Autumn … poof! it’s here

We've had an unusually cool  late summer early autumn and even managed a few record breaking temperatures and frosty mornings. (In September! That's cold for Siouxland.) But for me autumn isn't tied to the temperature; instead it's revealed in the colors. Up until yesterday the colors have been pretty drab, with greens fading to browns. …

Sarah Palin gets kudos from the New York Times

Here's a remarkable statement from Sarah Palin, as reported in the New York Times. And it's remarkable because she is taking to task and essentially contradicting the rhetoric of the Republican Party (as well as the Democratic talking point). That's a gutsy thing to do for a person who may enter the Presidential race. "[American …

Divine Wrath as an Anthropomorphism

I'm still reading St. John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. In Book 1, ch. 11, he talks about scripture's practice of anthropomorphizing God in order to describe his actions. The reason for this practice is "that it is quite impossible for us men clothed about with this dense covering of flesh …

Some Thoughts on Divine Power

I'm reading St. John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. The following (from ch 8, "Concerning the Holy Trinity") caught my eye: God is "a power know by no measure, measurable only by his own will alone." In the west discussions of the Godhead often begin with the omni's: Omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, …

The Grandparents of God

September marks the beginning of the liturgical year on the Orthodox calendar. The church calendar, of course, is built around the birth, life, death, resurrection, enthronement cycle of our Lord Jesus Christ. But as I've said in various essays, in order to make the doctrine of the incarnation absolutely clear, that Christological cycle is "incarnated" …

Designed to Undermine, not to Overwhelm

Much has been written on this tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Much of what I received in my inbax I ignored. Most of what I read wasn't worth the time. People with average intellects merely manage to project their own biases onto world changing events. I suspect that only people with remarkable intellects …