Mathew Block

Recent news that Christians (including clergy and foreign diplomats) were attacked by Israeli police as they attempted to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre the day before Orthodox Easter stands as a stark reminder of the difficulties Christians face in the Holy Land. Israel is a land which . . . . Continue Reading »

New figures released yesterday by Statistics Canada suggest the increasing ethnic and religious diversification of the Canadian population. But, as Statistics Canada itself warns, the numbers (based on the 2011 Census) should be taken with a grain of salt, especially when compared to previous . . . . Continue Reading »

One of my favorite podcasts is The Christian Humanist Podcast . The podcast is “humanist” in the best sense of the term: the Renaissance sense. In other words, it’s committed to exploring “literature, philosophy and other things that human beings do well”—studying . . . . Continue Reading »

An update from Pravmir :  There have appeared many reports in both the Eastern and Western press that the two hierarchs who were  abducted yesterday  by terrorists in Syria, Metropolitan Boulos Yazge, Antiochian Orthodox Archbishop of Aleppo, and Archbishop Youhanna Ibrahim, Syriac . . . . Continue Reading »

Yesterday, media was buzzing with news that Canadian music icon Rita MacNeil had passed away after complications following surgery. She was, as The Canadian Press put it , “a singer-songwriter from small-town Canada whose powerful voice explored genres from country, to folk, to gospel.” . . . . Continue Reading »

After weeks of growing frustration, pro-lifers took to Twitter en masse Friday to express disbelief and outrage over media silence on the multiple-murder trial of American abortion provider Kermit Gosnell. And the media, at least some of it, seems to be listening. The outrage was almost certainly . . . . Continue Reading »

Two days ago, the Catholic Herald posted a story about Pope Francis meeting with Rev. Dr. Nikolaus Schneider. The article is entitled “Lutheran pastor meets Pope Francis in Rome,” and the text of the article also refers to Dr. Schneider as a Lutheran pastor. There’s just one problem, . . . . Continue Reading »

Gene Edward Veith, author of God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in all of Life and Family Vocation: God’s Calling in Marriage, Parenthood, and Childhood (among numerous other books), has a new article on vocation over at Intercollegiate Review . In that article— “How to find your . . . . Continue Reading »

It is Holy Week, a time devoted to prayer and reflection on the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. But there is a danger for Christians that, if we are not careful, we externalize the event too much. We watch the story from afar: We see Christ arrested by others, beaten by others, crucified by . . . . Continue Reading »

Yesterday marked the 457th anniversary of Thomas Cranmer’s martyrdom, something Philip Jenkins noted here yesterday . Cranmer is justly remembered for his work in framing the traditional Symbols of Anglicanism, notably The Book of Common Prayer and The Forty-Two Articles (which later . . . . Continue Reading »