On the Subjectivity of Sin
Sin is a complicated subject. Not only do theologians disagree as to what sin actually is, but Christians seem to be confused as to what is actually “sinful” anymore. Homosexuality, for instance, seems...
View ArticleOn Modesty, Shame, and Our Need for Love: Insight from Sartre and John Paul II
On Nakedness and Shame Human beings show an almost universal desire to conceal certain parts of their body from the gaze of others, especially persons of the opposite sex. We react...
View ArticleThe Intellectual Art of Tidying Up
If I read as many books as most men do, I would be as dull-witted as they are… -Thomas Hobbes Since the English translation of Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese...
View Article3 Reasons to Study Church History
For many Christians, especially, I think, within Protestantism, Church history is a foggy and mysterious realm somewhere beyond the borders of normal thought, beyond the more familiar lands of biblical...
View ArticleDogmatism, Open-mindedness, and Other Intellectual Virtues and Vices
Dogmatism, Open-mindedness, and Other Intellectual Virtues and Vices This was the title of a course I had proposed for the life-long learning program at Wilfrid Laurier University last year. The...
View ArticleThe Phantom
What is the artistic spirit within us that arises, unannounced, to haunt our homes? Today I saw my daughter pounding furiously with pencils upon paper. Brow furrowed, she inordinately assembled a...
View ArticleIn Memoriam, Prof. Philip Rousseau
Early Christian Studies has just lost an important voice. No one will ask me to write a remembrance of Prof. Philip Rousseau, who passed away on September 3rd, 2020. I cannot claim to have been a...
View ArticleGoals and Motivations for Presenting Sin in Church History
During the past several months, I have had the privilege to take part in weekly small group discussions, sponsored by a local ecumenical organization, on Christian responses to racial injustices in the...
View ArticleChurch History: Something That Tears Down or Builds Up?
The study of the history of the church can easily be frustrating and discouraging, dominated as it is with controversies and conflicts of opinion. At the end of a survey course, it is easy to imagine...
View ArticleWhat the Eastern Church Does Best
In a previous article, I admitted the tension of experiencing unanswered prayers for my own chronic condition, all the while rejoicing in the fact that the Church heals souls; “…for what does it profit...
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