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Spiritual Communion

From the June/July 2020 Print Edition

During the Diocletian persecution, a group of North African Christians were brought to trial in Carthage for meeting illegally for worship. When asked why they had persisted in this practice, one replied, “Sine Dominico, non possumus”: “Without this thing of the Lord, we cannot live.” Over . . . . Continue Reading »

Briefly Noted

From the December 2019 Print Edition

The great liberal Protestant theologian Adolf von ­Harnack argued that the simple, wholly ethical message of Christ was obscured over time by being mixed with Greek ideas. This corruption, he said, culminated in the Council of Chalcedon’s definition of Christ as one person with two natures, . . . . Continue Reading »

Thus Saith the Lord

From the November 2017 Print Edition

One Sunday in high school, we went to the Anglo-Catholic parish where my headmaster served as an assistant priest. Catechized by evangelical Episcopalians and Presbyterians, I believed that the Bible was divinely inspired by God. But I had never seen it treated as such in a physical or ritual way. . . . . Continue Reading »

Briefly Noted

From the Aug/Sept 2017 Print Edition

On the Road to Vatican II: German Catholic Enlightenment and Reform of the Churchby ulrich l. lehnerfortress, 414 pages, $49 On the Road to Vatican II focuses on German and ­Austrian theological debates in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as examples of the Catholic Enlightenment. Historians . . . . Continue Reading »

Briefly Noted

From the April 2017 Print Edition

The Contemplative Hungerby father donald haggertyignatius, 259 pages, $17.95Fr. Donald Haggerty’s first book, Contemplative Provocations (reviewed here in December 2013), offered aphoristic counsel on prayer and contemplation, particularly in light of God’s concealment from those who most . . . . Continue Reading »

Briefly Noted

From the February 2017 Print Edition

Bach & God by michael marissen oxford, 288 pages, $35Michael Marissen, emeritus professor of music at Swarthmore, argues that Johann Sebastian Bach’s music embodies the theology of its text, and an acquaintance with that theology helps listeners understand and appreciate Bach’s music more . . . . Continue Reading »