Orthodoxy not uncommonly calls on us to maintain a sort of binocular vision, affirming two seemingly opposing views. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of suicide, where we are asked both to love the perpetrator and refrain from judgment, while at the same time condemning the act as itself profoundly abhorrent. Our therapeutic mindset finds the former easy, and the … [Read more...] about On Suicide
Politics & Society
An Open Letter to a “Gay-Rights” Advocate
Editors Note. This essay, written by Dr. David C. Ford, Professor of Church History at St. Tikhon's Seminary, responds to a homosexual activist who argues that the Orthodox moral tradition should be retooled to sanction homosexual behavior. The arguments, while unfamiliar to some Orthodox readers, are not new. They were first used against the Episcopal Church over four decades … [Read more...] about An Open Letter to a “Gay-Rights” Advocate
Pastoral Ponderings: The Analogy of Freedom
Originally published on July 31, 2016. Father Pat’s Pastoral Ponderings Human freedom is an experience before it is a concept. Indeed, even as concept, freedom is extremely elusive. It is hardly surprising that modern science, concerned with precision and objectivity, is distinctly uncomfortable with it. The “scientific method,” with its emphasis on … [Read more...] about Pastoral Ponderings: The Analogy of Freedom
Islam: Through the Heart and Mind of a Convert to Orthodox Christianity – Part 1
Part 1 if this interview takes us deep into the life of a young man who converts to Islam at the age of fourteen, and goes on to devote his life totally to his newly discovered faith, not only robustly practicing all the Islamic precepts, but going on to study for three years in a Muslim seminary to become an imam, where he learns Arabic, and intensively studies the Quran, … [Read more...] about Islam: Through the Heart and Mind of a Convert to Orthodox Christianity – Part 1
Islam: Through the Heart and Mind of a Convert to Orthodox Christianity – Part 2
Part 2 if this interview takes us deep into the life of a young man who converts to Islam at the age of fourteen, and goes on to devote his life totally to his newly discovered faith, not only robustly practicing all the Islamic precepts, but going on to study for three years in a Muslim seminary to become an imam, where he learns Arabic, and intensively studies the Quran, … [Read more...] about Islam: Through the Heart and Mind of a Convert to Orthodox Christianity – Part 2