As I began to knit Scripture together with its ancient Christian interpretations, the image that likely sealed my turn toward Christianity was the image of recapitulation first found in the work St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies. His imagery of recapitulation follows St. Paul’s typology of Adam and Christ.
[Christ became man], in order that, as [...]
I have been struggling over how I would write this part of the series since I started it. I know what I want to say, but I’ve discovered over the years that this is a place where the fact that I was not culturally shaped within the context of American Christianity creates a disconnect that [...]
It’s within the context of a humanity divided into many peoples with many gods, that we see God’s next move in Genesis 12. And unless you grasp the context of Babel, the dominion of death over humanity, and something of the depth and breadth of the healing and restoration we required, God’s moves looks exceedingly [...]
This post focuses on sections 7-10 of Sacrament and Symbol, the second appendix of For the Life of the World.
Section 7 focuses of the essay focuses on the way that causality and guarantees were built into the theology of sacraments and how they were thus transformed from intrinsic and revealing in their union with Christ [...]
This post focuses on sections 7-8 of Worship in a Secular Age, the first appendix of For the Life of the World.
Fr. Schmemann begins to draw his essay toward conclusion by noting that we actually desire the divisions of reality that make space for a secular perspective. That’s why they’ve taken root in both East [...]
This post focuses on sections 4-6 of Worship in a Secular Age, the first appendix of For the Life of the World.
As Fr. Schmemann continues developing his assertion that the best definition of secular is the negation of worship by exploring and defining worship and Christian worship in particular, he notes how Christian worship does [...]
This post focuses on sections 1-3 of Worship in a Secular Age, the first appendix of For the Life of the World.
Dn. Michael Hyatt’s podcast series does not continue into the appendices, but I’m going to continue to blog through the two essays in it. I’ve found them as compelling and fascinating as I have [...]
Thomas Howard opens the third chapter, Christian Worship: Act or Experience?, with a story of his time living in England and attending an evangelical church that was part of the Church of England. It was familiar to him in its evangelical belief. (For those who don’t know the Anglican communion includes both evangelical and anglo-catholic [...]
The series continues in section 1 of the sixth chapter of For the Life of the World. Here again is the link to Deacon Michael Hyatt’s podcast on chapter six.
For the Life of the World: Part Thirteen
Christianity, with its message offering fullness of life, has contributed more than anything else to the liberation of [...]
The series now moves to section 3 of the fifth chapter of For the Life of the World. Here is the link to Deacon Michael Hyatt’s second podcast on chapter five.
For the Life of the World: Part Twelve
We now can return to the sacrament of matrimony. We can now understand that its true meaning [...]