Category Archives: Theobabble

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11.28) I’ve alwaysContinue reading “What is this?”

In relation to my previous post on The Vision of Theophilus, I was doing a little reading and ran across some interestingly sensible comments from a Coptic Orthodox priest on the relationship between faith and scholarship. The source is Be Thou There: The Holy Family’s Journey in Egypt, edited by Gawdat Gabra (American University inContinue reading “Different approaches: East vs West”

St Gregory the Theologian here describes some ways in which people should and shouldn’t celebrate the feast of the Nativity: This is our festival, this is the feast we celebrate today, in which God comes to live with human beings, that we may journey toward God, or return—for to speak thus is more exact—that layingContinue reading “St Gregory the Theologian on the Nativity”

Ἅγιος ὁ Θεός Ἅγιος Ἰσχυρός Ἅγιος Ἀθάνατος ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς Holy God Holy mighty Holy immortal Have mercy on us The above little prayer is one of the great treasures of the ancient Church. It’s called the Trisagion, and appears in the fourth century, after which to the present day it is used in the anaphoraContinue reading “The Trisagion”

You know what bugs me about my reading habits? I’ve gotten into kind of a rut in which I’m reading good books about great books. The latest example is the Burton-Christie book The Word in the Desert which I mentioned in my previous post, which is a book about the Apophthegmata Patrum, The Sayings ofContinue reading “Reading about instead of reading”

Following are the fascinating Nine Rules of Orthodox Biblical Interpretation promulgated in 1786 by Platon, Metropolitan of Moscow, rector of the Moscow Ecclesiastic Academy. Note that the same rules are reflective of the practice of biblical interpretation amongst other groups elsewhere, both before and after the time of Platon. That is, there is nothing peculiarlyContinue reading “Eastern Orthodox Rules of Biblical Interpretation”

Τὸν νυμφῶνά σου βλέπω, Σωτήρ μου κεκοσμημένον, καὶ ἔνδυμα οὐκ ἔχω, ἵνα εἰσέλθω ἐν αὐτῷ, λάμπρυνόν μου τὴν στολὴν τῆς ψυχῆς, Φωτοδότα, καὶ σῶσόν με. I see your Bridal Chamber adorned, O my Saviour, and I have no wedding garment that I may enter therein; make radiant the vesture of my soul, O Giver ofContinue reading “I see . . .”

    Is everything sad going to come untrue?  *         Certainly, Tolkien’s reply would be, ‘Yes.  Someday.’         *  A fine question asked by Sam Gamgee, near the end of The Lord of the Rings (page 951 in the 50th Anniversary hardcover edition).

On a piece of scrap paper: More on Semler’s particularity: Removing the tie to Israel, little, hated, poor, removes the necessary asceticism from Christianity. It also removes the distinction between oppressor and oppressed, so that, presumably, there is no judgment, a standard in the “Christianity” of “thinking people”, exemplified by an attitude of “I’m okay,Continue reading “The things one finds on my desk”

I forget where I read it today, but someone quoted Hebrews 2.14-15: Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of deathContinue reading “Something clicked at last”