Faith
Negative Witness
In the TV series, Shogun,, the fish out of water character, John Blackthorne, a Protestant English sailor on a Dutch ship, finds himself stranded in Japan. Almost immediately, viewers are introduced to his intense hatred of Catholics, particularly the Portuguese priests he quickly encounters in the country. He spews vehement
Bursting At The Seams
You don’t have to be a religious demographer like Ryan Burge to notice the decline in church attendance over the past few years. The trend was going south before the Covid-19 pandemic, but that event proved to be a major accelerant. Even my wife, who had faithfully attended our
Sacred Alaska Is So Much Further Than Lincoln Nebraska
Faith in the frozen North.
Friends of Mt. Athos
I enjoyed this trip through Mt. Athos from the lense of an outsider. Of special interest to me were the descriptions of the icons, their history and their presence. I expected I was the only person in the space, until I sensed another presence emanating, inexplicably, from the icon of
Demon Haunting
Thoughts about how our culture deals with the supernatural.
Do Not Pass Me Just To Slow Down
I worry about the kind of witness I will present if I'm too obvious about my faith.
The ChatGPT Mary Feature
The popular LLM is devoted to the Theotokos.
Flow
On animals and companionship.
The Jesus Juke That Wasn’t
My brother-in-Christ was talking about the best ways to secure your household goods from potential burglars the other day. I reminded him of these words from Jesus: Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store
Damnable Things Afoot
Regular readers know that I attempt to hold together two theological commitments that sit in tension. First, a hopeful eschatology where God, in the end, is "all in all." Second, a fierce prophetic conviction that what we do here on earth matters and that God will judge the