Of all the places I’ve worked and played in my life, the politest one, the one where people were the most courteous and quiet, was a boxing gym in Decatur, Georgia. I hung out there for two years when I was in my early fifties, the boxing workouts being just right for an older guy. If you take it . . . . Continue Reading »
Whitefish Mountain, a ski resort in northwest Montana, is known for its spicy terrain, rime-clothed “snow ghosts,” and postcard-perfect views of Glacier National Park. And, of course, for “Big Mountain Jesus.” Big Mountain Jesus is a kitschy but beloved dashboard-ornament-style . . . . Continue Reading »
De Gaulle by julian jackson harvard, 928 pages, $39.95 Using pick handles and rifle butts, the police force of one of the world’s most civilized countries surrounded and savagely beat hundreds of dark-skinned men. They then threw them into the beautiful river that flows through a city celebrated . . . . Continue Reading »
American Priest: The Ambitious Life and Conflicted Legacy of Notre Dame’s Father Ted Hesburgh by wilson d. miscamble, c.s.c. image, 464 pages, $28 In 2008, Father Theodore Hesburgh (1917–2015) gave an interview to the Wall Street Journal in which he said, “I . . . . Continue Reading »
In Iași, Romania, in January 2019, some three hundred Orthodox scholars gathered for the inaugural conference of the International Orthodox Theological Association (IOTA). Pioneered by IOTA’s president, Paul Gavrilyuk, the gathering overcame forces that have prevented intra-Orthodox dialogue . . . . Continue Reading »
James Boswell, who knew a thing or two about hero worship, called Julius Caesar “the greatest man of any age.” Alexander Hamilton told Thomas Jefferson that Caesar was “the greatest man who ever lived.” Theodor Mommsen, in his History of Rome, called Caesar “the sole creative genius . . . . Continue Reading »
An icon of the Annunciation appears on the central altar doors of every Orthodox Christian church. The “royal doors” are double doors, so the icon is a diptych, with Gabriel on the left and Mary on the right. As a young child, I found the movement of this icon mesmerizing as the doors opened and . . . . Continue Reading »
The year 2018 marked the sixteen-hundredth anniversary of the excommunication of one of Christianity’s most famous heretics: the fifth-century monk Pelagius, who gave his name to “Pelagianism,” the set of beliefs that denies the doctrine of original sin and the need for grace in order to live . . . . Continue Reading »
In 2002, in these pages, Peter Berger, the late American sociologist, offered a succinct summary of the health and status of sociology. In Invitation to Sociology (1963), he had praised its promise. Two generations later, he offered a much more pessimistic picture. Now, a decade and a . . . . Continue Reading »
God’s Supersessionism David Novak (“Supersessionism Hard and Soft,” February) clearly demonstrates the negative consequences of the “hard” supersessionism and the positive benefits of the “soft.” I consider myself a soft supersessionist, meaning that the covenant God made with the Jews . . . . Continue Reading »
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