Letters From the Synod-2019: #8

Edited by Xavier Rynne II

It made a great difference to the future of Christianity that the first Christians turned left rather than right when leaving the Holy Land on mission. Continue Reading »

23 Oct 2019

Pagan Piety

by Kyle Harper

Pantheon: A New History of Roman Religion  by jörg rüpke  translated by david m. b. richardson  princeton, 576 pages, $39.95 In August of 410, for the first time in eight centuries, the city of Rome was sacked. While the fall of the ancient capital to an army of renegade Goths might . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Aug 2018

The Anti-Christian Alt-Right

by Matthew Rose

As you may know, many young conservatives have left Christianity,” the message begins. “Although I was raised Catholic, I too am leaving Catholicism, as I believe it is no longer a healthy religion.” The young man’s name is Dan, and he explains why he is apostatizing. “The Church has . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Mar 2018

My Shamanic Healing

by Matthew Schmitz

When I last visited New Orleans, the Robert E. Lee Monument was being used as an altar. Two voodoo priestesses, turbans atop their heads, scattered gunpowder and grave dirt on the granite plinth. With splendid indifference to those who had erected the memorial, they summoned their gods through an . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Aug 2017

Keep Christianity Weird

by Joshua Kinlaw

Christianity’s sheer familiarity has desensitized us to its radicalness. Larry Hurtado aims to show how the “odd” became “commonplace,” by surveying the first three centuries of the Jesus movement. Continue Reading »

30 May 2017

Overlooked Philosophy

by Robert L. Kehoe III

Peter Adamson’s Philosophy in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds accepts a noble challenge announced in the book’s subtitle: A History of Philosophy without any gaps. It’s an impossible objective, of course. Adamson knows this, but admirably proceeds to outline three areas of philosophy that are often overlooked in the hustle of contemporary academic discourse: “Hellenistic philosophy” (the inheritance of Plato and Aristotle), “late antique philosophy among pagans, and ancient Christian philosophy.”

12 Nov 2015

Pope v. Paganism

by William Doino Jr.

The pagan temptation,” as the philosopher Thomas Molnar described it, is hardly new—the Church has been fighting paganism since the time of Christ—but what is new is its aggressive resurgence, its seduction of so many Christians, and the warnings Pope Francis has issued against it.The Pope’s scorching words against paganism have not been well-received by many, but Francis has gone right on assailing it, particularly in areas that pagans care about most: the environment and sex.Francis has been a bold and eloquent defender of the environment, and understands that protecting the environment is not a recent fad, but a long-standing Catholic principle, highlighted by many of Francis’s predecessors. Continue Reading »

4 May 2015

Return of the Gods

by Hannes Stein

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God swept over the face of the waters like a whirlwind. And God said, Let there be light! and there was light. But the light was young and helpless . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Nov 1999

The Goddess That Failed

by Olivia Vlahos

“All hail to the Goddess,” chanted the berobed and garlanded women, as they stood in a circle, hands clasped. “All hail to Her whose good green earth we share and guard. All hail to Her whose time has come again.” The ritual, which took place in a forest clearing somewhere in Massachusetts, . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Dec 1992