Tom Lee… |
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 Love thy Neighbours… Today's commentary perhaps doesn't fit any easy categorisation on Catholica. We're doing a favour for a friend, Tom Lee, who in turn is endeavouring to do a favour for a couple of friends and fellow artists, Barbara Angell and Pat Shaw, who have hit a rough patch with Pat presently facing some serious surgery. They are two people who, as this commentary relates, have brought a heck of a lot of joy to many people over decades. <more>
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Dr Ian Elmer… |
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 The Parting of the Sea... It is an interesting question as to how much our theology and understanding of scripture has been formed by visual artists and film-makers and how much is grounded in either historical reality or the mythological or liturgical understandings that the original authors were seeking to convey. How much has our theology of heaven and hell been formed by the visual images embedded by the likes of Milton and Dante? Or how much has our understanding of bible history been coloured by Cecile B. DeMille? Today, Dr Elmer gives us insight into some of the more recent scholarship into that iconic story seared in the Christian and Jewish imagination — The Parting of the Sea told in Exodus. <more>
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Tom McMahon… |
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 The Psychology of Priesthood #5 In the past week and on different sides of the Pacific Tom McMahon and the editor have attended funerals. Tom left the funeral he attended with feelings of anger which triggered the thoughts he shares in today's commentary. Why does the institution foist on the people priests who are little more than magicians who confect the Eucharist and not spiritual pastors and guides for their people? The editor shared his thoughts on the funeral he attended in the forum. <more>
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Dr Andrew Kania… |
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 Bonhoeffer's New Theology: a new way of understanding our relationship with God Christianity is neither a game of trying to suck up to God, or Jesus Christ, in the hope of some eternal reward, nor is it some game of abundance theology pretending that if we are 'good' and follow all the rules God will make our lives happy and materially plentiful. It is a serious pursuit of endeavouring to think and act like God through the example of Jesus Christ. In this poignant concluding essay to his series on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dr Andrew Kania seeks to provide insight into the new theology Dietrich Bonhoeffer was brought to think through in the moral dilemmas posed by the rise of Adolf Hitler and his own incarceration and execution. This theology does lead to a sense of personal abundance and freedom that surpasses any kindergarten-level or materialist theologies. Bonhoeffer forged this theological understanding in a crucible at the extreme of human endurance but it is a theology for all of us in the hum-drum of life in peaceful times as well. <more>
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SPECIAL SERIES: The Invention of Christianity – The First 500 Years by Tom Lee |
 20.1: Arian Resurgence as the Sons Inherit… As we move further forward in time in Tom Lee's exploration of the origins of Christianity it should not be surprising that the detail increases. In Chapter 20, which we begin today Tom is looking at the period immediately following the death of Constantine. Despite the decrees issued earlier at Nicaea, Arianism experienced a resurgence. <more>
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Francis Brown… |
 A lifetime spiritual journey#4… In this second part of Chapter 2 of his book, My Love is Here — an evolution in spirituality, Francis goes almost mystical. The thrust of his argument though seems similar to the thoughts of Ekhart Tolle — we find the Divine presence not in the past or the future but in the Now. We need to resist those forces that separate us from the timeless, the infinite and the Divine presence. Can we experience this 'presence' amidst the ordinariness of life? How much are we constrained, or restrained, by the expectations of what society calls 'normal' or 'reality'? Francis describes his experiences. <more>
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Best wishes for a great day wherever you happen to be ... in life or in our world.
Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher |
