But Romans frequently criticized the Christian emphasis on love as somehow a little deluded and perhaps prurient, suggesting that followers of the Jesus Way made it known that theirs was a path of love. Early Christians insisted that love–not rationality or politics or even virtue–was the primary bond between God and humans beings. Love was…
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Christianity
Perichoresis: The Eternal Divine Dance
Key to understanding Moltmann’s ecclesiology is to grasp his concept of the social trinity. The ecclesiology that he proposes, and that I take up in my book, is a “relational ecclesiology,” and he gets there by beginning with a concept of the godhead that is fundamentally relational. For Moltmann, God is relationship — primarily the…
A photograph: Original Poem by Jeramy Mohler
A photograph I am lonely in my portrait. For I am exposed to the light of a dim god. Her light illuminates my darkness; The cracks and the creases left by disappointment and regret. his shutter silent, like that of the distant tide at the moment it receeds. In my moment of capture Nothing is…
La Comparsa En Oriente by Thomas Merton
Drums of the early evening wake The mountain full of ore, and the canebrake. Up at Cobre tall tambores call One who rings gangarias with a nail, One with feathers for sleeves, One whose arms are birds, One with a mouth full of great fires And lights instead of words. Excerpt of La Comparsa En…
New Poem: Love’s Dawning Day
Love’s Dawning Day for Natalie Why your hair blows and drifts, smells of sweet perfume, or your eyes turn to smile, just then you planned descent daylights dawning, golden luster, starved for embrace, you by my side. A daunting derelict hour, love’s unrelenting pace. A mystery bound in a lovers gaze, a hearts lace holds…
New Poem: Conceptual Volition
Conceptual Volition Sometimes the nicest thing anyone can say is, ‘I’m thinking of you.’ What this means is that at this very moment an image of you has appeared in anothers mind. Their heart strings–which extend from the chest up through the neck and attach above the corners of the mouth– have been stretched tightly,…
Continue to be and do not to perish: Poet T.E. Hulme and Learning to Abide
The Embankment By T. E. Hulme Once, in finesse of fiddles found I ecstasy, In the flash of gold heels on the hard pavement. Now see I That warmth’s the very stuff of poesy. Oh, God, make small The old star-eaten blanket of the sky, That I may fold it round me and in comfort…
The Jihad of Life: An Interview With A Wise Man
My friend Matthew Barlow did a series of video interviews recently with his friend Solomon, who holds degrees in Hebrew and Arabic Language, and is a committed Muslim. In this first video Solomon and Matthew talk a bit about the etymology of the words “Islam” and “Jihad.” I found the conversation to be extremely enlightening;…
Political Warfare, Baudrillard and the Hyper-Real Debt Crisis
The debate we have just witnessed has shown Washington, D.C. not just to be broken, but corrupt. The American people are disgusted watching politicians play political chicken with the nation’s economy and future. In such a bitter and unprincipled atmosphere, whoever has the political clout to enforce their self-interest and retain their privileges wins the…
Making Bold Statements And Being Totally Right
I think every bold statement we’ve ever made Should be qualified by the words, “I think” or “That’s how I see it right now,” or “But I could be wrong,” or “Maybe.” After all, how many times now Has it been brought to light That we were at least partly wrong When we knew for…