The Synod of Whitby: Part Two
By the end of the 6th century and beginning part of the 7th century, in the period leading up to the synod, a process of evangelisation had begun in different parts of Britain. The Christian…
Tag: History
The Synod of Whitby: Part One – Introduction
This is the name retrospectively given to the gathering of Christian clerics at the double monastery of Streaneshalch, located above the town now known as Whitby in 664 AD/CE – in the seventh century. Bede…
The Inklings – Who They Were
For two decades - from the early 1930s to late 1940s - the Oxford-based Inklings met in C.S. Lewis’s rooms at Magdalene College. An informal gathering of male academics and writers, the Inklings served as…
A Meditation on Meeting Souls Gone By
I’m the kind of person who must “meet” people. It is the only way I can know them, living or dead. I must feel their presence on some level, or I cannot hope to truly…
Lessons in Love from Five Royal Marriages
In the vocation of marriage, there are various nuances and complexities that make each and every couple share a unique story. History provides us with many stories of such couples whose long-suffering endurance and time-tested…
Robin Hood, King Arthur, and the Call to Stand for Justice
Somewhere between the ages of 5 and 6, I fell in love with the legend of Robin Hood via the charming Disney animated classic depicting him, most appropriately, as a dashing, clever, and empathetic forest…
Maimonides: What Lessons Can He Teach Us Today?
I am an Agnostic man of mixed Hispanic and Ukrainian Jewish background, but I have long been fascinated by the illustrious figure of Maimonides. Here I want to explore what a returned Maimonides would…
There’d be No Santa Claus without St. Nicholas: Remembering the Saint behind the Legend
I find it very troubling when someone's legacy is discredited, especially if that someone was a saint who dedicated his life to helping the poor. While it is apparent that secularists have hijacked Christmas, hearing…
C. S. Lewis and the Calormenes: A Critique of Narnia’s Arabesque Baddies
Stereotyping all things “other” has been something of a given in the history of humanity since the first concepts of tribal, religious, and territorial distinctions emerged. The East and West divide between Christians…
I Saw Santa Punching Arius: Saint Nicholas at the Council of Nicaea
Santa Claus, good old Saint Nick, the bringer of yuletide joy throughout Europe and North America. The historical figure behind Santa is the Christian saint and bishop, Nicholas of Myra. He was born sometime in…