“Poetry” with Glenn Sunshine – Reflections Ministries
https://youtu.be/TGgh2y0i4U0?si=vzjk4MLz_XpTpYGc Join Dr. Ken Boa and Glenn Sunshine for a reflective journey into the world of poetry, with a focus on the enduring legacy of poet John Davies. In this insightful episode, they discuss how Davies's verses continue to resonate with readers, offering profound insights into the human experience. Through gentle conversation and thoughtful analysis, Dr. Boa and Glenn Sunshine explore the nuanced themes and imagery present in Davies's poetry, inviting listeners to pause and appreciate the beauty of language and expression. Whether you're a casual observer or a devoted poetry aficionado, this episode provides a serene opportunity to ponder the...
Raven Son: Epic Fantasy meets Russian Folklore
It’s generally considered bad form to write a review of a book you haven’t finished. It’s even worse form to review a book you’ve only just started. So I’m not going to call this a review. It’s more of a first look. Nicholas Kotar’s Raven Son is an epic fantasy series rooted deeply in the soil of Russian folklore. I was familiar with Kotar from In a Certain Kingdom, a collection of Russian fairy tales. I used to be on his mailing list, but somehow dropped off it. When I found out he was a speaker at The Symbolic World Summit, I decided to take another look at him. I’m very glad I did. I think what sets Kotar’s work apart is that, like Lewis and Tolkien, he is steeped in a rich tradition of...
Celtic Christianity Reading List
Since my short video on St. Patrick and Celtic Christianity and my article The Story of the Celtic Cross, several people have contacted me for a reading list on Celtic Christianity. Before I give you my list, a few comments are in order. The Pitfalls Many books on “Celtic Spirituality” owe more to New Age ideas than to Christianity. Those that do deal with Celtic Christianity often exaggerate its so-called feminism or others put so much focus on creational theology that they miss other equally important emphases in the Irish church. Among the books that avoid these mistakes, many (including some on this list) focus on parts of the Irish church that the authors think we need to recover or...
A Good Friday Poem
For Good Friday, I am sharing a poem written by my daughter, Elizabeth Sunshine Koroma. It's my favorite Good Friday poem and I think it is particularly impressive that she wrote it while in college. I'm including her explanation of some of the imagery from a blog post she did back in 2011. The Weeping Sky The icy, grasping hands of fogGrip every barren, gnarled tree.Their shadows in a stagnant poolLike iron bars encompass meThe fog surrounds my breaking heart,Veils even Heaven’s constant light.My eyes turn back to Earth below,Where what is true cannot be right. Now Goodness dies by Hate betrayed,So every cloud in heaven weeps,Descending to a muddy grave,The pool in which my spirit...
Maundy Thursday
Join Dr. Sunshine for some often overlooked themes from the Last Supper. https://youtu.be/i9d8bJ42kG4
Passover and Holy Week
A discussion of the apparent differences in the date of Passover during Holy week in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) compared to John, why it is important, and ways that have been suggested to resolve the differences.
St. Patrick and Celtic Christianity
The story of St. Patrick and the transformation of pagan Irish culture into "the Island of Saints and Scholars." The Irish became the best scholars in western and central Europe and had an out-sized impact on education, culture, and the church in the medieval Latin world.
The Story of the Celtic Cross
In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I'm reposting an article on the Celtic Cross that I wrote years ago that is no longer available. Along with this, I just posted a short video on St. Patrick and Celtic Christianity that talks about the little known impact of the early Irish church. In the ruins of the Abbey of Monasterboice, County Louth, Ireland, are three High Crosses. On the southernmost of these crosses is an inscription that reads, “ÓR DO MUIREDACH LAS NDERNAD IN CHROS,” or in English, “A prayer for Muiredach [pronounced "Murdock"] who had this cross made.” Who was Muiredach? We don’t know for sure. There were two different abbots at the monastery...
The Sacramental World
We live in a sacramental world. St. Augustine defined a sacrament as “a visible sign of an invisible grace.” In other words, it is an outward sign using physical objects and actions that points to something God is doing inside of us. Sacraments use the physical to point to deeper spiritual realities, and they convey grace to us in the process. Though the universe is not a sacrament, it is sacramental because points beyond itself to the invisible and spiritual. We see this in the many passages in Scripture that draw from the natural world to teach spiritual truths. Some Scriptural Examples Noah is given the sign of the rainbow as a token of God’s promise not to flood the earth again....
Worldview Changes
Over my 27 years of teaching at Central Connecticut State University, the worldviews of the students changed significantly. Two changes stand out in my mind. Change Number One I offered courses on topics on magic, witchcraft, vampires, and related topics. These were intended to get students thinking about worldview, what they believe, and why. When I first offered the courses, the universal reaction was that beliefs about magic and the invisible world were pure superstition. But the last few times I offered them, I found a much less skepticism about the subject. One student told me that someone had cursed them. He had to go to a woman in his apartment complex to get it lifted. Another...
More thoughts on AI
In last week’s post, I reviewed John Lennox’s book 2084 about AI. This week saw a controversy erupt over bias in AI. When Gemini, Google's AI engine, asked to generate pictures in response to specific prompts, it produced wildly inaccurate results. American founding father? Black. German soldiers in 1943? Black men and Asian women; British women? All black. Popes? A black man and a black woman. American or Swedish women? All black. German women? One black, one Asian, and two probably white. And so on. A good sampling of these can be found here. Gemini would also produce images on request of blacks and Asians but refused to do so for whites Google responded with an admission that there were...
The Prodcast: Interview with Glenn Sunshine
In this episode, Dr. Glenn Sunshine discusses the historical development and critique of the Radical Two Kingdoms (R2K) view. He traces the origins of the R2K view back to the early church and the Reformation, highlighting the different perspectives on the relationship between the church and the state. Dr. Sunshine argues that Christians have a responsibility to engage in politics and shape policy in accordance with biblical principles. He critiques the idea that cultural engagement is immanentizing the eschaton and emphasizes the importance of understanding the kingdom of God and the gospel in shaping our approach to cultural and political...
Book Review: John C. Lennox, 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity
For those wondering what to make of AI, 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity by the brilliant John C. Lennox offers a great overview of the field and a well-though-out biblical response to the claims of AI proponents about its ability to transform humanity. Lennox begins with two basic questions: where did humanity come from and where is it going. Although it isn't obvious, these are important questions as we look at AI. He then introduces the two forms of Artificial Intelligence, narrow AI, and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Narrow AI applies AI to a specific task, such as suggesting links on a social media page. AGI refers to superintelligent AI that is not...
History and Practices of Lent
A summary of the history of Lent and the historical practices associated with it, along with suggestions for how to practice it today.
The Christian and Holistic Health
In the fitness world today, yoga is big business. Classes are popping up all over, and some are even marketed as “Christian yoga.” But at the same time, there has been opposition to the way yoga is being sold. Some Hindus argue that yoga is intrinsically religious and that it is cheapening both yoga and Hinduism to treat it as simply a form of exercise. Some Christian writers agree and argue that yoga is spiritually dangerous. Others insist that yoga can be separated from its Hindu roots, and that it is no more than a form of stretching, while others say that it can be spiritually beneficial to Christians because you can pray while doing it rather than indulging in Hindu meditative...