The writings of Plato and Aristotle are often described as works of reason, as opposed to the Bible, which is said to be revelation—a text that bypasses our natural faculties to give us knowledge directly from God through a series of miracles. This assumption about the revealed character of . . . . Continue Reading »
Every epoch has its secular religion, a perverse imitation of Christianity that takes part of the Christian proposition and diverts it toward this world. It was not so long ago that communism transformed charity for the poor into hatred for capitalist society and ultimately for every society that . . . . Continue Reading »
As is usual in religious struggles, François Fénelon lost the battle in the early-modern debate over mystical prayer but is winning (for now) the war. Censured by the pope for some of his views regarding “pure love,” he has sometimes been cast as the naïve dupe of the illuminist widow Madame . . . . Continue Reading »
The best part of Bad Religion appears at the end, where Ross Douthat identifies problematic modern Christianities that, by conventional standards, stand as heretical alternatives to the gospel message of sacrifice, charity, asceticism, and worship of the transcendent. Of these contemporary . . . . Continue Reading »
Around 318, Arius, a popular pastor in Alexandria, Egypt, clashed with his bishop, Alexander. The point of contention touched—and continues to touch—the very heart of the Christian faith: Is Christ God, or not? The problem was this: How could Christians call Christ “God” and call the . . . . Continue Reading »
Seeing our five sons, strangers in the grocery store ask us, “Do you know what is causing that?” What other times and other cultures considered a small family now looks like a television reality show. More surprising are the comments we often receive from fellow Evangelicals, usually the older . . . . Continue Reading »
Dana Gioia is one of those poets known more for his criticism and service than his own poetry. His essay “Can Poetry Matter?,” published in the Atlantic in 1991, turned more than a few heads for arguing that poetry had wrongly become a coterie art, written for and read by . . . . Continue Reading »
We all have a romantic image of monks patiently copying texts in their scriptoria, with the more artistic illuminating the manuscripts. But really, it must have been very tedious work, and it’s no surprise that monks wrote comments in the margins. They complain, of course (“It is very cold” . . . . Continue Reading »
Best to begin in medias res, says Horace, so let me start with two exemplary excerpts from the works of the inimitable Irish writer Amanda McKittrick Ros (1860–1939). The first opens the fourth chapter of her debut novel of 1897, Irene Iddesleigh: When on the eve of glory, whilst brooding over . . . . Continue Reading »
God will Judge After reading Daniel Philpott’s “Peace After Genocide” (June/July), I want to offer a few personal comments on The Hague Tribunal. As a Bosnian Muslim who survived the war and lost family and friends in the war, I find the whole system of justice (that is, The Hague) a farce. (A . . . . Continue Reading »
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