This is a followup to my earlier post regarding the CDF’s (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s) announcement that the Roman Catholic Church is the one true church.
Category: Head
The category, Head, is for posts that make us think.
Secularization on the Rise: Survey Says No
There is a popular perception that we (by “we” I unwittingly reveal my North American/Western bias) live in an increasingly secular society which has no room for religious values.
Thoughts from Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
I finally got around to reading Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer winning second novel, Gilead. I think she will forgive me for taking so long, since she herself has no particular regard for the passage of time. It has been more than twenty odd years since the publication of her first novel, Housekeeping. And the prose itself proceeds in a way that is more aligned with things timeless than with things urgent.
CDF Clarifies Vatican II For Us Protestants
Just days after Benedict issued a motu proprio announcing the return of the Latin mass, the CDF announced that, in effect, the Protestant denominations suffer from a “wound” because they are not the true Church.
Myths: Finding Meaning in Story
We tend to be dismissive of ancient stories. Often these tales use a strange and stilted language and feature characters with odd names, and the stories unfold in formulaic ways that jar with our 21st century sensibilities. Sometimes we see no points of intersection with our life today.
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, by Marina Lewychka
Two middle–aged sisters with families of their own are suddenly faced with the challenge of an aging father who is determined to marry a thirty–something woman from his native Ukraine.
Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, by Laila Lalami
This is the first novel of Laila Lalami and it created something of a splash when it was published two years ago. It is a little book, well–crafted and worth reading. Clearly Lalami has literary aspirations and clearly too she has the potential to write bigger pieces of fiction in the future. I hope the world can give her the space to do that.
Roman Catholic Women Priests Plan Ordination
In Toronto on May 27, 2007, Marie Bouclin of Sudbury, Ontario will be ordained as a Roman Catholic priest by bishop Patricia Fresen of Germany.
Cage Match: Spong vs his (credible) detractors
In light of the recent publication of John Shelby Spong’s Jesus for the Non-Religious, I thought it might be fruitful to revisit some of the debates which Spong’s work has provoked.
Utopian Pedagogy: Radical Experiments against Neoliberal Globalization
Published by the University of Toronto Press, this collection of essays and interviews considers pedagogy in the context of higher learning. The University of Toronto”s official motto is “velut arbor aevo,” a snippet from a poem by Horace which suggests the image of a tree filling out and taking root.
The Faiths of the Founding Fathers, by David L. Holmes
We are victims of the Chinese curse. We live in interesting times—or at least polarized times. Differing opinions have gravitated to the poles of a left–right axis, first in politics, then bleeding over into our religious discourse until, at least in some public debates, it has become impossible to discern which discursive practice is driving our disputes.
Cage Match – Catholic Mystic vs. Protestant Liberal
Suppose, instead of resolving theological differences through disputations and councils and seminars and symposia, we opted for something a little more robust. What if we asked our theologians to submit to a completely different process—a cage match.
Percy Saltzman Dies, Leaves Questionable Blog
Percy Saltzman died a week ago at the age of 91. Just about every Canadian of a certain age remembers Percy as our national weatherman, who delivered the forecasts — good or bad — with panache … or was it chutzpah! And there was his signature sign-off — throwing up the chalk and catching it.
Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak
This is a collection of pieces by Islamic women living in the United States. Their stories reflect a diversity of experience—from growing up within the tradition-laden strictures of immigrant families, to afro-american women who are children and grandchildren of Nation of Islam founders.
Islam: Between Globalization and Counterterrorism, by Ali A. Mazrui
In his book about the emergence of Islam as a global presence, Ali A. Mazrui opens with a question that is apt to raise eyebrows. He begins with the Toynbean theory of challenge and response—in the case of the Roman empire, it failed to find creative responses to the challenge of emergent Christianity.