A Conversation between Silences – Jessica Scott
“Silence remains, inescapably, a form of speech.” (Susan Sontag) Silence is framed; it is always a silence of something. It is absence but it is idiosyncratic absence – absence in a context, absence of a kind of sound, absence in a kind of place, generated,...
Moral Outrage is a Form of Public Confession – Lazar Puhalo
I want to repeat some things that I have said before because of some current political circumstances both in secular politics and within the Church: True morality consists far more in how well we care for others than in the external behaviour we demand of others. This...
Apocatastasis: The Heresy That Never Was – Father Al Kimel
When first presented with the universalist hope, many Orthodox and Roman Catholics immediately invoke the authority of the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553), citing the fifteen anti-Origenist anathemas: “Apokatastasis has been dogmatically defined by the Church as...
The War of the Lamb – Brian Zahnd
Those who want to hold onto a primitive vision of a violent and retributive God often cite the white horse rider passage from Revelation. They will say something like this: “Jesus came the first time as a lamb, but he’s coming back the second time as a lion.”
“There’s None So Blind …” – John 9 with Open Eyes – Claire Grafton
“There’s None So Blind …” – John 9 with Open Eyes – Claire Grafton
Burn the Witch: Radiohead, Refugees, Britain First, Sadiq Khan & the Donald – Reactions by Brad Jersak
Burn the Witch, Radiohead, Refugees, Britain First, Sadiq Khan, the Donald, Brad Jersak, Michael Hardin
Two Types of Spirituality: Chaucer or Bunyan? – Ron Dart
We live at a period of time in which two types of spirituality are vying for the hearts and minds of many. The “I’m spiritual but not religious” slogan and cliché is but a symptom of such worldviews at odds. The differences between these outlooks have a 500-year-old history and such perspectives continue to play themselves out in a social way and manner. There is the Classical tradition as embodied in a catholic and Chaucerian heritage. There is the Protestant tradition as embodied in a modern, anarchist and Bunyanist heritage.
Re-Sacralizing Violence in the Left Behind Books – Paul Nuechterlein
From the perspective of mimetic theory, the most serious problem with the Left Behind series of novels, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins,(1) is their re-sacralization of violence. Their version of Jesus is no longer the Lamb slain but the same beastly violence of...
Nonviolence and the Book of Revelation – Paul Nuechterlein
There are sixty-six books in the Christian Bible, none of which has provoked more controversy, esoteric speculation, or misunderstanding than the very last one — Revelation. In the fourth century notable scholars like Chrysostom and Eusebius hesitated to include Revelation in the canon.
Armageddon – Brian Zahnd
Tel-Megiddo The second Sunday after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, I preached a sermon entitled “The Road To Armageddon.” During those days of grief and rage when I should have preached the gospel of peace and forgiveness, I instead resorted to the...