“No Other Foundation”

The Pharisees get a lot of ink in the New Testament, perhaps surprisingly for a sect that hasn’t existed in its original form since the first century (though much of their approach has survived in classical Rabbinic...

In the Gospel for the Sunday of the Canaanite Woman (Matthew 15:21-28) we find a phrase that some have found troubling.  The troubling nature of the phrase was brought home to me in a university lecture I once heard, for the...

The Great Feast of the Meeting of the Lord, which we celebrated on February 2, commemorates the time when Simeon and Anna met Christ in the Temple after His Mother came there to present Him to the Lord and to offer the...

Good theology can pop up in unexpected places.  One such place is the writing of Dr. Seuss, author of children’s books.  My favourite theological work of his is How the Grinch Stole Christmas, a story of conversion and...

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. ...

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 that plays “contemporary...

Today—December 22, 2012—is a day many thought would never come.  A number of people were expecting some form of the apocalypse to occur on December 21, 2012.  According to one web site, “At least 25 million people think...

Christmas is a hard and heartrending season for any who have recently experienced loss and bereavement, but perhaps no Christmas will be harder than for some families in Newtown, Connecticut this year.  I refer of course to...

There are many odd things to be found on the internet, things strange enough to make one’s eyes widen and blink.  But perhaps nothing is more odd (and to my mind, more blood-chilling) that the example and words of Mr....

On December 13, the Orthodox rejoice in the life and glorious death of Herman of Alaska, the first saint of Alaska, canonized by the Orthodox Church in America in 1970.  December 13 is the date of St. Herman’s repose and...