Rumors abound: of a sinful father,Or did she truly give birth without seed?You thus revealed to us by the water The truth of this most miraculous deed. Moving to completion, the Cross in sight,To make whole the cosmos, death trampled down.Prepared to endure all lashing and spiteBy double-birth for the world to renown. May weContinue reading “Festal Views”
Tag Archives: religion
Theodicy as Tragedy or Evil?
The “problem of evil,” even if imprecisely named, remains the most powerful intellectual impediment to belief in God. The world contains extraordinary beauty, joy, and order—and yet also deep suffering. How can these coexist if there is an all-good, all-powerful, all-knowing God? This question is not a modern discovery. It already stands at the centreContinue reading “Theodicy as Tragedy or Evil?”
Of Macarius
Embracing hard desert sand,Where his eyes did see great truth;Of the first end for this land—Lost by error of our youth. Although man did stray, in Faith did he pray.The Lord he did not eschewDespite the loss of his love;His pain to reveal a clueAbout grand plans from above. Divine kept at bay, in FaithContinue reading “Of Macarius”
Two Anecdotes About Family
When at the hospital for the birth of our son, I remember being unsettled by the fact that much of the medical staff kept referring to me as my wife’s “birthing partner.” This label struck me as deflating the stakes and investment I had (and have) in both my wife and child, and I likelyContinue reading “Two Anecdotes About Family”
Thinking Through Atomization
Two moral and political philosophers, Charles Taylor and Alasdair MacIntyre, have provided profound reflections on the nature of contemporary moral life, and—though their methods and projects differ—they come to intriguingly similar conclusions about the ills of modern ethics. The most notable, though described in different ways, is that of “individualism.” We might briefly understand thisContinue reading “Thinking Through Atomization”
Θεωρία (Theoría)
Your eyes that look beyond my own,Mere dye and egg upon bare wood,Reveal all that cannot be shown:Beauty giving the true and good. Mere dye and egg upon bare wood –To what do figures, still, attend?Beauty giving the true and good.With you, the past and future blend. To what do figures, still, attend?Both here withinContinue reading “Θεωρία (Theoría)”
Seven Days
Out of NothingnessComes the life-giving lightBy Your loving Hands Setting Your KingdomFar above and beyond hereOur humble dwelling Shaping splendidlyOcean and country preparedLife’s bloom may begin Two partners are madeBeacons for both night and dayIn celestial waltz Creatures emergingExploring both land and seaEarth now made a home To tend creationWants He a worthy servantFor thisContinue reading “Seven Days”
Out of the Mouths of Babes
For A. J. S. In his Confessions, St. Augustine of Hippo articulates his well-known though questionable understanding of babies: he attributes to them a sinfulness and malice that has caused many readers to accuse the African Bishop of lacking compassion and sensitivity for human infancy. A friend of mine has, however, tried to persuade meContinue reading “Out of the Mouths of Babes”
Friendship and Its Contexts
In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle discusses the nature of friendship and its profound (and perhaps near primary) importance in a fulfilling human life. This claim in itself could and has been the subject of much discourse, but his development of this topic provides many other ideas that are worth pursuing in their own right. OneContinue reading “Friendship and Its Contexts”
The Incoherence of the “West”
A new concern emerged during the twentieth century that was more common among ‘conservatives’ (of a certain sort), and there has been something of a countercurrent from those more critical of present affairs: I am referring to the defense or attack of what many have called “Western Civilization” (or, more simply, the “West”). To pointContinue reading “The Incoherence of the “West””
Hoping for Clarity 