In the current debate on hell (which is really a debate on universalism) there is some fuzzy thinking going on. Here is an excerpt from my book The Quest for the Creed which comes out next week. This book is a new edition of Adventures in Orthodoxy. Published by Crossroads, it has new material and a new format. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Someone [...]
Whitby Abbey - "bare, ruined quires" Damian Thompson (who is probably one of the world's greatest journalists) write here about the decline of Christianity in Britain. The shrinking of those who identify as Christians is combined with a dramatic surge in the Muslim population. You can't disagree with the statistics: Since the last census [...]
Do you remember that stylish film The Matrix? The hero, Neo Anderson, exists in a dull, conformist, monotone and monochrome world. Then he wakes up and is "born again" and enters the world of adventure and risk which is the real world. What I find curious about modern American Catholicism is that it is similarly monotone and [...]
You know the theory that a frog put in a pan of water will stay there as the temperature rises and the poor thing doesn't sense the increase in temperature and eventually boils to death. The biggest problem with American Catholics is that the majority of them are asleep. Lulled by materialism, the good life and [...]
Yesterday I posted an explanation of the complex relationships within the Church of England. I explained here about Anglo Catholic, Evangelicals and Liberals. However, this is not the full story. As usual, there is a story behind the story. The divisions between Liberal, Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical are, in many respects, only superficial and historical. The real [...]
Sin is monotonous. Sanctity is totally original. Underneath this observation lurks a deeper truth--that sin is boring. We believe in original sin, but there is nothing original about sin. This is because evil is derivative. Satan cannot create anything, all he can do is twist or destroy or distort what is good. Take any sin at [...]
Remember the old joke about the man who says to the priest, "I never go to your church Father. The place is full of hypocrites!" Priest answers, "Well come along anyway. We can always make room for one more." In today's gospel Jesus heals a woman on the Sabbath and the Pharisees pick him up on [...]
A debate has been cooking amongst various bloggers who are atheists about whether there is such a thing as objective morality. I was interested in the observations that animals behave in a 'moral' way--elephants grieve their dead herd members, dogs stand loyally beside the grave of their dead master, monkeys share and gorillas are tender toward [...]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_-BOvWVycM[/youtube] As a fundamentalist boy I had to learn my Bible verses from the King James Bible. One I remember clearly is Hebrews 11.1 "For faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen." For some reason I always loved the way that rolled off the tongue. It had a [...]
Do similarities between pagan religions and Christianity dis prove the Christian claims? To understand the relationship between pagan religions and Christianity it is important to understand the Catholic idea of the 'development of doctrine.' This was first set out by fifth century theologian Vincent of Lerins.In this excerpt from his writings he explains how truth develops within [...]