Selfless Love and the Globalization of Religion

OrthoAnalyika Shownotes: 18 October 2009 Note: be sure to subscribe to the podcast. Homily/Lesson (19th Sunday after Pentecost) “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is […]

Feasting, Equilibria, and Afghanistan

OrthoAnalyika Shownotes: 13 September 2009 Note: be sure to subscribe to the podcast. 2 Corinthians 1: 21-2:4 & St. Matthew 22: 1 – 14 Stories are one of the ways that we preserve our culture; they help remind us of who we are, where we came from, and what the world is like. Sometimes these […]

Believing in Vain, Movies, Vestigial Communitarianism

OrthoAnalyika Shownotes: 30 August 2009 Note: be sure to subscribe to the podcast. 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11 St. Matthew 19: 16-26 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word […]

Principles and Nostalgia

OrthoAnalyika Shownotes: 23 August 2009 Note: be sure to subscribe to the podcast. 1 Corinthians 9: 2-12; St. Matthew 18: 23-35 If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. My defense to those who examine me is this: […]

Bishops, Health Care, and a Missionary

OrthoAnalyika Shownotes: 16 August 2009 Note: be sure to subscribe to the podcast. Homily1 Corinthians 4: 9-16 ; St. Matthew 17: 14 – 23 For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to […]

Temples, the Three Little Pigs, and Birthers

OrthoAnalyika Shownotes: 09 August 2009 Note: be sure to subscribe to the podcast. For the last few weeks, St. Paul has been using the image of the Body to help us understand our relationship with Christ and one another. When we imagine the Church as a body, we understand that working together with those around […]

Top Ten Books for Understanding Political, Cultural, & Religious Dynamics

Intelligence analysts should read quite broadly (not just outside their own message feeds, but also well beyond the boundaries of political science, sociology, security studies, & anthropology). Still, they also need to have a solid grounding in how things work. This list is my first attempt to suggest books that will help set the foundation […]

Of Mother Earth and the Invisible Hand

It’s been a real blessing to teach a course at seminary this semester. It’s not just that I love teaching no matter what the context (I do); it is just much more satisfying to work with people who share the same assumptions and goals I do, and to do so in a forum where we […]

Soviet atheism and American secularism

Introduction: thinking about the radical atheism of the Soviet Communists The Soviet Communists were atheist totalitarians. They tried to create a system that would make both faith and the religious institutions that foster it seem silly and superfluous. Given the strength of Orthodoxy in the pre-revolutionary Russian Empire, they had to be very intentional about […]

On Newsweek’s Religious Case for Gay Marriage

I warned my parishioners that the only thing that the Fathers spent more time preaching on than money was sex. I’m sure they rather I talked about their budgets! Advocacy Journalism – and Bible Study – at their Worst The December 15th (2008) edition of Newsweek contains an article by their Religion editor Lisa Miller […]