recognition that…

by Steve JefferyNovember 3, 2015
last-supper
Eucharist

How To Change the World, (Part 2)

Part 1 can be found HERE . Clearly, more than just getting worship right is important in changing the world, but since worship is the central act of God’s people, performed on the first day of the week at the center of the world before the very face of God,…

by James B. JordanOctober 29, 2015
solomonsidolatry
Biblical Theology

Big Love: A History of Stolen Fruit

“Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed.” ( Luke 11:27 ) Arguing for Christian morality in a secular society is difficult. A culture which accepts evolutionary dogma has no intellectual place — or inherent desire — for absolute morality, since it believes morality…

by Mike BullOctober 27, 2015

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Dylan, Merton, and Maritain

Joseph Frank closes his review of two recent books on Maritain and early 20th century Catholicism with this charming scene: “Maritain returned for a last visit to the United States in 1966 to say farewell to old friends and to visit the grave of his sister-in-law Vera buried in Princeton.…

February 6, 2006

Eucharistic meditation, Fifth After Epiphany

2 Kings 10:26-27: They brought the sacred pillars out of the temple of Baal and burned them. And the broke down the sacred pillar of Baal, and tore down the temple of Baal and made it a refuse dump to this day. One day, some people came to Jesus with…

February 5, 2006

Baptismal meditation, Fifth After Epiphany

2 Kings 10:16: And Jehu said, Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. Jehu leads a bloody revolution that overthrows the house of Ahab. He kills Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah. He has Jezebel killed, and orders the decapitation of 70 sons of…

February 5, 2006

Exhortation, Fifth After Epiphany

As Jehu marched toward the capital city of Samaria, he encountered 42 men from the house of David. Jehu took them alive, killed them at a pit at a place called Beth-eked, and then continued on toward Samaria. This incident gives us pause. Jehu was anointed to be the avenger…

February 5, 2006
Literature

Actors and poets

Derek Jacobi wrote a foreword for a new Oxfordian biography of Edward de Vere, suggesting that de Vere wrote the plays because the plays were written by an actor and de Vere was an actor. Say what? The TLS reviewer notes that Shakespeare, alone among all the suggested authors of…

February 5, 2006
Literature

Dumb show

John Dover Wilson puzzles over Hamlet, Act 3, where Claudius is apparently unaffected by the dumb show that re-enacts his murder of Hamlet, Sr. Dover Wilson concludes that Claudius must have been distracted during the dumb show, and missed it. Dramatically, that may work. Thematically, the inefficacy of the dumb…

February 5, 2006

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