Good theology can pop up in unexpected places. One such place is the writing of Dr. Seuss, author of children’s books. My favourite theological work of his is How the Grinch Stole Christmas, a story of conversion and redemption. I also like his pro-life treatise, though it is doubtful that he considered it to be such when he wrote it. It is…
The burning of books is objectionable on principle. Indeed, whenever I hear of books being burnt, I always think of the famous quote by Heinrich Heine, who was born a Jew but converted to Christianity, and who died 1856. He said, “Where they burn books, in the end they will burn people.” (There is a fine irony in his far-sighted wisdom, since…
When I was converted to Christ through the Jesus People movement, there were no praise bands. (A “praise band”, for those unfamiliar with the term, is a band with electric guitars and drums that plays “contemporary Christian music” at the front of evangelical churches.) In those happy and innocent days, young Christians would meet together in a…
Today—December 22, 2012—is a day many thought would never come. A number of people were expecting some form of the apocalypse to occur on December 21, 2012. According to one web site, “At least 25 million people think that there won’t be a Christmas this year because of the Mayan apocalypse.” That is, they believed that the world would end on…
Christmas is a hard and heartrending season for any who have recently experienced loss and bereavement, but perhaps no Christmas will be harder than for some families in Newtown, Connecticut this year. I refer of course to the horrifying events there of December 14, when a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School around 9.30 in the morning and…
There are many odd things to be found on the internet, things strange enough to make one’s eyes widen and blink. But perhaps nothing is more odd (and to my mind, more blood-chilling) that the example and words of Mr. David Patterson. Mr. Patterson looks like an unlikely candidate to chill anyone’s blood—he appears on the online site of “
On December 13, the Orthodox rejoice in the life and glorious death of Herman of Alaska, the first saint of Alaska, canonized by the Orthodox Church in America in 1970. December 13 is the date of St. Herman’s repose and death. It is also the date of the death of Irma Grese, pictured below.
Irma Grese also died on December 13, 1945, at the age…
One of the things I hate about going shopping during the season of the Christmas rush is the music that is piped in over the mall sound system. I would happy with traditional renderings of the old carols, but instead, my ears are assaulted with the latest auditory atrocity, celebrating Christmas as a time of consumerism, indulgence, and fun in the…
For a long time now, a war has been raging within the lofty towers of Academia, and consists of the pitched battle between biblical conservatives and biblical liberals. The bombast accompanying the conflict reminds me of the old World Wrestling Federation; the ferocity, of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. And like those conflicts, there are two…
How much do you need to know to become a catechumen in the Orthodox Church? That was the question put to me by an inquirer at the parish I serve one Sunday several months ago. The young lady in question was drawn to Orthodoxy and her heart yearned to serve Jesus in the fullness of the Faith she had recently discovered, but she felt unsure if she…
St. John Chrysostom had a much slimmer Menaion than we do. The Menaion, of course, is that collection of hymns celebrating the lives of the Church’s saints, offering the proper liturgical hymns for the services of Vespers, Matins, and the Divine Liturgy. God’s grace has been so abundant throughout the centuries that there is now pretty much a…
I would like to tell you a sad story, the story of a single man, solitary and secular. We were playmates at school together when I was young, both of us being the only children of our respective parents. We got on well enough in the early days of public school. In high school, our paths diverged: he continued in his secular path, while I became…
The service of Vespers is, I think, dramatically under-appreciated today. The temptation for us busy people is to reduce our church-going to Sunday mornings only, and let everything else slide. Since we under-appreciate Vespers, it often tends to slide with other things we deem relatively unimportant. But Vespers warrants a second look, and a…
The year is 1868; the place, Damascus. A self-taught mystic calling himself Abd el Matar left his wife, family, and home to found a group of disciples in Damascus, the Shazlis, basing it on a Sufi brotherhood established in the middle ages. About forty or so people gathered about him to pray and seek God. In the words of Isabel Burton, wife of the…
One of the saddest books I read is the Church metrical book, the book containing the list of those baptized, married, and buried. It can be a sad read because of the number of people once baptized and chrismated that no longer walk with the Lord. Most of course continue their journey of faith, but some do not. They began well enough as zealous…
When was the last time you heard a sermon or read an article or blog post on Romans chapter 16? Apart from Rom. 16:1, which describes Phoebe as “a diakonos of the church which is at Cenchrea” (the darling verse of those advocating the restoration of an order of deaconesses), most people pretty much ignore the whole chapter, which consists…
Permit me please to share with you the words of an old Pentecostal chorus: “Let the fire fall, let the fire fall, let the fire from heaven fall. We are waiting and expecting; now in faith dear Lord we call. Let the fire fall, let the fire fall. On Thy promise we depend. From the glory of Thy Presence let the Pentecostal fire descend!” It’s not…
In the view of many people, what God wants is for everyone to become religious. And given the fact that some religious people are (to be frank) something of a pain in the neck, not surprisingly this view is a hard sell in the world. By “religious” I mean the state whereby a person holds certain private opinions about God and the world, and…
My situation in life can be described in the words of the old children’s hymn written by Susan B. Werner and published in 1868: “Jesus bids us shine with a clear, pure light, like a little candle burning in the night; in this world of darkness, we must shine, you in your small corner, and I in mine.” That is, I live in my small little corner of…
One of the things which has historically been a point of polemic and conflict between the Orthodox East and the Roman Catholic West is the use of the Filioque clause in the Creed. The word “filioque” is Latin for “from the Son”, and it is used in the classically western version of the Creed to describe the Person and procession of the Holy…