Part of my seasonal reading included a book by Andrew T. Lincoln, entitled, Born of a Virgin?, published by Wm. B. Eerdmans in 2013. Lincoln is a Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Gloucestershire, and the author of...
If you are at all like me, it is not Christmas until you have seen the holiday special A Charlie Brown Christmas, which has been shown seasonally every year since it first appeared in 1965. I have watched it faithfully every year since...
In the world’s hagiology, it seems that untimely demise bestows a scent of secular sanctity, that those who die before their time are endowed with the status of saints. Take for example the untimely death of Princess Diana. Despite some...
It used to be the norm in western culture for men to wear hats, and there was a common and recognized etiquette regarding the wearing of the western hat. One did not wear it, for example, when in someone’s home, or in a house of worship....
If you haven’t yet purchased a Hipster Nativity Set, you might be too late—despite their $129.99 price tag, they are flying off the shelves, even at a limit of three to a customer. The set includes the traditional figures, but all in a...
Lately I came across an interesting bit of theologizing. The author (who shall remain nameless) spoke of his love for Psalm 139 (“one of my absolute favorite psalms”). In it he said that “right smack dab in the middle of this Psalm, King...
Today, November 22, is the anniversary of the death of C.S. Lewis., and in honour of the day I would like to offer a book review on a book about C.S. Lewis, The Cambridge Companion to C.S. Lewis, edited by Robert MacSwain and Michael...
November 21 commemorates the first time the young girl destined to be the Mother of God entered into the Temple at Jerusalem. Though now long gone, the Temple must have presented an awe-inspiring sight to the young child, with its white...
The question was recently put to me whether I could bring myself to pull the switch to execute someone sitting in an electric chair or release the trapdoor to hang someone standing in a hangman’s noose. The one asking the question did...
I cannot have been the only one to have noticed on Facebook and other public forums an overwhelming use of ad hominem arguments when discussing controversial topics. Whether the hot-button topic is abortion, the ordination of women,...
In the rough and tumble world of online discussion of just about any current theological issue, eventually one is sure to come across a denunciation of the God of the Old Testament. His detractors deride Him as cranky, vengeful,...
Lately I was watching an old favourite British television series, “The Prisoner”, starring Patrick McGoohan. The series ran for a mere 17 episodes, ending in 1968. In its time it was ground-breaking, combining psychological drama with...
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 which plays “contemporary Christian music” at...
Saturday morning began with a thunderbolt: a dear fellow-priest from my diocese began his phone call to me early that morning with the words, “Did you hear about Fr. Alexander?” I had not heard about Fr. Alexander Pihach, but soon was...
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...
