“Evil is revealed to us in the world at first under the aspect of suffering and sorrow. The world is empty, cold, and indifferent (cf. ‘the indifferent nature’ in Pushkin). It is a non-responding wasteland. We all suffer because of evil. Evil, sown everywhere in the world, causes us to suffer. And the contemplation of [...]
Archive for March, 2008
“This Inhospitable World”: Reflections on our Present Reality by Georges Florovsky
Posted in Georges Florovsky, Sin, Tragic Vision on March 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Exiled to the Abyss: Christocentric Reading(s) of Psalm 88
Posted in Christology, Hell, Jesus, Lament, von Balthasar on March 28, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Psalm 88 is the “low point” of Scripture. It is the only one of the Psalms of lament that doesn’t at some point turn toward repentance and/or praise. The psalmist’s complaint, unabashedly directed against God’s “oppressive presence,” bleeds like a deep wound that cannot be healed. The lament is, to borrow James Crenshaw’s turn of phrase, a [...]
“Presente”: Rowan Williams on the Good News of Easter
Posted in Rowan Williams, The Resurrection on March 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This is the good news of Easter:
But the goodness of the resurrection news is most evident for those who have lost people they love to any sort of incomprehensible evil – the tragedies of dementia, the apparent meaninglessness of accident, the horrors of violence or injustice.
The Bad News as Good News in Tom Waits’ Theology
Posted in Tom Waits, Tragic Vision on March 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Any of you who know me well, know my love for Tom Waits. And you can imagine how pleased I was to find this, a piece by Ben Myers on the theology of Tom Waits’ songs.
Condemned to Immortality: Reflections on Resurrection Sunday
Posted in Atonement, Eschatology, Jesus, The Resurrection on March 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
“People condemned God to death; with His Resurrection He condemned them to immortality. For striking Him, God returned embraces; for insults, blessings; for death, immortality. Never did men show more hate towards God than when they crucified Him; and God never showed His love towards people more than when He was resurrected. Mankind wanted to [...]
