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The Reason for the Season

My wife’s mother died this week. Catherine Wilson Payne, born in Fleetwood, England, in March 1929, had lived a rich life and raised four children to healthy, productive adulthood—one of them my wife, Colette. Mamma Payne proudly doted on her eight grandchildren from her home in . . . . Continue Reading »

Haldane on Mary

John Haldane, the author of Philosophy Lives in the January issue, offers his description of the Catholic vision of Mary on BBC Radio, in a very personal (but philosophically sound) reflection. You need to wait a couple of minutes for his segment to come on. It will up for four more days. . . . . Continue Reading »

How December 25 Became Christmas

Biblical Archaeology Review has a scholarly examination of why Christmas is celebrated on December 25—and it’s likely not, as commonly believed, timed to coincide with a pagan holiday: The most loudly touted theory about the origins of the Christmas date(s) is that it was borrowed from . . . . Continue Reading »

Reflections on Advent and Christmas

Today in “On the Square”, R. R. Reno reflects on The Incarnation and William Doino offers the words of Father Alfred Delp as Meditations for the End of Advent . Fr. Delp, executed by the Nazis in 1945, wrote, for example: History now becomes the Son’s mode of existence; historical . . . . Continue Reading »

How Words Are Invented

Why are prolific neologists like Milton, Chaucer, and Shakespeare praised for coining new words while Sarah Palin is mocked for inventing a term like “refudiate”? Gene Veith, the Provost and Professor of Literature at Patrick Henry College, explains how words are (legitimately) invented . . . . Continue Reading »

Condi the Evangelical

At Christianity Today , Sarah Pulliam Bailey has an interview with former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice about race, foreign policy, and her faith : One of your friends read an article about you and said, “You’re not an evangelical Christian,” and you said “Yeah, but I . . . . Continue Reading »

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