The Narthex

The triennial “Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions” was held in the Kazakh capital Astana from September 13-15. Unsurprisingly it attracted little attention from mainstream media. A report on the congress and a summary of the concluding declaration can be found at the Asia Times website (Sept. 26;…

I took part in a seminar in Melbourne early this week at which parents, teachers, and representatives from Catholic, Protestant, and secular schools came together from around Australia to learn more about what constitutes a classical education. The term classical education has become an important buzz word in conservative circles.…

With the scene of Father Damien collapsed after a strenuous hike, I have stopped the camera, so to speak, and three images come to my mind. The first is that of Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer. After 16 days in an open boat on the high seas, including one day…

I like “Ike,” as I’ll call him. He was a catalyst for the pre-synod “listening session” that my seminary friends of yesteryear recently held. For my part I only “listened in” on the session. Then I offered a critique here, in a blog post. Ike didn’t much like what he…

On October 6 and 8, the Ironman Triathlon will take place in Hawaii. In a contest that tests human endurance, the athletes, without taking breaks, will swim 2.4 miles in the open ocean, bike 112 miles, and run a marathon (26 miles). It has been held annually since 1978. I…

John Newton began his career as a slave trader. He abandoned the non-conformist Christian faith of his childhood, but the dying embers of his conscience eventually burst into flame again, fanned by the horrors of the trade, so that he turned his back on his past and became a leading…

Handsome and adventurous, John F. Kennedy Jr. fell into the self-destructive behavior of other men in the Kennedy clan. Fame and fortune have a way of corrupting the soul. In his late 30s, JFK Jr. decided to fulfill his persistent childhood wish to fly a plane. His mother begged him…

The part played by Christianity has been neither ancillary nor supplementary but literally essential, for western civilization has been Christian in its very essence. Those who would understand the West cannot sift the Christianity out of it. The honest unbeliever who is a serious student of history and culture will…

As part of research for a separate project, I recently came across this ten-minute video about shell-shocked soldiers from World War I; it’s gut-wrenching but ought to be seen by everyone (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvTRJZGWqF8). It shows men twisted and deformed, body and mind, by the horror of war. I had…

A read of the German synod documents reminds me that revisionists are keener on erasing than on building. But no one invited me. I did get invited to a mini-synod session by classmates from the minor seminary that I attended for six years. What led to the mini-synod was an…

Over the past few years, a number of academic brouhahas has drawn me into checking what professors tweet. Almost all of it is ugly. Within two or three tweets the online exchanges between Professor A and Professor B, or between Professor A and Concerned Citizen B, have devolved into wild…

For many people throughout the whole world the Queen's death comes as a profound shock. Not unexpected, of course, after so long a reign, but cataclysmic in its emotional and social impact. Few people in her realms have lived their lives under the reign of any other sovereign. I am…

I was on my early morning walk to preempt our record heat in San Diego when I spotted an elderly man and woman sweeping their metal detectors over a children’s playground. She wore a wide-brimmed hat and one knee pad. Stopping beside the woman, I asked, “Find anything?” “Little stuff…

When Soviet troops arrived at the Auschwitz complex on January 27, 1945, bewildered prisoners greeted them with tears and embraces, kissing the flaps of their overcoats and hugging their knees. Confused and surprised by the wretched conditions of the camp, the soldiers gruffly asked, “What are you all doing here?”…

Who me? Lament my lifestyle? No, I don’t even know what it is. But I do lament and bemoan the overuse of the word lifestyle. That is, if it has any worthy use at all. Why do I take umbrage? Of course, there’s a place for style. I wish there…