More Thoughts from Gregory Palamas

Meditation, in Orthodox Christianity, is generally considered to be an inward movement. To meditate is to focus on Christ within us. This makes Western Christians antsy. It sounds too much like far Eastern (ie, India, China, Japan) meditation which is generally rooted in some form of pantheism. And the concerns aren't new. Barlaam, a Roman …

Christ is Risen!

Christ is risen from the dead,Trampling down death by death,And upon those in the tombsBestowing life! Or, as they like to say in our parish: المسيح قام من بين الأموات و وطئ الموت بالموت و وهب الحياة للذين في القبور Yeah, I don't know what it means either. Fortunately, God's mercy even extends to Americans …

Nationalism and Human Unity

I listened to an episode of Ideas, a CBC radio show that focused on Dave Williams, Canadian astronaut who has spent more hours space walking than any other astronaut. As the show is wont to do, this episode was a celebration of Canadian accomplishment with the question, "What does it mean to be Canadian?" providing …

Punishing My Body for God?

Sometimes the Church Fathers (and even the Apostle Paul himself!), are accused of denigrating the body and our physical existence because, as Paul says, "I punish my body and enslave it so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified." (1 Cor 9:27). So if Paul and others who speak like him …

Midnight Savings Time

Holy Week has begun and the weird time dislocation, as we move from the Lenten fast into the Holy Week fast, has also begun. [See note below.] Throughout Holy Week all the services are moved up a half day, so Monday matins (ie, morning prayer), called the first Bridegroom Service, occurs at 6 pm on …

Facts and Details

The following is from an excellent article by John Médaille, The Mosh-Pit of Philosophy, the Pedestal of Science, and a Plate of Green Beans. (He is referring to a dinner conversation. The "he" is an economist who took umbrage at Medaille's claim that values play a role in authentic economic theory.) He was defending the …

What Precedes Silence?

Earlier this week the Anonymous God Blogger quoted Ignatius of Antioch on what is required for us to be proper temples for God. She appropriately entitled the post, "Hearing Silence." Which got me thinking about silence. Silence is a big thing in Orthodox devotional practice, as it is in all of the mystical traditions. But …

Explaining Some of the Criticisms of Grameen Bank (4 of 4)

The American critics of Grameen Bank are prolix and it's hard to know where to start and end in an attempt to balance fairness with length of this essay. One site that offers links that present the good, the bad, and the ugly both by supporters and critics, by legitimate news sources and commentators is …

The Story of Grameen Bank (3 of 4)

Beyond a certain point, stuff doesn't matter; people do. This was the assumption of economist Mohammad Yunus when he began to teach economics in Bangladesh. But he soon realized that modern economics, which is rooted absolutely in the Enlightenment, cares only about stuff and little about people. Take a bank loan as an example. In …

A Brief History (Pt 2 of 4)

In order to understand both the rise of microfinance and the criticism of it, a bit of history is in order: Historically people with absolute power were few and far between (although they're the people/empires who make the biggest wave across history, so we hear a lot about them and, ironically, assume that they're somehow …