Making Sense of Religion
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Metaxis
Metaxis is the Greek word used by Plato to describe the condition of in-betweenness that is a structural characteristic of the human condition–we humans are suspended on a web of polarities–the one and the many, eternity and time, freedom and fate, instinct and intellect, risk and safety, love and hate, to name but a few.
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Meaning as Connection
The meaning of meaning and all the semiotic theory developed over the last 150 years is more than I feel capable of getting into, so I would like just to work with a simpler more seat of the pants understanding of what makes our experience meaningful. The key word is “connection,” and how things connect
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Quote of the Day: James Carse
You know, my entire career was at New York University, but I only taught the history of Christianity once. That's when one of my colleagues was not available. So I went back to my graduate study of St. Thomas Aquinas. And I loved it so much. When we got to Thomas in the class, I
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Jeremiah Wright on Moyers’ Show
I don’t know if it will make a difference, but Moyers’ interview with Jeremiah Wright on his show Friday provided a refreshing alternative to the kind of treatment this decent and deeply Christian man has been getting and will continue to get at the hands of political hatchet men. I hope it will be watched
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Walker Percy’s Postmodern Catholicism
Why was he a Catholic? Because he believed that the Church's teachings are true; and because the Church, in his view, stood above and apart from the present age, which he called the age of the "theorist-consumer." In his view, the present age has no use for anything that cannot be bought and sold or
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Cultural Identity II
In my post the other day, my fundamental point was that too many, probably most, people who call themselves Christian tend to look at the Gospel message through their tribal filters rather than to look at their tribal culture and its presuppositions through a Christian filter. No one is able completely to transcend the culture
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Cultural Identity I
And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brothers? And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brothers! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother. Mark 3:33ff You have heard that
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Retrieval of an Unflattened Wor(l)d
Let’s take a break from politics, shall we? I’m back to Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age, and I wanted to focus on this important idea about how the redemption of language is the path to the redemption of experience: . . . in the post-Romantic context, the complaint is often made that language as we
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Jean Vanier on SOF
Make sure you find an hour to listen to one of the great souls of our time. You can find the podcast here. This interview is one of the best I’ve heard in awhile. It’s given me plenty to think about this Christmas regarding the meaning of incarnation. I also think it’s a challenge to
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Supernatualism vs. Naturalism IV
Very interesting Salon interview with John Haught. Very good questions and good answers I, for the most part, agree with. An excerpt: What do you say to the atheists who demand evidence or proof of the existence of a transcendent reality? The hidden assumption behind such a statement is often that faith is belief without