by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon It is important that Christians, when they speak of “human nature,” understand this expression in a biblical sense. And when they are told that “human nature does not change,” they should recognize the assertion as more Aristotelian than Christian. When God created human beings, it was precisely for the purpose […]
Love and Boldness in John’s Gospel
July 6, 2016 By
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Love makes the world go ’round. In the mind of John, the new life in Christ is manifest two ways: The first is outward and empirical; it looks at the evidence of one’s love for those to whom he is joined in Christ. The second is inward; it has to […]
Freedom and Pentecost
June 19, 2016 By
What has Pentecost to do with freedom? What is freedom exactly? What is it not? by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon When we declare that God created the Cosmos in freedom, we mean that nothing outside of God had to be. Modern philosophers seriously ask—as other philosophers, for centuries, implied—why is there something instead of nothing? […]
Sentenced to Life
June 4, 2016 By
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Of the standard Greek nouns commonly translated as “life” in the New Testament, John’s Gospel uses only two: psyche and zoe. Psyche, often translated as “soul,” indicates the life or being of an individual. For example, in the sustained pastoral parable in John this is the term used when the […]
What is the Nous, and How is it Distinct from the Soul?
May 23, 2016 By
by Fr. John Whiteford More excellent work from “Stump the Priest” Question: “What do we mean by the “nous,” how is it distinct from the soul, and are the Orthodox the only ones who speak about the “nous”?” This question is complicated by the fact that the word “nous” (which is usually translated into English […]
Mary of Bethany’s Secret Plan
April 9, 2016 By
Mary of Bethany was a clever girl. by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Notable among the friends of Jesus was that family in Bethany, of which St. John wrote, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (John 11:5). Although Luke told a story account Martha and her sister, Mary (Luke 10:38-42), almost all of […]
Who Were The Nephilim?
March 30, 2016 By
by Fr. Jonathan Tobias Who are the Nephilim? Come with me, and let’s solve an ancient Bible mystery. This will be an adventure worthy of Indiana Jones. Who in the world are these strange people, the “Nephilim”? Here are two passages in Scripture that mention them: Genesis 6.4: The Nephilim were in the earth […]
“Lord, Why Can I Not Follow You Now?”: Why Peter Had To Wait
March 28, 2016 By
by Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon Saint John’s early affirmation, “The Word became flesh,” is both the thesis of his whole gospel and the interpretive principle for understanding its sundry parts. This one verse affirms that everything expressed in the divine Word took on a fleshly, human form. In the stories recounted by John, we ponder […]
