Passion and Exodus
Throughout the Christian world, except in Germanic-language countries, Easter is known as Passover. The Passover, of course, is a Jewish holy festival—it marks the deliverance of the…
Fugitive Love and the Runaway Heart
The exceptional brilliance of his works, his contradictory nature, his desire to bring together faith and intelligence, classical and Christian civilization, the old wine and the new…
The Odyssey of Soul from Plotinus to Augustine
We who live today take for granted the notion that Odysseus was a noble figure, a sort of archetype for the soul’s yearning for home. This hasn’t…
The Thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas: More Than Plato and Aristotle
When I first opened Dr. Sebastian Morello’s monograph, The World as God’s Icon: Creator and Creation in the Platonic Thought of Thomas Aquinas (Angelico Press, 2020), I…
The Limits of Psychological Theology
In his book Messengers of God, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel conducts a careful reading of the Torah in order to search the mysteries of God and the…
Evita Laments Eternal Love—and Answers Sin with Mercy
“Thought I needed the numbers on my side / Thought the more that loved me, the more loved I’d be / But such things cannot be multiplied.”[1]…
The Power and Presence of Silence
I recently watched a wonderful South Korean film titled The Way Home, a 2002 movie with English subtitles. It tells the story of a spoiled boy from…
Overhearing Rachel’s Conversation with God: A Short Story
R.: I have come to your House, sorry Temple, G-d, hm… Elohim, Adonai, Sir… G-d: You mean to my “Home”? R.: Yes, so true, it’s a Home…
Getting Alasdair MacIntyre Very, Very Wrong
A title for nonfiction creates clear expectations. Fail to live up to it, and the reader will find fault where none may be. When I first picked…
What Did Saint Ignatius of Antioch Really Believe About the Eucharist?
It is commonplace, even among most non-Catholic Christians, to read Saint Ignatius as affirming “sacramental realism” in his writings. When I was at Yale, this was the…
A Confession in Times of War
As most of the world, I was appalled by the brutality of the attacks which took place on October 7 in Israel. The deliberate targeting and cold-blooded…
The Augustinian Imagination: Love, Lust, and Pride in the City of God
Saint Augustine of Hippo is arguably the most influential Christian philosopher and theologian who ever lived. This is not to say he is unique among Christians; several of…
The Washington National Cathedral and Me: Christ on the Altar and Politics at the Nave
There is something amusing about the fact that America’s largest churches are all Episcopalian. Plato, in The Republic, presupposes that the height of society should be its…
The Drama of Diakonía
It was the German Jewish philosopher and theologian Martin Buber (1878-1965) who said that “God dwells wherever we let him in.”[1] As a permanent deacon and prison…
Tribute to Bonhoeffer: A Poem
I. Cheap grace, the gift that keeps giving Boundless and free It justifies continued sinning For its blessings flow for all eternity Grace with no corresponding cost…