The Threshold of Joy – Eric H Janzen
The Threshold of Joy
It was night, but they dared not sleep In the starlit darkness, they watched The wind caught the sound of their sheep Resting as though the world were at peace
These soul-weary shepherds all wondered Would the blind ever see once more? Would the deaf ear ever open? Would a broken body ever leap with joy? Would the mute ever sing a song?
We wait like shepherds for heralds Watching for bright angels in the dark Whose voices our despair destroy We stand in the threshold of joy
—eric h Janzen
In Matthew 11, John the Baptist sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the One. John is part of a long tradition of prophets who have carried the burden of waiting for the Messiah’s arrival. It has been so long, and so agonizing, that while hopeful, Jesus is the One, he can’t allow himself the joy of fully believing it lest his heart be broken. Jesus, a fellow prophet, does not answer straightforwardly, such as: “Yep, tell him I am indeed the One.” That’s not the way prophets talk to each other.Instead, Jesus gives John a far more profound confirmation: he sends the message that he is the long-awaited One because he is fulfilling prophecy. read more…
The Engine Running on Victimization – Jonathan Foster
The Engine Running on Victimizationand some Girardian-inspired ways to change The conservative Christians feel justified in their anger because they have bought into the idea that their way of life is under siege. With backs up against the wall (supposedly), they feel...
Q&R “Why are you no longer an Evangelical? How about the Charismatic gifts?” Eric Janzen
Question: Which of your beliefs has changed that made the label “Evangelical” no longer correct for you? This is a difficult question to answer in brief. However, I shall make an attempt. I will preface this by saying that I consider myself, in part, an Anabaptist who...
Jan Zwicky’s “Once upon a Time in the West” – Review by Ron Dart
Jan Zwicky, Once upon a Time in the West: Essays on the Politics of Thought and Imagination (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2023). I lived for a couple of years in the young 1970s in northern Norway and Switzerland. I spent time in Norway with the mountain Sami—this...
Q&R: “The Tree of Knowing Good from Evil” – Bradley Jersak
Question I just finished Bradley Jersak's June 4, 2023 article: "The Devil...from the Arche." My wrestle is then how the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil could exist in Eden if there was no sin yet. If sin originates with humankind, what was the...
Contemplation: Theoria & Theosis, Epiphany & Theophany – Lazar Puhalo
Einstein relates that when he was trying to think of a way to formulate relativity while hiking alone in the mountains. He had an “epiphany” about how to formulate it. When Archimedes lept naked from the bathtub and ran shouting “Eureka,” he had experienced an epiphany. Christian theoria leads, not to an epiphany, but to theophany. Saint Gregory calls us to Christian theoria – a new contemplation of “being.” And Saint Maximos would agree: we have “received” only when we have “contemplated.”
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Q&R: What is Satan? Who tempted Jesus? Brian Zahnd & Bradley Jersak
Question: How are we to understand “Satan” or “the satan”? Brian Zahnd: I don’t know that we fully can, but I understand the satan to be a cosmic spiritual-psychic phenomenon arising from idolatry and accusation, reaching its ultimate form in anti-human empire. Thus,...
Wake Up. Jonah: A Midrash – Eric H. Janzen
Wake Up. Jonah Jonah sat down, cleaned the dust from his sleeves, and leaned on his staff. His discoloured skin showed prominently now in the sunlight. How many days was it since he had so unceremoniously been delivered onto the sands of the...
Why Reject the Ontology of Demons? Eric H. Janzen (response by Wm. Paul Young)
Why Reject the Ontology of Demons? 1. Spiritual Integrity—By rejecting demon ontology, we stop using them as scapegoats to avoid our responsibility as humans for our sin and evil actions. 2. Spiritual Freedom—By rejecting demon ontology, we stop believing in evil,...
Carl Truman: Sic et Non – Ron Dart
Carl R. Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution (Crossway, Wheaton: 2020).Carl R. Trueman, Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual...