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by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon A question is just as likely to convey truth as to seek it. If asking questions is a good way of learning, it is an even better way of teaching, Good teachers ask questions. Consequently, Jesus chiefly employs the interrogatory form as a mode of teaching. Jesus asks questions, moreover, just about as much as he tells parables. For this reason, we need to consider Jesus more closely as the Teacher, the … [Read more...]
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon In Jewish worship, it was customary to address God as "Father." Abinu, Malkinu---"Our Father, our King" has always been a standard praise formula in the synagogue. It is not surprising, therefore, that we find this form of address in the teaching of Jesus, even as we find it in His own prayer (Matthew 11:25-26; 26:39, 42; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42; 23:34, 46; John 11:41; 17:1, 5, 11, 21, 24, 25). When, in His sermons … [Read more...]
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Edgar Allen Poe, in his penetrating review of Bleak House, remarked that no reader can comprehend the real wealth of that work in a single reading. Numerous shades of nuance, Poe explained, and dozens of subtle connections were woven so deeply into the fabric of Bleak House that their presence was not even suspected on a first reading. On a second reading, however, the now enlightened reader knows what to … [Read more...]
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Before he ever met the Apostle Paul, the life of young Timothy was already full of blessings. Indeed, Paul himself, among the last lines he wrote on this earth, reminded Timothy of those blessings: “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to … [Read more...]
How to reconcile them? It's a bogus problem. by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Not long ago, in a Q&A session following a lecture in a distant city, someone inquired of me, "How do you reconcile children to the violent stories found in the Old Testament?" My response went along these lines: I believe this is a bogus problem. In truth, I have never met a child disturbed by violence in literature. In my experience, on the contrary, … [Read more...]
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Senior Editor of Touchstone Magazine, and archpriest of All Saints Orthodox Church in Chicago, IL, Fr. Patrick is, perhaps, the most erudite writer in the Orthodox Church in North America today. This article, one of his Pastoral Ponderings, was published by Orthodoxtoday.org. The People of God have long been accustomed to the titles, ascriptions, and even historical settings that preface various of … [Read more...]
By Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon is pastor of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chicago, IL, and a Senior Editor of Touchstone Magazine. This article, posted on OrthodoxyToday.org in June of 2005 is a short, but powerful statement of why Christians, particularly Orthodox Christians, must not weasel out of their obligations to the country, society and culture they live in. Inasmuch as Christ our Lord obliges all … [Read more...]
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Against many heresies — Gnosticism and Manichaeism early and chief among them — Holy Church has been obliged to advocate the inherent goodness of the material world. Her position on this point has always been based, not only on the biblical doctrine of Creation — "God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good" — but also on the conviction that the goodness of created matter … [Read more...]
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Senior Editor of Touchstone Magazine, and archpriest of All Saints Orthodox Church in Chicago, IL, Fr. Patrick is, perhaps, the most erudite writer in the Orthodox Church in North America today. This article, one of his Pastoral Ponderings, was published by Orthodoxtoday.org. Publican and Pharisee The Lord’s account of the two men who “went up to the temple to pray” (Luke 18:9-14) may be said to … [Read more...]
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Senior Editor of Touchstone Magazine, and archpriest of All Saints Orthodox Church in Chicago, IL, Fr. Patrick is, perhaps, the most erudite writer in the Orthodox Church in North America today. This article, one of his Pastoral Ponderings, was published by Orthodoxtoday.org. One of the stories that have proved troubling to students of Holy Scripture over the years is the account of Uzzah, who stretched … [Read more...]
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