“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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
According to a theological paper by Francois P. Viljoen, leprosy ‘was highly dreaded in the ancient world. It was regarded a terrible and defiling disease, as those who were infected were physically and ceremonially regarded as unclean.’ He would further explain, ‘it was so difficult to heal leprosy that they [the Rabbis] compared such healing […]