Kenneth Woodward in The Book of Miracles makes a distinction among various types of miracles and their significance. In the multiple branchings-out of Hinduism, miracles are taken as signs of spiritual power as well as compassion for others. Miracles of Hindu gods like Krishna and holy men like Shankara and the “poet saints” consist of … Read more
In Norse mythology, the earth was formed from the body of Ymir, the father of the frost giants. His blood became the ocean, and his skull the sky. It’s a grim vision of life, and yet a strikingly anthropomorphic one: The world is shaped like a man and the man is dead.
The Catholic News Agency reports that the bishop of Delmas, France, has confirmed the extraordinary healing of a man who made a pilgrimage to Lourdes in 2002. Serge Francois, 56, had lost almost all mobility in his left leg after complications from two operations left him with a herniated disc. Bishop [Emmanuel] Delmas noted that … Read more
Let’s start the week with something inspiring. CNN World ran a piece last week about a Scotsman who went for a beer at a local pub and came out with an idea that would change thousands of lives around the world. In 1992, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow and his brother saw a news report about Bosnian refugees. … Read more
A little less than a year ago, Morten Lauridsen — my favorite contemporary classical composer by a long stretch — wrote a fascinating piece for the Arts and Entertainment section of The Wall Stree Journal. Entitled “It’s a Still Life That Runs Deep,” it’s Lauridsen’s attempt to explain some of the thoughts and emotions that went … Read more
The historian Christopher Dawson acknowledged in a 1951 essay the difficulty in explaining the Christian view of history. For Christians, God’s actual involvement in historical time through a particular Person and place is a theological principle around which secular history occurs. For people listening to the Christian message for the first Mother of God: A … Read more