No challenge to Pseudo-Dionysius's distinction between "positive" or cataphatic and "negative" or apophatic theology. But this work concentrates on how all Orthodox theology is positive in the sense "positive" has in "positive psychology."
This is an email I wrote an Orthodox parish in relation to God's Providence as I studied theology. God's glory unfolds in his Providence, and I tried to unpack some of that in my own experience.
This article looks at unanticipated ways to turn to ancient ways in our present time. (Just doing some things the way we did before the present cyber-quarantine could be a major step forward!)
An Author's Musing Memoirs: Retrospective Reflections, Retracings, and Retractions
- A set of memoirs at midlife, taking stock of my writing, what it achieved, and what it has not achieved.
"Belabored Inclusive Language" and "Naturally Inclusive Language"
The point of "belabored inclusive language" and "naturally inclusive language" was provocative when this piece was new. Now it is an increasingly commonplace perspective.
I remember one time wincing at being told, "So, you're an anti-capitalist?" The person assumed that if you're against capitalism, it's Marxist. But there is a conservative objection to capitalist economy to be had.
Have you written an Amazon review for one of my works and then had it vanish?
If you have, there's a somewhat foul explanation for that.
Written after I tried and failed to secure a copy of St. John Chrysostom, "A Comparison of the Monk with the King."
A meditation about whether God is beyond suffering, and what that means.
A look at escapism and how, and what it means, to escape it.
This essay looks at two archetypes and about which of them is really greater.
God does not usually fix things as we conceive of fixing things. Instead, he keeps on changing the game.
Happiness is not just for easy times and good economies. Happiness is for here, in an age of crisis, and for now.
The title pretty much says it all.
There is a cartoon that showed "then," with big man holding and shaking a little phone, and "now," with a big phone shaking a little man. It doesn't have to be that way.
Finding work has a spiritual as well as a secular side.
How to Think About Psychology: An Orthodox Look at a Secular Religion
Psychology claims to be value-neutral, but there is good reason to understand it as a religion. This article explores that.
This is not, and does not pretend to be, a scientific evaluation. Rather, it is looking at evolution through the perspectives of a humanities scholar, as a human phenomenon.
Years back I posted a website called "Revenge of the Hydra," in which if you visit it with Internet Explorer, nine popup windows appear, and if you shut down one window, two more appear. This article is a look at a sinful passion that keeps cropping up.
A look at the other side of what has been called "progress."
As this piece closes, "Art is meant to be the broader expression of the iconic."
Buddhist mindfulness is a cardinal virtue which we seek from the East because we have rejected mindfulness in the West. Mindfulness is a traditional part of the West, but it is classified, not specifically as a virtue, but as a part of good manners.
This is a homily about money and living simply.
St. Paul wrote that we are "more than conquerors," and to be an Orthodox Christian truly is in substance to be more than royalty.
I have had numerous times a Roman has approached me and been eager for reunion. I have never had such a Catholic acknowledge Orthodox concerns about unresolved doctrinal differences that need to be resolved before any appropriate reunion. This is kept, not for Romans, but for Orthodox.
This is a response to an article written by an Orthodox Presbyterian who got a D.Min. from an Eastern Orthodox seminary and still managed to get Orthodoxy very, very wrong.
In the same vein as "Our social program is the Trinity."
A homily about a Pet Owner who only has two rules. The second is, "Don't drink out of the toilet!"
A somewhat whimsical article about another approach to "physics" or the nature of things.
My Archbishop at the time got publicly vaccinated after consulting many scientists and doctors and so far as I know not even one person basically uncomfortable with vaccines. This is a public explanation of repentance after having received a vaccine's first dose, partly in an effort not to tread the dangerous ground of being more Orthodox than my Archbishop.
"Religion and Science" Is Not Just Intelligent Design vs. Evolution
One reader called this "the most intelligent and erudite" work he had read. It states what I wanted to state in my Ph.D. thesis.
This looks at the unexpected powerful joy of repentance.
This is in one sense a weaker, but in another sense a stronger, alternative to the "verification principle."
A look at how striking the singularity we live in really is.
The Golden Rule is a simple criterion that sheds light on a wide variety of circumstances. So is the Silicon Rule, rightly understood. Wondering what that is? Read this article!
This is a request for guidance that, at the time, no one besides the author seemed to be trying to provide guidance for. It was submitted to Ancient Faith, not directly as a candidate for Ancient Faith publication, but as posing a question which some Ancient Faith authors might address.
We are, in a certain sense, privileged by our technologies, but a bigger picture look suggests that our technologies today are a dimension of a great poverty.
An extended look at what it truly means to be awake and alive, inclusing St. John Chrysostom's "The Treatise to Prove that No One Can Harm the Person Who Does Not Damage Himself."
This is a look at two decisive moments: a decisive moment in history, and a decisive moment in our lives.
What Evolutionists Have to Say to the Royal, Divine Image: We're Missing Something!
This is a look at what about proper understanding and care of people can be missed by those who do not think in terms of evolution.
It is a truism that money can't buy happiness, and that is true. However, there are a few things to own that can contribute to happiness, and they are worth knowing.
This looks at a patristic dimension to headship that is not even guessed at in contemporary debates.
Written at a moment of intense political conflict.
Where Is the Good of Women? Feminism is Called, "The Women's Movement." But is It?
This article unravels what seems to be the only possible, unquestionable option.
This article looks at contentment and covetousness.
Why I'm Glad I'm Living Now, at This Place, at This Time, in This World
It's easy enough to wish to be in another time, in the Middle Ages, or Narnia, or Hogwarts. This is about why I believe God was right and loving to place me just where I am.
This is a homily on why tithing is really good for us all.
Happiness is for here and now, and the door is open.
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