G.K. Chesterton on fairy tales

If you really read the fairy-tales, you will observe that one idea runs from one end of them to the other – the idea that peace and happiness can only exist on some condition. This idea, which is the core of ethics, is the core of the nursery-tales. The whole happiness of fairyland hangs upon a thread, upon one thread…

Hadn’t thought of that…

Our secret vulnerability revealed!
 
 
 
 
 
 

Turn on, tune in, veg out

Scientists and technologists have the same uneasy status in our society as the Jedi in the Galactic Republic. They are scorned by the cultural left and the cultural right, and young people avoid science and math classes in hordes. The tedious particulars of keeping ourselves alive, comfortable and free are being taken offline to countries where people are happy to sweat the details, as long as we have some foreign exchange left to send their way…

The known universe

Silence

Disclaimer: Picture may be worth less than 1,000 words.
 
 
 
 
 

Justinian’s Flea

In some ways, [Justinian I] is the most interesting of them all, but also the most contradictory. Here is a Roman emperor who never set foot in Italy; a great conqueror – the greatest since Julius Caesar – who never led troops in the field; the most powerful man in the world, and one of its most paranoid; the richest and one of the most abstemious – he appears to have lived largely on greens and lemon juice.

How do you know a war is a war?

Stanley Hauerwas writes: “There is a deep conceptual issue that President Obama does not raise concerning war. That issue is: how do you know a war is a war? He begins with the claim that war in one form or another appeared with the first man. One assumes he’s referring to Cain and Abel. But what happened between Cain and Abel was not war. It was murder.”

Resisting Advent

His fists flexed closed as he said, “I don’t want a God you can hold in two hands. I don’t want a God covered in afterbirth… I want pomp, and God-type things. I want thunder and rain and lightning, well-placed too.”
 

With My Own Eyes

A pastor’s firsthand account of prison life: I am a Christian from an Orthodox country — the country of Romania. Having been in prison for fourteen years for my faith, it is now my missionary work to help persecuted Christians in Communist countries. I would like to tell you the stories of several Orthodox Christians with whom I was privileged to come into contact during my time in prison. Their examples and their deeds have been a constant source of encouragement to me throughout the years.

Icons of the Christ Child and His mother

What shall we offer Thee, O Christ, Who for our sakes hast appeared on the earth as a man? Every creature which Thou hast made offers Thee thanks. The angels offer Thee a song; the heavens, their star; the wise men, their gifts; the shepherds, their wonder; the earth, its cave; the wilderness; the manger; and we offer Thee a virgin mother. O Pre-eternal God, have mercy on us!

The Church as the Liberated Zone

Father Daniel Syosyev, the recently murdered Moscow missionary priest, said something very interesting in an interview shortly before his death. He was explaining why Christians should go to Church on Sunday, and his explanation reveals something of what the Church is.

Brian Cox drama master class with 2-year-old Theo

Stop What You’re Doing And Watch This: Classically-trained thespian and Royal Shakespeare Company alum Brian Cox guides 2-year-old Theo through Hamlet’s “to be, or not to be” soliloquy.

How is the story of Abraham and Isaac a moral example?

How is Abraham’s attempting to sacrifice Isaac praiseworthy? How is it any kind of moral example, and what does the command say about God?

In Defense of the Christmas Tree

Could it be that something most of us enjoy so much might be actually pagan in origin? Most people are aware that the Christmas tree came to America with immigrants from Germany, but just where did the Christmas tree originate? Are its origins to be found in paganism?

Home Sweet Home: Nostalgia vs. Memory

Orthodoxy is a religion of memory, but conservative America (rightly reacting to statism) is dedicated to nostalgia. The past is framed with a sentimental, hallmark peachy filter, where the blemishes and moles are airbrushed away. Nothing happens in the past of nostalgia, except a succession of Norman Rockwell prints. The whole montage is narrated by the whisky voice of Thornton’s Our Town narrator: birth, youth, romance and marriage, hearth and home and death. Stephen Foster sings offstage.