The bitterness that many Orthodox Christians feel towards the Catholic Church is rooted in a historical perception of past grievances which Catholic Christians don’t share and don’t understand. For this reason alone, Catholics will benefit from reading Dmitri Solzhenitsyn’s book, which surveys the history of the relations between the two churches. Reuniting Rome with the [...]
Turning the popular negative connotation of “orthodoxy” on its head, G.K. Chesterton argues that orthodoxy is anything but dull and musty, but on the contrary exciting and adventuresome. In 1952, C.S. Lewis did a great service to the world in producing Mere Christianity, his account of the fundamentals of Christian belief for a popular audience. It [...]
A primary aim of my work is to counter the widespread misconception that Christianity somehow “weakened” or “polluted” the cultures of Europe. It is often claimed by Neo-Pagans that the faith was simply a foreign imposition forced upon an unwilling population. However, a closer examination of contemporary sources reveals a far more nuanced reality. Joseph [...]
Yes, we Catholics are all aware of the problems plaguing Holy Mother Church right now. So, why then do we persist? Perhaps one way of addressing this question is to focus on the precise nature of what ecclesial Christians believe about the Church. Many Christians are scandalized or crying “I told you so” in the [...]
Creation is the accuser of the ungodly. For through its inherent spiritual principles, creation proclaims its Maker; and through the natural laws intrinsic to each individual species it instructs us in virtue. The spiritual principles may be recognized in the unremitting continuance of each individual species, the laws in the consistency of its natural activity. [...]
Take a good look at the icon below. What do you see? Icons can be strange to our modern tastes. They are beautiful yet arrestingly otherworldly, with disorienting proportions and perspectives. Icons do not conform themselves to our own standards of judgment. To enter into the divine mysteries, we must relinquish our claim to be [...]
Peco Gaskovski’s "Exogenesis" has been described as “Blade Runner meets the Benedict Option." In the novel, a thousand-mile metropolis named Lantua has emerged from the collapse of the USA. Artificial birthing and strict reproductive control is enforced with hi-tech social conditioning, 24-7 monitoring by the state, and the total loss of freedom, disguised by smooth [...]
To be sure, the Bible is a challenge to us: it presents us with a world we did not create, did not reason ourselves into. It is in some places thorny and obscure, in others lucid and consoling, and very often majestic and grand. The world of reason and research can help us make sense [...]
A call to the Trappists to order a child’s casket is one no parent wants to make, but the monks provide comfort and support for the grieving families by always sending the casket as a gift. The monks themselves have been surprised by how much fruit has been borne by their prayer and work. Trappists, [...]
While much Western art immerses us in the richness of this world with its spacial and emotional realism, the Eastern Orthodox tradition uses only painted images, with icons of Christ, Mary, and the saints functioning as “windows into heaven,” by way of stylized forms that convey a Platonic ideal of beauty and truth. Virgin [...]
Nicholas Berdyaev stressed the primacy of culture and theological issues over politics and economics as truer forms of reality. He argued that only when society has realigned itself, individual by individual and community by community, “towards divine objects” could humanity save itself. One kind of weird but enticing academic puzzle for me is discovering and [...]