September 14 is the Feast of the Cross. Celebrated by Catholics (Latin and Eastern Rites), Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, the Church of the East,...
St. Helena and the True Cross
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Imagination and Truth
Our world today is facing a crisis of meaning that is rooted to a large extent in a crisis of truth. To understand this and to find a way out, we...
Enchantment: A Word Ramble
Poet and etymologist John Ciardi used to do word rambles, where he would take a word, trace its origins, and show direct and indirect connections to...
A World of Delight
In thinking about what it means to have a Christian worldview, I long ago realized that we have been living in a world that is...
St. Columba vs. the Loch Ness Monster
It’s been quite a while since I posted. The summer has been very busy with travels and family, but I’m now in a position to get back to posting....
The Ireland Tour
My last several posts have been on Celtic Christianity. I wrote those in preparation for the historical tour I would be leading in Ireland this...
Columbanus (540-615): An Irish Missionary Monk
In the early middle ages (roughly AD 500-1000), European civilization was in serious decline. The climate had gotten colder and wetter, resulting in...
The Irish Peregrini
One of the unique aspects of Irish Christianity was the practice of peregrinatio, or pilgrimage. To understand this, it is helpful to look at Irish...
Irish Christianity and Education
On a theological level, the most important contribution of the Irish church was its penitential practice. But on a cultural level, a holdover from...
The Irish Church’s Major Innovation
The Irish church's major innovation, measured in terms of its impact on the larger Latin church, was its approach to penitence. Sin in the Early...
The Center of Celtic Christianity
A unique feature of Celtic Christianity was the central role of monasteries throughout the “Celtic Fringe”—Brittany, Cornwall, Wales, Scotland, and...
Celtic Christianity and Nature
In the previous post, I noted that scholars have been questioning whether there is such a thing as Celtic Christianity. They point out that there...
In Search of Celtic Christianity
“The term ‘Celtic’ is a magic bag into which anything can be put, and out of which almost anything can come…. Anything is possible in the Celtic...
Enchantment—Which way: Neo-paganism or Christ? with Glenn Sunshine
Dr. Sunshine joins the hosts of Crosspolitic for a discussion on Enchantment. https://www.youtube.com/live/9eSUKi-Kil0?si=wgHX5vZ7MTiwp8EW
Passover and Holy Week
When we compare the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) to the Gospel of John, there seems to be a discrepancy about when exactly Passover...