Candles in the Darkness: Ephrem on the Incarnation
It is release day! Lynneth and I are thrilled that Candles in the Darkness: Experiencing Advent with the Early and Medieval Church has made its way into the world—and hopefully into your hands. To give...
View ArticleChristmas in July: Candles in the Darkness Release
It’s book release month for the Advent devotional that my husband and colleague Adam and I co-wrote– a sort of Christmas in July, as it were. We’re so excited that this book is now out in the world to...
View ArticleWhat Comes First: Doctrine or Ritual Practice?
As a child, I was taught to kneel next to my bed as I prayed to God in the evening. Now, I must admit that I rarely pray in this sort of way, often praying in a seated position in the early hours of...
View ArticleWhat does Homer have to do with Christ?
Homer is having a bit of a moment. The controversy around Christopher Nolan’s creative decisions in his forthcoming Odyssey, the recent discovery of an Egyptian mummy buried with some lines from the...
View ArticleJust War, Non-Violence, and Pete Hegseth
In a homily on Palm Sunday, Pope Leo XIV condemned violence and war and those who perpetuate it: “This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war.” He goes...
View ArticleMothers of the Church: Syncletica of Alexandria
Amidst writing this post, I had to take a break to sweep and mop the floors of my home. A simple and easy task, really, but one that seemed to take away from the important work of reading and...
View ArticleWhat Should We Expect of the Immigrant? On ‘Assimilation’
In a press conference a few weeks ago, US House Speaker Mike Johnson responded to a question concerning Pope Leo’s condemnation of the mass deportation agenda under the Trump administration. In his...
View ArticleYancey, Gregory, and Theology amidst Sin
It was recently revealed in a Christianity Today article that Philip Yancey is “retiring from writing, speaking, and social media,” after having “disqualified [him]self from Christian ministry” on...
View ArticleOn the ‘Middle’ Coming: Advent Reflections with Romanos
Time and space are peculiar during the Advent season. The emphasis on repeated family traditions resurrects memories of the past amidst present celebrations, transporting us to a different year and...
View ArticleCandles in the Darkness: Advent, Hope, and Church History
It’s dark here in Norway. The last time the sun rose above the mountains in Tromsø was on November 27, and it won’t return until January 15. This is what Norwegians call the “mørketid”- the dark time,...
View ArticleChristians Reading Classics
Nadya Williams, a former Anxious Bencher who is currently a books editor at Mere Orthodoxy (and who is also my wife), has just published her third book: Christians Reading Classics, which Zondervan...
View ArticleMothers of the Church: Paula of Rome
Of all the passages of the Gospels, I find Christ’s words in Luke 14 to be among the most challenging: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and...
View ArticleI’m Only Human: Sin as the Rejection of Human Nature
How should we think about our flaws and misbehavior? For some, flaws are something to be embraced: we should be loved ‘warts and all’. For others, imperfections are simply based on our birthdays, an...
View ArticleIs Faith Required for Reading the Bible Properly?
Who Reads Scripture Better: Scholars or Disciples? Who reads the Scriptures better—Bart Ehrman or my grandmother? One is a world-renowned scholar of the New Testament and textual critic, the other has...
View ArticleWhat Do You Do With a Palimpsest?
As our guide walked with us out of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, he started telling us about the planned restoration to the famous church and mosque, set to start this year. “The biggest challenge has...
View ArticleInterpreting Christ’s Weakness: On Partitive Exegesis
For today’s post, I’m going to focus a bit more on some of the theological frameworks I have been working on for an article– a “first look”, as it were, at the full article that’s due out this year. It...
View ArticleThe Cats of Cyprus (Church History on Vacation)
On a recent trip to Turkey and Greece, where I loved the churches, mosques, and museums we were able to tour, my daughter had a very different highlight for her trip: the feral cats found in abundant...
View ArticleAncient Church Discipline: On Sin and Rehabilitation
Moral failings in the church are not a new phenomenon—to read the pages of Christian history is to see sin’s stain throughout. The writings of the New Testament itself acknowledge this reality,...
View ArticleNicene Worship: Then and Now
I had the privilege of attending a conference in Rome on the Council of Nicaea about a month ago. Throughout the various plenaries, panels, and discussions, different historical and theological aspects...
View ArticleWhat Makes a Pope Great? On Popes and Pastoral Care
With the recent passing of Pope Francis, there has been a lot of discussion about the pope’s legacy. Described by NPR as “one of the most popular popes in decades” as well as “a controversial figure,”...
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