A Great Anthropological First: An Honest Conversation About Race

This article originally appeared on The Aquila Report. It’s time to acknowledge simultaneously that we have come a long way from where we once were, and we still have a long way to go. These are not only consecutive narratives, they are concurrent narratives of the racial journey we are on in this country. If […]

The Exorcism of a Possessed Market

Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way […]

The Prisoner

“The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” ~Fyodor Dostoevsky Before the Gospel revelation, justice consisted of directing the guilt of the entire society against a single victim. It was widely experienced, just as it is today, that shifting the blame onto another is an effective way of postponing […]

The Fear of Death

The Lord abhors the man of violence and deceit. But as for me, in the fullness of Your mercy I will come in Your house… ~Psalm 5:7-8 It can be safely assumed that much of society today operates under the fear of looming death. St. Athanasius said that death came as a corrupting consequence of […]

Metropolis – A Film Analysis

Very few films have defined a genre. One of these films is the 1927 German silent movie Metropolis. Directed by legendary filmmaker Fritz Lang, Metropolis is a dystopian sci-fiction movie that touches on important socio-political and even theological aspects of modern society. Made during the Weimar era—a time when Germany was in political and economic […]

Anthropology from Trinity

Christian anthropology stems from theology. That is why it is important to note that the Christian God is a Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And it is also important to know that there exists within the Trinity, between the three persons of the Godhead, mutual glorification, submission and love. ‘God is love’, says […]

The Plague in Literature and Life

According to Rene Girard, plague is an omnipresent theme in literature. It features prominently in the stories of the great bards of history: Homer, Sophocles, Boccaccio, Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, and Camus to name but a few. It spans the whole spectrum of literary genres: epic, tragedy, short story, sonnet, novels, history, science fiction, and science. In […]

Oedipus, The Romanovs, And The Individual In The Pandemic

In monarchy… it is a matter of the victim being still alive, one that has not yet been sacrificed. In the case of divinity, by contrast, the interpretation accentuates a victim that has already been sacrificed and it is a matter of the sacred having been already expelled from the community. In the former example, […]

Man is the Measure of All Things: The Scale of the Pandemic and Everything Else

Originally appeared on the Aquila Report. We would do well to remember that when the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable God entered the world, he did so on a human scale. The cross upon which Christ died, and tomb in which he was laid, and from which he was raised, were both according to the measurement […]

Against Masks: Not Hindering Our Personal and Relational Connection With Others

This article originally appeared on The Aquila Report.  There is much talk these days about requiring people to wear masks as a condition for reopening states, businesses, and churches. This is said to be part of the “new normal” that we are to expect and accept without question. I would like to suggest that this […]