So the primates of the Anglican Communion have imposed some minor sanctions on the ECUSA (essentially booting it off some committees -- stronger sanctions were voted on but failed 15 to 20) for allowing a redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples. No steps were taken regarding other churches within the Anglican Communion which, at least ( Read more... )

It being Year B in the Revised Common Lectionary, we've been getting highlights of the career of David in (one version of) the OT lesson ( Read more... )

On Monday night, Rob Ford appears to have blanketed the 416 area code with robocalls, timed just to irritate observant Jews at a Passover seder ( Read more... )

From Tim Powers' Declare, referring to the 1920s ( Read more... )

I would like to say at the outset that the book is, overall, valuable and readable. Its general overview of scribal culture in a broadly pre-literate society [1] is an effective summary (confined to middle-eastern sources, admittedly), and many of its general observations regarding the composition of the books of the bible are of equal use ( Read more... )

A few days ago I was talking with a friend who has an undergraduate degree in Religious Studies from the University of Toronto. I made some broad reference to the current (for values of "current" == "since the 1950s, at least") views regarding the historicity of the Exodus narrative and found that she hadn't been exposed to them, despite the fact ( Read more... )

A couple of weeks back I was the MC for a celebration of a Tridentine Rite high mass.


( Read more... )

I have seen several references to Francis I as  "the first non-European pope".

Surely St. Peter gets a look-in? Also, Miltiades is recorded as a North African.

1) This Wired article on The Avengers Homework Assignments has several questions along the lines of:
In case you don't recall, S.H.I.E.L.D. built a special container for The Hulk. The idea was that no one could break through the glass (it was probably transparent aluminum) - but if someone DID, they could just drop the whole thing out of the ( Read more... )

The RC hierarchy in Ontario is getting more thoroughly involved in the tussle over Gay/Straight Alliances (see rfmcdpei's post for the general background).  What I find interesting from a more general perspective is what this type of reaction indicates about the shifting of the RCs on the church - sect spectrum.

The Church of Rome has, for about a thousand ( Read more... )