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Fr. Thomas Hopko on the Role of the Priest in the Divine Liturgy

As I write this, Fr. Thomas Hopko lies at death’s door. I have not always agreed with him, but I have had nothing but deep respect for him. I am sorry I never got to meet him in person. May his memory be eternal!

A few years ago I was at a conference, presenting a paper on women’s ordination. In that paper I made a point that the way Fr. Thomas Hopko thought about the priest as an icon of Christ had some Donatist implications. Continue reading “Fr. Thomas Hopko on the Role of the Priest in the Divine Liturgy”

Public Theology in the Post-Secular?

I recently read/pillaged an article by Linell Cady which calls for a re-evaluation of the role and methods of public theology in light of our post-secular context (brill.com/ijpt).

The term “public theology” appears to have been coined by Martin Marty. It was a liberal Christian response to a growing religio-political fundamentalism. Of course, religio-political fundamentalism (i.e. the religious right) was itself responding to secularization. So, in a way, public theology attempted to be a better, more “right” kind of response. Think of it as the “B” side of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, but with a smaller PR budget. Continue reading “Public Theology in the Post-Secular?”

Serpents and Stones

This post is going to be a bit more “devotional” (I guess) than what I normally write. I am not a priest, so I tend to avoid spiritual reflections, lest somebody think I know what I am talking about. (God help us!) But today is the Forefeast of Theophany. I was reading the Gospel for this morning (Luke 3:1-18) when I was particularly struck by the juxtapositional way Luke described the fiery preaching of John the Forerunner (aka John the Baptist). I have put some key phrases in bold to make the juxtaposition stand out. Continue reading “Serpents and Stones”

My Careless Comment about Closeted Trolls OR The Lumbergay

So I want to address something that I said the other day. In a kvetchy post about my ongoing struggle to balance blogging, book-writing, my family, and the job that actually supports all three, I made the following perfunctory remark: Continue reading “My Careless Comment about Closeted Trolls OR The Lumbergay”

Book Progress: My Demons are Straw Men

I made good progress on the book today. We traveled to Indiana, where our family is from, for the holidays. I was able to capitalize on my kids’ exhaustion and inability to deal with the time difference. I got quite a bit of writing done. This morning, I have had what one calls, “momentum.” Continue reading “Book Progress: My Demons are Straw Men”

On Trying to Stop Being a Theologian

To the Orthodox fussbudgets who get bunched-up knickers when I say, “theologian,” read this. Then go get a hobby.

The other day I got up at 1:50 AM. That is a bit early for me. Most days I am up around 3:15-3:30 in the morning. I get ready, drink my coffee, spend a few minutes waking up and reading my news, and then I write for an hour, by which I mean I write until my boys get up, promise to be quiet, break their promise, and then get scolded by me for not demonstrating behavior greater than I should expect of their age. So most mornings, my writing hour is more like a writing 40 minutes. Continue reading “On Trying to Stop Being a Theologian”