This is a continuation of Part I. II. THE HISTORY 3. The island of Britain, situated on almost the utmost border of the earth, towards the south and west, and poised in the divine balance, as it is said, which supports the whole world, stretches out from the south-west towards the north pole, and is …
Is the Republican List of Presidential Candidates Really Shrinking, and Do They All Have to Go to Old Ivy?
Fox News thinks so: The Grand Old Party's 2012 presidential pool isn't looking so grand these days. Add Nevada Sen. John Ensign's and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's extramarital affairs to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's unconvincing TV speech and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's family dramas, and the Republican presidential herd is thinning fast -- leaving …
Gildas: On the Ruin of Britain, Part I
Introduction Gildas (c. 504-570) Sapiens ("the wise") was a British monk who chronicled one of the strangest--and for subsequent history one of the most important--sequence of events in the fall of the Roman Empire: the separation of Britain from Rome and the subsequent disintegration of "post-Roman Britain" at the hands of the Saxons. The story …
The Life of the Archpriest Avvakum by Himself
Preface In the spring of 2005, our city received a visit from Frederica Matthewes-Green, the once-Episcopalian now-Orthodox Christian writer. I went to hear her in a not very impressive Orthodox church (after Russia, I'm spoilt, I suppose.) In the wake of this I sent her an inquiry as follows: I find your position on the …
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Making Capital Flight Harder: The Banana Republic Marches On
Yes, it does: Section 7874 was enacted to foreclose many tax benefits from the transfer of a U.S. corporate business to a foreign corporation or the insertion of a foreign holding company as owner of U.S. corporations. The rules also apply to similar partnership transfers. Two different sets of rules apply, depending on the percentage …
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Book Review: Steven Sheeley and Robert Nash’s The Bible in English Translation: An Essential Guide
Until, say, the 1960's, there was just about only one translation of the Bible into English that most Anglophone Christians used: the King James Bible (more properly referred to as the "Authorised Version.") Although newer translations--some derived from the AV, some not, like this one--were out there, it wasn't until then that lay people in …
When Church Becomes Pointless
First written in 1997; updated 2003. After this was written, we found out that many others felt the same way we did: the New Jersey diocese lost nearly half its membership during Spong's tenure as Bishop. A Long Trip In the course of my work at Church of God Lay Ministries, I was asked to …
The Jesus Manifesto is Out. So Now What?
Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola lay it on the line: What is Christianity? It is Christ. Nothing more. Nothing less. Christianity is not an ideology. Christianity is not a philosophy. Christianity is the “good news” that Beauty, Truth and Goodness are found in a person. Biblical community is founded and found on the connection to …
The Price of Prosperity Teaching?
The Economist is buffaloed: Last year David Beckworth, an assistant professor of Economics at Texas State University, examined historic patterns in the size of evangelical congregations and found that, during each recession cycle between 1968 and 2004, membership of evangelical churches jumped by 50%. This report filled the newspapers and TV news-shows at the height …
Visit to Zagorsk
In 1988, during my family business' first trip to the then Soviet Union, my brother Pem and I were given the chance to visit the Monastery of Trinity-St. Sergius, which was the administrative centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. This is located in the town of Sergeiev Posad, which was called Zagorsk during Soviet times. …
Positive Infinity 