Bart Ehrman, currently the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, seems to have a way of getting under people’s skin. Continue reading “The Ehrman Project”
Category: Faith & Ideology
Milk, meat, mystery
I’m reminded this morning, by a daily reading from the Orthodox Lexicon, how much I’ve always loved the Epistle to the Hebrews and how much one passage used to puzzle me. Continue reading “Milk, meat, mystery”
Catholicism versus Orthodoxy
A former Calvinist convert to Eastern Orthodox, I nevertheless have for 13 years tried to give Roman Catholicism its due. But having just finished Scott Hahn’s book Rome Sweet Home, where he dismisses Orthodoxy fairly perfunctorily, I rise in brief defense, letting chips fall where they may. Continue reading “Catholicism versus Orthodoxy”
You can’t make this stuff up
I recently stumbled upon a fundamentalist site, so absurd that it has lingered with me, explaining “why the Apocrypha isn’t in the Bible.” It’s absurd as any patent circular “reasoning” is absurd: the Apocrypha isn’t in the Bible, in substantial part, because it teaches false doctrine. And how does one discern false doctrine? By seeing if it’s in the Bible. Continue reading “You can’t make this stuff up”
Hymns from the Matins of Nativity
All the hymns of the Orthodox Church are remarkably rich theologically, especially in paradox and in typology. Rarely does one get the sense that the hymnographer is trying directly to play on the hearer’s emotions; any emotional “uplift” comes from contemplation of the holy mysteries evoked by the hymns.
The Summons of the Star
Father Jonathan Tobias at the Second Terrace blog appears to appreciate Auden’s For the Time Being, too. Here, he quotes and comments on passages that I savored, but that I don’t think I passed along or commented on earlier this Nativity season: Continue reading “The Summons of the Star”
Arose .. and worshiped
So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of God and worshiped Him.
II Kingdoms 13:5 (Septuagint; II Samuel 13:5 in KJV and others) Continue reading “Arose .. and worshiped”
Simeon
From W. H. Auden’s For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio, musings of the Righteous Simeon, who held the Christ child at the temple and then prayed the Nunc Dimitis: “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to enlighten the gentiles, and the glory of Thy people, Israel. Continue reading “Simeon”
Inflict Thy promises …
From W. H. Auden’s For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio, excerpts from further into the poem than prior days’ excerpts:
The Star and the Wise Men
From W. H. Auden’s For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio, excerpts from a section on The Nativity Star and the Three Wise Men: Continue reading “The Star and the Wise Men”
Tipsy Teetotaler ن 