Our pastor has a secret weapon. On a weekly basis, he consults a treasure trove of biblical commentary material directly from the Fathers of the Early Church, via the wonders of his Logos Bible Software. The ability of this technology to search such a large body of written material for relevant commentary is quite amazing.
Tag: Theology
Putting Pain in Perspective: Reading T.S. Eliot During Lent
The season of Lent provides an opportunity to be honest about pain...and to put it in perspective. At its best Lent is a communal and individual return to the waters of baptism, not a "self-help" fashioning of a better "me" or another chance to reinstate a list of failed New Year's resolutions. It is less
Currently Thinking About: Protestant Hymns in Roman Catholic Missals
I’ve been exploring various (contemporary) Roman Catholic missals and have found that the majority of the hymnody they contain are historically Protestant in origin. The same can be said for the Roman Catholic prayer devotional that I use called Magnificat. This is fascinating to me. Great church music has the ability to be delightfully indiscriminate.
Currently Thinking About: Marriage, Church Traditions, and Divine Love
Some view marriage to their church tradition in the same way some view and practice marriage between a man and woman. As self sufficient and sustainable without help from those outside their particular marriage (tradition). This is an extension of the modern myth of the “nuclear” family. Marriage for the common good means covenant commitment
The Catholicity of the Reformation: On Historic Christian Worship and its Practice
I came across a great little book a few weeks ago by two of my favorite Lutheran theologians called The Catholicity of the Reformation. It's based on a series of lectures given over 15 years ago at a couple of conferences sponsored by the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology. The section that follows comes
The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ
The announcement of the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord from the Roman Martyrology draws upon Sacred Scripture to declare in a formal way the birth of Christ. It begins with creation and relates the birth of the Lord to the major events and personages of sacred and secular history. The particular events contained in the
Advent, Sufjan Stevens, and Karl Barth: A Few Thoughts
It has taken me more than a few weeks to work through all fifty-eight tracks of Sufjan Steven’s Silver and Gold. My daughter Rachel is fascinated with Sufjan’s version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” So much so, that she made me play it for her five times in a row yesterday morning. Our
Sing like a Wesleyan…party like a Sufi
Tis' the eve of the Sufjan Stevens Christmas spectacular in San Francisco. Tomorrow night I will be traveling to the city by the Bay with my brother-in-law to participate in what promises to be a unique live concert event. I have heard rumors that there will be much singing and merriment, those in attendance beckoned to join in the Sufi
Guest Post: A Friend Responds to Peter Leithart’s ‘Too Catholic to be Catholic’
Christians from my pedigree talk a lot about the best way to be a faithful Christian while maintaining embodied practice of the faith within our current historical/cultural context. It is a real struggle. These discussion are (by and large) not about who is in and who is out, who is a Christian and who is
Caryll Houselander “The Heart of Reconciliation”
This passage from a work by Caryll Houselander is perhaps one of the most profound and straightforward meditations I have read in regards to a Christian approach to human relationships. Houselander was a lay Catholic writer and artist who was born in 1901 and died of breast cancer in 1954 at the age of 53.