There rsquo s reason to believe that the primitive Church at least some congregations valued ministers who could make baptism into a near-death experience They held the head of the person being baptized under water long enough to induce loss of consciousness but not so long as to produce death i

Critics can rsquo t decide if Chad Harbach rsquo s The Art of Fielding is really a book about baseball There rsquo s a lot of ldquo other stuff rdquo going on in the novel But certainly in the character of Henry Skrimshander it offers a wonderful description of what it means to be consumed by A

It rsquo s difficult to imagine a biblical passage so well known and yet so utterly incomprehensible to modern readers as Abraham rsquo s near sacrifice of Isaac on Mount Moriah In this age of Tiger Moms and of parents whose lives revolve around their children what are we to make of a story in wh

Lent begins with the sturdy words ldquo Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return rdquo They rsquo re a reminder that the world around us mdash and the world of care and concern we carry daily within us mdash is passing away Like so much of the faith that rsquo s easily asser

In this year of grace 2012 given all the effort that the English-speaking Church is currently expending upon the words that we use in the liturgy it is a comfort to come to a day that almost preaches and prays itself Granted we still have to battle our way through the Third Edition of the Roman

I was searching the web for a video which I wanted for class but YouTube was rather sure that I would prefer to watch one entitled ldquo Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus rdquo Seemed like the sort of thing a college theology prof should take in so I did A couple of weeks later at the end