In the opening verses of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah we find the following words: “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken: ‘Sons have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against Me. The ox knows...
The Hipster Nativity Set is (sadly) back in the news. A year or so ago, some enterprising entrepreneurs created this Nativity set, which includes the traditional figures, but all in a distinctly hipster form. Joseph has a man-bun and is...
You have probably all seen certain pictures of the saints—usually Western pictures—in which all the saints look more or less the same: the same doe-eyes, the same piously folded hands, the same soft, feminine features found on both women...
Finally in our dialogue with our Jewish neighbours we look to the patterns and lessons from Jewish history as interpreted by the Hebrew Scriptures. Thinking about the catastrophe that befell Israel in 70 A.D. when the Temple was...
We continue with our apologetic project of commending the Christian Faith to our Jewish neighbours, and today look at the life of Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophetic elements in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (compare Luke...
In the late 1880s, Friedrich Nietzsche published a work entitled, Also Sprach Zarathustra—in English “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”. Zarathustra (more commonly known as “Zoroaster”) was the founder of Zoroastrianism, a dualistic Persian...
In my last blog post I looked at the patristic project of commending the Christian Faith to one’s Jewish neighbour, and concluded that the project, though fraught with potential for misunderstanding, was still worthwhile. Here I would...
I have just finished reading a wonderful book by the late scholar Louis Feldman (d. 2017) entitled Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World: Attitudes and Interactions from Alexander to Justinian. In it, he mentions the patristic attempts to...
Christian baptism is about conversion, as a quick look at the Orthodox liturgical texts reveals. Questions are addressed to the candidate, requiring him or her to renounce Satan, and to seal this renunciation by spitting upon him. Next,...
In the two last blog posts we looked at love, peace, and joy as the defining components of a Christian life and the essence of the Kingdom of God. Last week we examined what peace was; finally we examine the nature of joy. As with the...
In the last post we looked at love, peace, and joy as the defining components of a Christian life. It is these realities that constitute fundamental discipleship to Christ, not obedience to rules or fear of contamination, however...
With its multiplicity of rules, canons, and liturgical stipulations, one might be forgiven for thinking that Orthodoxy is primarily about rules and regulations, coupled with a corresponding fear of breaking the rules and regulations....
In the translation provided in our official OCA Divine Liturgy book of the festal material for the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross there exists a puzzle. All of the material there is quite appropriate to the feast—the psalm for the...
In the bad ol’ days when I was still highly resistant to what I now call “Holy Tradition” I was keen to sniff out the slightest whiff of idolatrous veneration of the Mother of God—including the use of the term “the Mother of God” used by...
Not many people know that the charismatic renewal movement which swept through the mainline Protestant and the Roman Catholic churches from the 1970s had an Orthodox component as well. Calling this component a “movement” in the Orthodox...
