Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
Pope Benedict XVI's rather spectacular baptism of a Muslim convert has generated a good deal of discussion amongst Christians and Muslims alike. Rather than adding unnecessary heat to the subject, I commend the dialogue between Abu Daoud and Sister Sherry--Anglican and Roman Catholic respectively working in the Middle East--on this subject. On this, I am …
Continue reading "Was Benedict’s Baptism of a Muslim Convert a Good Idea?"
There seems to be a growing dissatisfaction in the way American Evangelical churches are going these days, and there is emerging a group of spokesmen for this feeling. I've taken a look at the likes of Leonard Sweet and Brian McLaren, but another one of those who is looking for a new way of doing …
Readers of the Scriptures are familiar with the many blessings that appear in the Bible, especially those in the Old Testament. Many Celts and the fans thereof are familiar with the blessings that the Irish come up with. But what if the two could be combined? Jim Cowan and Emmanuel do just that in the …
Continue reading "When Hebrew Blessing Meets Irish Blessing"
The fact that Catholic bishops ordered a favourable Golden Compass review off of their web site shows that someone in the US RCC is definitely "asleep at the switch" concerning this whole business. Having been covering this since early November (the original review, the follow-up and a comment on the whole business of the "magisterium,") …
Academics Shawn Christianson and Jeffrey Stueve wrote about the importance of a father's love for their children. The majority of social science research, they maintained, does not recognize sufficiently the bond parents form with children in their loving and caring of them. Not only is there little mention of love in family theory, but many …
Next August, the ministry I work for has invited Dr. Leonard Sweet to speak at our luncheon during our church's General Assembly. In looking forward to this, it occurred to me that it would be nice if I brush up on his work. The most recent manifestation of that work in book form is The …
Continue reading "Book Review: The Gospel According to Starbucks"
It's tempting for me to dismiss Russell Kelly's last outburst in our back and forth on tithing. But I can't quite bring myself to do so. The whole encounter has been rather bizzare, given that we both agree on the most important premise: that tithing is an Old Testament concept, not a New Testament one. …
One of the more hilarious sites on the Web relating to Roman Catholicism is the Society for a Moratorium on the Music of Marty Haugen and David Haas, or SMMMHDH for short. When it started, the Society made the following claim: The Society is awaiting pontifical approval from the Holy See as a pious sodality. …
Pope Benedict XVI is certainly shaking things up in his "new" approaches to the Mass, Anglicans and Orthodox. It has more profound implications that many people realise. To start with, he's being more proactive to Anglo-Catholicism than many anticipated. In Think Before You Convert, I figured that the Roman Catholic Church would simply pick up …
One of the reasons why people join churches like Anglican, Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches (especially the last one) is to have a church which can have continuity with the "Fathers of the Church." For Roman Catholics, one of the four "Doctors of the Church" (the most important of the Fathers) is St. Jerome, the …
Continue reading "St. Jerome’s Idea of Bishops and Presbyters"
Positive Infinity 