The Little Friar

"Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it" (Hebrews 13.2). The word here for hospitality , also used in Romans 12.13, is φιλοξενία . Transliterated into English φιλοξενία is philoxenia .  It's a combination of two words you likely know.  The first word is philos , Greek for "brother" or "friend" from philia the word for "brotherly love". The second word is xenos , the word for stranger.  You have seen this word before in xenophobia , the fear ( phobia ) of strangers ( xenos ). And xenophobia, you might have heard, has been in the news lately. Hospitality, then, is the exact opposite of xenophobia.  Opposed to xenophobia is philoxenia . Instead of phobia -- fear and suspicion -- the stranger ( xenos ) is greeted with philia , familial affection and love. Philoxenia -- the love of the other.  That is the practice of hospitality.

A friend and I were lamenting recently that there aren't more Christmas carols that celebrate St. Nicholas' championing of the Nicene Faith.  So I set out to write one.  Here 'tis. Right now, I'm calling it "Santa Ain't No Arian", but I'm open to suggestions. To the tune of Jingle Bells Chorus: Nicholas, you're the best, Nicky all the way! Defender of the Nicene ὁμοούσιον Πατρί -- hey! Nicholas, you're the best, Nicky all the way! Defender of the Nicene ὁμοούσιον Πατρί. "There was when he was not," said Arius & Co. It seems they had forgot that God has come below: born in Bethlehem, crucified and raised, not a creature but the One whom angels hymn with praise -- oh! Chorus By the candlelight Share some Christmas cheer! Give someone a gift! Drink another beer! For our light has come And burned away our dross. God in flesh: O come let us Adore φῶς ἐκ φωτός -- oh! Chorus Heresy is dull, a bland p...

Eunomius has everything figured out.  Which pretty much summarizes everything that is wrong with his theology.  Divinity is, Eunomius claims, unbegottenness (which is why he thinks that the Son cannot be divine).  Basil is aghast:  "How much arrogance and pride would it take for someone to think that he has discovered the very substance of God?" ( Against Eunomius , 1.12).  Eunomius is like every other heretic:  An aggravating know-it-all. Arius is certain that the Son is not co-eternal with the Father.  Apollinaris, agreeing that Arius must be wrong, knows that Christ can be fully divine so long as he is not fully human.  Nestorius, going with the dismissal of Apollinaris, figures out how the divine and the human natures interact in Jesus (even in Mary’s womb!).  Eutyches, standing with the church in rejecting Nestorius, solves the metaphysical problem of two natures (or one or three -- the numbers all blend together).  The early chr...

Marie-Helene Bertino's 2 a.m. at the Cat's Pajamas pulls all a reader's heartstrings.  It's set in Philadelphia and follows a cast of cute/quirky characters hour by hour as their lives converge two days before Christmas. Fifth-grader Madeleine Altimari is pretty much raising herself.  Her father has retreated into his bedroom in a drug-induced stupor to numb his grief since the death of Madeleine's mother -- a strip-club dancer and free spirit beloved by all who knew her.  Madeleine is lonely, precocious and sassy.  She uses her tough exterior to hide her own heartache.  Mrs. Santiago, the warmhearted widow who runs the neighborhood cafe, provides breakfast, lunch and grandmotherly affection, but Madeleine has no friends at her Catholic elementary school.  Her only solace is singing -- she's a natural who yearns to be a jazz singer. Madeleine's day begins badly when Principal Randles, who resented Madeleine's mother even when they were k...

Kathe Wunnenberg's Grieving the Child I Never Knew:  A Devotional for Comfort in the Loss of Your Unborn or Newly Born Child is a true gift for the Church.  At moments of a family's most joyous expectation, there are times of grief that name miscarriage, tubal pregnancy, stillbirth, or early infant death.  Having experienced three miscarriages and the death of an infant son, Kathe Wunnenberg well knows the pervasive and enduring anguish of losing a child.  A compendium of thematically appropriate devotions, Grieving The Child I Never Knew arose from her personal journey through sorrow and her desire to offer other parents in her place a wise and tender companion when their hearts have been broken, their dreams abruptly terminated, and their aspirations disrupted by the loss of a child.  Each devotion includes a passage of scripture, a prayer, "Steps Toward Healing" questions, and a space for journaling.  There are also comforting readings fo...

Here are some things people spend time on to make beautiful: Their bodies (e.g., working out, dieting, tanning). Their clothing or appearance (e.g., fashion, hair, cosmetics, jewelry). Their gardens or yard. Their homes. The food and meals they cook. The things they make, create, or construct (e.g., arts, music, hobbies, and craftsmanship from carpentry to knitting). Their website or blog. Their singing or musicianship. Their cars or vehicles. Events they create or host. In activities they must perform or execute for work or pleasure. In speeches, talks or sermons they give. In things they write. In short, if you think about it, just about everyone is involved in cultivating beauty of one form or another. If you asked me what I try to make beautiful I'd say to cultivate beautiful ideas. I cultivate ideas, mainly through reading. It's sort of like intellectual gardening. And I think one can create a beautiful spiritual life as well. I think of s...

In a less racist country, the reasoning would go like this:  The people fleeing ISIS from Syria hate ISIS more than we possibly could, more even than the French could.  Attacks on the scale of the tragedy in Paris are routine in ISIS-controlled areas, resulting in entire cities being leveled.  If we let them in and generously provide for them, we would be building up a community of grateful, patriotic Americans whose presence and loyalty would undercut the message on which ISIS thrives. Note that I didn't say a more "rational" country or use any other vague and formalistic word.  Yes, people lack logical reasoning and long-term thinking on this issue, but it's not like they had a spontaneous brain-fart -- it's racism that's deluding them.  Only extreme racism could make you think that people's shared ethnic background would create a bond of loyalty that transcends murder, rape, destruction of homes and livelihoods, etc. Note also that I didn't say ...

Hatred against ISIS poisons everyone's mind.  To sum up, this is what I really want to say:  ISIS barbarism evokes the same kind of barbarism in ourselves.  We have to reject that barbarism within us, we must not fan the hatred within us, because if we do, the world will not be able to pull itself one inch further out of the mire.

The Six Stages of Public and Political Grief Following a Terrorist Attack Shock Panic and paranoia Twitter storm Selective fury, ideological posturing, scapegoating, expressed in Manichaean and apocalyptic discourse Knee-jerk clampdowns and counter-violence Shopping and self-beautification Six Factors That Have People Questioning My Sanity Following a Terrorist Attack Pausing and taking a deep breath Self-examination Attentiveness and joined-up thinking Abjuring demonization and xenophobia Looking for political solutions rather than relentlessly bombing the barbarians "back to the Stone Age" Cultivating empathy (not fashionable feelings), imagination (not the same-old same-old), hope (not liberal optimism) -- and prayer (not as withdrawal or escape from world but as Karl Barth's "beginning of the uprising against the world")

Darlene Zschech's Worship Changes Everything: Experiencing God's Presence in Everyday Life takes us beyond her well-known worship music -- music like "Shout to the Lord" and "For All You've Done", among others -- to explore how our worship defines our daily life.  The book explores a simple thesis:  "It can be easy to have a heart filled with worship on a Sunday morning as the church band is playing your favorite song.  But then comes Monday morning's commute or Tuesday afternoon's pile of laundry". So what does worship look like in real life?   At work?  In our families?  With our friends?  Darlene Zschech has spent her life thinking and teaching about worship.  With wisdom and contagious joy, she shares her thoughts on what worship truly is and how it should invade every facet of your being.  Worship Changes Everything is a book those of us who care about Christian spirituality and how it connects to daily life shouldn...

The NIV Bible for Men:  Fresh Insights for Thriving in Today's World includes the NIV text,  as well as a look at 52 "myths" and how to deal with them.  What makes those devotions unique is how candid they are.  Among some of the topics are "Life will be great once I get married", "Internet pornography is harmless", "My time is my own. I can indulge myself".  What I love is how realistic each of those devotions are, focusing on themes that real men in their everyday lives encounter.  Each devotion is filled with practical, pastoral wisdom, that makes this devotional Bible a great gift idea for the holidays. __________________ Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers < http://booklookbloggers.com > book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Feder...

Jean Laffitte's The Choice of the Family:  A Call to Wholeness, Abundant Life, and Enduring Happiness is less an academic theological treatise as it is an extended interview where Bishop Laffitte is responding to questions posed to him on a wide range of topics from the meaning of the family, the role of theological anthropology in cultural debates, and even the challenges presented by Islam’s burgeoning growth in the West.  Throughout the entire work, one encounters a true son of the Church, who thinks broadly and deeply about the issues he is asked about, and always responds in charity. In so many ways, this book reminds me of Pope Benedict's Light of the World , so The Choice of the Family doesn't disappoint in its content.  When I first read that the book was a collection of interviews, I didn't expect a great deal.  But this book is a systematic theological account of the family, its challenges and struggles in the modern world.  One of the overarc...

I've lost friends over the past few days.  Several of them.  Because I would not remain silent about violence after the Paris attacks.  Because I would not blame Muslims.  Because I insist it's a mistake to refuse to accept refugees. So my first thought upon waking this morning:  Maybe I just need to stay silent.  Maybe I need to leave Facebook and Twitter.  Maybe that's for the best. Because, here's what I know to be true: We are not "all victims" .  We are not at "war" .  There is no guarantee that this will "wake us up" .  It doesn't "change everything" .  The "barbarians" are not "at the gate" .  This event is not "apocalyptic" .  And finally -- does it really need to be said? -- this is not an atrocity committed by "Islam". One can only respond, wearily ... Commentators had warned that an attack of this sort was coming .  We have seen such things before -- and, indeed, our ...

Initially, in the earliest moments after the recent murders in France, I changed my Facebook picture using the app that Facebook made so readily available that allowed me to use my profile picture with a French flag filter covering it. Not even 8 hours later, I changed my mind, deleted the picture, and have no intention of utilizing it again.  I'm also avoiding those hashtags like #prayforparis that seem to be making rounds online. Here's why. It's not because I don't care.  It's not because I don't share in the shock and sadness. In fact, it's precisely because I do care, I do share in the sadness, that I changed my mind.  Changing my photo or typing out a few characters on social media minimizes (maybe even cheapens) that sadness and grief.  The world has known horror and terror for quite some time -- the past few hundred years that have named "the modern world", in truth -- so there's little reason to think that attacks in New York o...

1. Because there was nothing else to do, I said to myself, I will read Hemingway and drink wine and think only of Paris.  So I sat that afternoon and read A Moveable Feast , Hemingway's memoir of life in Paris, and drank wine and thought of Paris.  It was 7th of July, 2005. 2.   I remember my few days in Paris as a student.  I stayed in a really bad motel and it was a disappointment.  The more irritable my host became, the more mad I responded.  But that's how it was.  Still, puny moods and attitudes were no match for Paris.  I walked along the Seine.  I roamed the boulevards.  I looked at paintings and old buildings, loafed in cafés.  I went in and out of shops along the rue St-Dominique, buying nothing.  I ate fruit and croissants and dipped them in my coffee -- I only drink coffee in Paris.  A gypsy girl begged me to let her draw my portrait. 3.   The city, of course, is older than Christianity...

Craig Steffen's A Family Apart:  Sleuthing the Mysteries of Abadonment, Adoption and DNA is a gripping tale of the methodical quest of an orphan to uncover the truth about his origins.  What's more, this book delves into the questions that come from being uncertain about the realities of personal history -- what is true and what is convenient folklore passing for truth in order to protect reputations or preserve innocence. From his earliest memories of holding his pen, Steffen's memoir recounts the orphanage where he spent two years after the disappearance of his mother who, as all would tell him for years, ran off with the family car never to be seen again.  By the end, Craig has taken you on a journey that includes sleuthing his true ancestry and learning of his sometimes tragic backstory. That journey -- while the journey of one person -- highlights the journeys that each person's life takes.  The destination, Steffen maintains, is far less importan...

I haven't felt well for the past couple of days.  I would call it a malaise of some sort, but that's too generic.  In fact, I'm tired -- all the way down to my bones. Which means I've had no strength to focus on telly.  I tried reading last night, but that didn't work either.  So tonight I decided I'd flip through a couple of books in my new, developing collection, when I chose Athanasius' De Incarnatione . And I happened upon this line as my eyes skimmed the text:  "The angels served [the Son] as one who is other than them". Those of us who care about historical theology know that the textbooks -- at least until the latter part of the twentieth century -- said that Athanasius "won" because his "high christology" beat out Arius' "low christology".  But if we take that line seriously, there's a problem -- and it's a problem that scholars since the latter part of the last century have insisted upon:  T...

Christian Rudder's Dataclysm:  Who We Are (When No One's Looking) looks at important questions about the modern experience of life -- particularly the lives we live online, and what that data might say about us. The resulting global cloud of informational cruft, Rudder says, makes possible a completely new way to do social science -- to figure out, as he puts it in his subtitle, "who we are".  Yes, computers don't understand humans very well.  But they have their own advantages.  They can see things whole that human eyes can handle only in part.  Keeping track is their only job.  They don't lose the scrapbook, or travel, or get drunk, or grow senile, or even blink.  They just sit there and remember. That's great if you're a scientist or a monetizer of data trails.  But the humans under study might quail a little to know, for instance, that OkCupid keeps track not only of what messages you send to your potential dates, but of the char...

Kenneth Berding and Matt Williams have given us a fresh approach for understanding what the New Testament is all about in their What the New Testament Authors Really Cared About:  A Survey of Their Writings .  The second edition brings together the introductory material from the first edition, with updated bibliographies, but with the same simple focus that most introductory texts don't have:  Learning the New Testament in light of the scholarly material rather than through it.  This text doesn't get bogged down in details.  In fact, there's a one-page brief introduction to the questions most introductory texts spend pages developing -- Who, what, where, when, and why. Instead, What the New Testament Authors Really Cared About devotes nearly all its attention in each chapter to just that -- what the authors really cared about.  Which is to say, this introductory text aims to hone skills in reading the text theologically. Written primarily for unde...

The Frost Bible is the International Children's Bible edition, with a cover decorated with glitter and teal and silver foil accents -- so it's the obvious gift idea for little girls that love Frozen .  (In full disclosure, though, this isn't an official Frozen item, so you won't find Elsa, Anna or anyone else from the movie hidden somewhere in its pages.) As a bonus The Frost Bible comes with a free tote bag, so it's roomy enough to carry the Bible and whatever else a little girl might need for Sunday School. Inside, there are some helpful articles, but the text itself is rather pain, and in two columns.  That makes reading the text difficult for young readers -- making this less a Bible that will be used in the long term. All in all, I was rather underwhelmed.  I had hoped for so much more. _______________________ Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers < http://booklookbloggers....

Ninety-seven years ago this week, in 1918, the world saw an effective end to hostilities in the European conflict we know today as World War I, in which 886,939 British servicemen lost their lives on the battlefield. Today in the United Kingdom, and various other commonwealth countries, millions display their remembrance by wearing a red poppy -- a flower which, upon the signing of the armistice 98 years ago, became an iconic symbol of the Great War.  Of course, these days it is worn not just to commemorate the peace at the end of hostilities of WWI, but in all wars past and present. Oddly enough, though, it was introduced to remembrance festivities not by the British or their European allies, but by the Americans; moreover, it was conceived by one American in particular:  Moina Michael. An American professor and humanitarian, Michael was inspired by the now revered poem In Flanders Field , which was penned by Canadian soldier John McCrae one day after witnessing the killing...

Eric Mason's Unleashed: Being Conformed to the Image of Christ is essentially a practical spiritual theology built around an exegesis of Philippians 2.12-13.  "Working out our salvation", according to Mason, is connecting to the ways God grows us, which is a form of sewing of sorts.  God ultimately is the one working because God wills us to want him and seek these means.  As we willfully do so, God harvests what is sewn by growing us spiritually.  In essence, it is all the work of the living God in us getting his good pleasure out of his investment in us through the Gospel.  Unleashed means to explore all the ways in which God conforms us to Jesus Christ through the varieties of life -- both the good and the bad. Mason highlights that the spiritual life is always and thoroughly God's work in us.  In the various ways in which Christians grow into that image of Christ -- Bible study, service, suffering, prayer, worship, etc. -- God is using our act...

Throw away thy rod, Throw away thy wrath:                O my God, Take the gentle path. For my heart’s desire Unto thine is bent:                 I aspire To a full consent. Not a word or look I affect to own,                 But by book, And thy book alone. Though I fail, I weep: Though I halt in pace,                 Yet I creep To the throne of grace. Then let wrath remove; Love will do the deed:                 For with love Stony hearts will bleed. Love is swift of foot; Love’s a man of war,       ...

Erin Lane's Lessons in Belonging:  From a Church-Going Commitment Phobe is the book I've been waiting to read.  If you read this book you'll get a sense that many of the younger generation feel disillusioned and a sense of fear about going to traditional churches today.  As Erin is in her late twenties, she speaks for a generation that is looking for belonging within the context of healthy community.  Often times churches do not provide this kind of community or belonging.  That makes Lessons in Belonging one of the most significant books for pastors and church leaders to read this year. Lane is right to insist -- and often -- that disillusionment, while painful, is a good thing for those who are looking for rootedness, for belonging.  That's because disillusionment allows us to experience heartbreak over the state of the Church.  If we become broken open we will live with more compassion, love, imagination, grace and risk.  This could ...

Rebecca Lang's Fried Chicken:  Recipes for the Crispy, Crunchy, Comfort-Food Classic is a gift for every fried chicken lover. The first chapter in the book, aptly titled "Fried Chicken 101", covers how to select the best chicken, what oils to use, the best methods for draining grease (paper towels are not it), and a whole host of other helpful tips and tricks. The recipes in the book are divided up into three chapters based on cooking technique:  Skillet Fried, Deep Fried, and Combination Fried and cover so much more than your typical Southern Fried Chicken.  There are a whole host of recipes from around the world including Thai-Style Drumsticks with Sweet Chile Sauce (p. 58), Mexican Lime Fried Chicken Tacos (p. 77), Chinese-style Homemade Orange Chicken (p. 81), Latin Fried Chicken with Smokey Ketchup (p. 108), and West African Fried Chicken with Sautéed Onions and Peppers (p. 111). Fried Chicken is the book every cook will be looking for....

I have a confession to make: I love talking to dead people. This is why today is one of the most spiritual days in the Church's calendar to me. Just beneath the Easter Triduum -- Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday -- sits the "November triduum" of All Hallows' Eve (Oct. 31), All Saints' (Nov. 1), All Souls' (Nov. 2). I love talking to dead people. Some years ago, as part of my ordination process, I was asked to pick three important spiritual writers who shaped me. I responded: "Julian of Norwich, St Gregory and Dietrich Bonhoeffer". "Can't you pick someone living?", the interviewer asked. "I went to Duke Divinity. They are still living", I said. He looked at me oddly but carried on. I love talking to dead people. Which explains why I'm fascinated to visit cemeteries. I read them like I read books. I learn from them. I enjoy visiting cemeteries because I feel like I need to converse with the de...