Making our history one step at a time
I feel that too often we concern ourselves with if and when Christ forgave the woman in adultery. But if you drop your stone for a minute and put yourself in her shoes, you recognize the full import of Christ's message here.
Lesson from 4th century Christianity: if someone excommunicates you, you excommunicate them right back. This book covering the history of Constantine, the Nicene creed, and the Arian heresy is a fascinating mirror in which to reflect on the doctrinal disputes and approaches of our own day.
Irenaeus is the early Church's head of the correlation department. He wrote Against Heresies as an attempt to checkmate an early Christian heresy, Gnosticism, that put God as one of a long chain of gods (sound familiar?) and considered material existence evil.
When I'm not an engineer, I want to be a theologian-philosopher-writer. I delved into my collection of ante-Nicene Church fathers this week.
Like the Grinch I am, I thought I would spend Christmas harassing family members by reading passages from "The Communist Manifesto." Here's the resulting book review. Enjoy 🙂
I was anti-social and read a whole book on Christmas Eve/Christmas, OK? I come home every year to a stack of Hugh Nibley books I have yet to read, and I knocked one off the list.
This has been such a helpful book for understanding suicide. Written as a self-help book for those contemplating suicide (but not a substitute for treatment), it is also a good resource for those wanting to help.
What doesn't kill you makes you weaker. Always trust your feelings. Life is a battle between good people and evil people. These are @JonHaidt's three great untruths. But I didn't need a university to teach me these. I learned them all at church.
Durkheim argues that at its root, suicide arises when there is a disequilibrium between the individual and society. Investing in mediating institutions and communities is a vital component towards addressing this heart-rending problem.
