Bože! A Grace Catholic Project
Theology of Conversion
OC/IC Religious Culture, What Is Our Context?
What is “culture”? The dictionary definition describes it as “customs, institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people or group”. I have always tended to understand “culture” more along national or ethnic lines more than anything else. I don’t think I have ever consciously considered the idea of religious culture – even though, as any [...]
More On Pseudochristianophobia
Philip Jenkins one of “America’s top religion writers” speaking in Charlotte, NC last Sunday described how Christianity is growing rapidly in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. I think we all knew that bit – but what grabbed my attention was this: “right now, the three most Christian regions in the world are Europe, Latin America [...]
Celebrating Initiation Into the Mystery
When you enlightened all things at the time of your manifestation, the sea of unbelief ebbed away and the Jordan reversed its course, flowing uphill and carrying us to Paradise. The feast of the Theophany is not just our celebration of the revelation of the Trinity, it is also a celebration of our initiation into [...]
Too Many “Monks”?
I continue to be puzzled by the large number of “monastic” groups within the Independent Catholic movement. I wonder if clinging on to this inherited model of “community” is stunting our development – holding us fast to out-dated 19th century models of what it means to “be church”? In short do these watered down expressions [...]
What is “Religious”? What is “Spiritual”?
This little “sapling” of a conversation deserves more than its getting. Looking at not only my own initial response on Twitter, as well as the response of others (see previous post) I’m realising that these two words are very “loaded”. Huw, rightly observes that the underlying question remains unanswered – what is our working definition [...]
“Spiritual But Not Religious”?
Last week my friend and fellow Indie-Easterner Huw posed this question on Twitter: “Define ‘Spiritual but not religious’.” My initial response encompassed two ideas that I’ve encountered over the years from a significant number of people who describe themselves as being “spiritual but not religious”. First is the idea that the “institution” of religion impedes [...]
ReX – Notes On Religious Share Index
“Alternatively, if one denomination unexpectedly adopts an aggressive policy of buying shares in another, then the resulting volatility will make it hard accurately to assess the underlying reality.” Mark Vernon’s essay in the Guardian Online playing with the imagery of possible parallels between the language, dynamic, and psychology of the eddies of spiritual and religious [...]
Similar Point Argued From Another Perspective
Here’s an interesting essay about people converting for all the wrong reasons. This time from the perspective of a Roman Catholic pondering the possible effects of Anglicans joining his communion due to the recent decision by the Vatican. It’s a point I’ve tried to argue off & on for some time now here in relation [...]
“Merit” As A Means Of Salvation? Ugh!
If you’ve been following my Theo-Twitter stream you’ll no doubt know that I’ve been puzzling over the Western idea of “merit” in relation to salvation for the past week or so. My interest was perked while reading a little book that summarises Western Christian history through the various “crisis” that have brought about change in [...]
What Do You Want?
While making my rounds yesterday I fell into this essay “What Do Converts Want?” – written from a conservative Eastern Orthodox position. Reading the essay got me thinking – and asking the question (again) what is it that attracts folks to our OC/IC tradition – that is to say: what do OUR converts want? Today [...]