St. Athanasius

May 2

The life of St. Athanasius, my favorite church father, is celebrated today. An Egyptian, he eventually rose to the position of bishop of Alexandria. His major contribution to the faith – and the main reason he has been declared a doctor of the church – was his fight for theological orthodoxy, especially his defense of the doctrine of the divinity of Christ.

Many take this doctrine for granted now, but in the early 300s, many church leaders were Arians, deniers of this doctrine. Athanasius’ steadfast defense of this key tenant of the faith led him to be exiled by Arian bishops and emperors five separate times.

During one period of his life, he enjoyed 10 years of relative peace—reading, writing and promoting the Christian life along the lines of the monastic ideal to which he was greatly devoted. His biography of St. Anthony of the desert laid the groundwork for the monastic movement of the next three centuries.

This combined understanding of deep theology and Christian living makes him a wonderful role model.

April Reading List

18. The Hand You're Dealt (hc), by Paul Volponi

19. Justice in the Burbs (pb), by Will & Lisa Sampson
20. Eclipse (ua), by Stephenie Meyer

21. Runaways, vol. 2 (gn), by Brian K. Vaughn, et. al.

22. Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, vol. 1 (gn), by Sean McKeever & Takeshi Miyazawa
23. The Associate (ua), by John Grisham

24. The Baseball Economist (hc), by J.C. Bradbury

25. Scarpetta (ua), by Patricia Cornwell

Podcast Review

The Praxis Podcast

This is a semi-regular podcast of interviews and discussions that focus on doing the "deep Kingdom" work of Jesus -- ministry to the poor, missionary work, etc ... The podcast averages about 2 episodes per month, and each runs anywhere from 30-75 minutes. Each episode ends with James Liption's 10 questions from "Inside the Actor's Studio," which are bizarrely insightful.

They manage to interview a range of interesting people doing a range of interesting things. My favorite episodes are 11-13, interviews with Karen Sloan, author of the terrific "Flirting with Monasticism." I briefly reviewed the book here:

http://itineranticonoclast.blogspot.com/2007/11/book-review_01.html

Good listening.

Easter Thoughts

I know it has been a few days since the big event, and we should have moved on to less confrontational things . . . but I am still thinking about Easter. The Resurrection is what validates the teachings and worth of Jesus; as a matter of fact, it is the only thing that matters in the whole of the story. The Resurrection is the first domino of the Christian faith. Without it, everything else come crashing down. The empty tomb matters.

Oh Happy Day

He is risen
He is risen

He is risen indeed

March Reading List

13. Forced Out (ua), by Stephen Frey
14. Babylon 5: The Wheel of Fire (pb), by Jane Killick
15. New Moon (ua), by Stephenie Meyer
16. The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy (ua), by Pietra Rivola
17. The Next Christendom (hc), by Philip Jenkins

Podcast Review

The Internet Monk Podcast

I have been listening to Michael Spencer's podcast for more than a year, so his "coming evangelical collapse" piece in the March 10 Christian Science Monitor did not surprise me. In both his blog and podcast, Spencer has been sounding this clarion call some time now. His podcast comes out approximately weekly, runs about 30 minutes, and features Spencer's observations on culture, politics, society, and the church.

I found myself in the "post-evangelical wilderness" for more than a decade before I found Spencer's terminology. His path and mine are similar, and I find his insights wortthwhile, and unavailable in other forums.

N.T. Wright on the Bible

It’s a big book, full of big stories with big characters. They have big ideas (not the least of which about themselves) and make big mistakes. It’s about God, and greed, and grace; about life, lust, laughter, and loneliness. It’s about birth, beginnings, and betrayals; about siblings, squabbles, and sex; about power and prayer and prison and passion.

And that’s just Genesis.

Bert Waggoner on the Trinity

First, we must grow in our relationship with the triune God -- Father, Son & Holy Spirit. The relationship with God is a relationship with all three members of the holy Trinity. Sometimes there can be a problem in spiritual development due to all the focus being on one member of the Trinity -- e.g. within Evangelicalism, the Son; within the Pentecostal/Charismatic context, the Holy Spirit; or within historical Protestantism, the Father. Our growth in relationship with God must be with the Father, and with the Son, and with the Spirit. Our growth takes place in the dynamic of love that exists in this divine community.

Sts. Perpetua & Felicity

Among the most powerful stories of the early church is that of Perpetua & Felicity, whose martyrdom around the year 200 the church remembers today. My favorite part is when Perpetua tries to explain her choice to face death to her father.
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"Do you see this vessel—a waterpot or whatever name it may have? Can it be called by any other name than what it is? So also I cannot call myself by any other name than what I am—a Christian.” So wrote Perpetua, a beautiful, well-educated, noblewoman of Carthage, mother of an infant son and chronicler of the Emperor Septimius Severus' persecution of the church.

Despite death threats, Perpetua and Felicity (a slavewoman and expectant mother), and others, refused to renounce their Christian faith. For this, they were imprisoned, and sentenced to death in the public games in the amphitheater.

Perpetua’s mother was a Christian and her father a pagan. He continually pleaded with her to deny her faith. Not willing to renounce Christianity, she comforted her father in his grief over her decision. “It shall happen as God shall choose, for assuredly I depend not on my own power but on the power of God.“

As part of the games, Perpetua and Felicity were beheaded. Felicity gave birth to her girl a few days before her death.