Questions from the Unsettled Mind

The search for the Holy Grail, like the longing to find the Ark of the Covenant, figures prominently within the myths and legends associated with the Christian tradition. That Jesus took a cup at the inauguration of the Eucharist and used it for the first transubstantiation is indisputable. What happened to that cup thereafter is the mystery. The traditional story has Joseph of Arim...

Many people are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of religious options in the world today. Sometimes that plethora of choices is even offered as a challenge to God’s existence, because, it is said, a God who doesn’t make it easy can’t expect much of us. Though I don’t find an appeal to our desire to be lazy particularly compelling, and I do grant that there are an awful lot of religious op...

Many people who are drawn to religious experience find the task of choosing between so many religious options daunting. Why should I choose to become a Hindu rather than a Muslim? Why isn’t Scientology just as good as becoming a Presbyterian?  Why is Catholicism the “true” way as opposed to just worshipping nature?  What if we make a mistake and choose the wrong religion? ...

In the weeks leading up to Christmas you will often find magazine articles and television specials referencing the alleged pagan origins of Christmas. The Christmas tree is part of the Roman Saturnalia festival, we are told, or the Christmas feast is actually the Norse Yule feast devoted to Odin. The suggestion being made is that since Christianity is really just repackaged paganism, it offer...

It’s hard to find a topic more controversial to Protestants than this notion that between heaven and hell there lies this third thing called Purgatory. I mean, seriously, if one’s sins are forgiven by the blood of Christ, why create a hellish experience for believers? To what end? And if we look at the medieval literary and artistic record, the portrayal of purgatory is something ri...

When we hear the old saying, “an eye for an eye,” we tend to think of primitive or barbaric justice. But this saying actually captures the force of both modern and ancient justice. Aristotle explained that justice requires a recompense for what was lost; accordingly, he called it “retributive,” re-paying justice. Justice corrects for wrongs deliberately enacted, but limits the correction by a prin...

Imagery lies at the heart of human significance. Birthdays just wouldn’t be the same without candles and cakes, weddings without dresses and rings, the Fourth of July without fireworks, or Christmas without trees and presents. What are all of these things: the cake, the dress, the candles, the trees, and the fireworks? In and of themselves trees are trees. But a Christmas tree...

There’s little question that our skies, worldwide, have been entered into by phenomena that appear to be extremely advanced craft. For an accessible and journalistically responsible review of why that conclusion is so well justified, take a look at Leslie Kean’s UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record . So, they are here. That is a fact. But what that...

We hear a lot of references to different kinds of angels in the Judaic and Christian traditions, and, if you’re like me, you’ve probably been curious about what to make of them. There are nine such kinds listed in the Christian tradition: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. To understand what they mean, we have to get a better...

With all the crazy stories about witches in the past as well as their depiction in children’s fantasy, together with the Hollywood portrayals of the demonic as common fare for the horror junkies, it might seem that we have already solved the question of demons and demonic possession. Add to these contributions of popular culture the extensive psychiatric work showing how people with schizophr...

Fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead, his followers were grouped together in Jerusalem when something truly unprecedented occurred. A loud rushing noise filled the hall where they were gathered, sounding like a hurricane. Then, “tongues” of something like fire appeared in their midst, split apart, and landed atop each person’s head. At that moment those gathered were all filled...

The book of Genesis launches with the apparent highlight of divine creation, the formation of Man. After having created the animals, God says, “Let us make man in our image” and in the image of God, God created us. So, to get a handle on the significance of being created in the image of God, we should begin with figuring out what the image of God in human nature really is.

Since God is all knowing, it might seem that God’s knowledge creates an inescapable destiny for every single human person. Classically, this is called Fate, that we are trapped in certain roles, certain habits, and even certain ends with no possibility of escape. The argument favoring Fatalism is that since God’s knowledge is fore knowledge, i.e., he knows before we act, then, since what...

Let’s start with a counter-question: why would anyone think that they don’t? Because it seems pretty heartless to tell your bereft child, “That’s it, you will never see Fido again!” But some parents apparently believe this and so “inform” their children, so let’s begin by examining the three top reasons that they do so.

In an age where we continue to see people led to their deaths by false prophets like Jim Jones, Applewhite, and David Koresh, it behooves us to think very carefully about this problem. Charlatan religious leaders are always going on about “faith” and how we must place our faith in them. Then they kill us or convince us to kill ourselves. And if our deaths don’t interest them, then o...

There is a widespread belief within the United States that science and religion are incompatible disciplines.  The point is not merely that these disciplines study different objects or that they employ different methodologies. But when people say that religion and science are incompatible, this is not what they mean. They mean, instead, that religion and science speak to the same ob...

Curiously, the subjective theory of truth can be found in the Bible, when Pontius Pilate famously sneers at Jesus with the challenge: “What is truth?” Pilate wasn’t offering a serious question, we know, because Jesus didn’t answer him. With objective truth off the table, there simply wasn’t anything further for Jesus to do by way of offering salvation to Pilate. Pilate was going to...

For many people this question is one of the thorniest in their minds, because it seems that no matter which side of the question they land on, they have to give up something of vital importance. So, let’s start there: what’s at stake in this question? Why does it bother us so much? Let’s start with God. The first worry is that were God to grant human beings the freedom to act independently of hims...

It’s obvious, isn’t it? Pray more, read the Bible more, share your faith more, participate in pilgrimages to holy sites, sing more (especially spiritual songs) . . . in short, treat the Faith like one of those sales meetings where they engage a specialist to whip everybody up into a frenzy of self-confidence! Then, surely, there will be no room for wayward desires. Right? Wrong...

On the topic of weird things in religion, priests and nuns (and other folk) do wear curious outfits. They stand out. If God’s goal for human beings is to transform us into fully human persons, then why would he institute a whole group of people who are seemingly left out of fully human life? That is a terrific question. So, let’s start with the clothes and then move to their li...

Too often religious people come off as being complete wackos.  They talk weird.  They dress weird.  They sing weird.  They put weird things on their bumper stickers.  It’s just plain weird .  So, why is that?  Is that normal?  Should it be that way?

This question really is a strange one, not just because we have to ask, “Enough for what?” but because of the deeper motivations that are driving it. On the one hand you have the big Protestant worry that underneath the question is the Catholic quest to slip salvation by works back into the picture. On the other hand and on the opposite side, you have the concern that sheer laziness is driving the...

Faith is a very tricky concept to understand, because from the beginning of Christianity, it has meant more than one simple thing. Clearly, there is an intellectual manner of faith, as when we believe the content of what Jesus revealed. However, if you look closely at the Christian tradition as well as the early texts of the New Testament, you will find that the term “faith” is used in a broader w...

It’s curious that in most areas of life we are told that we should follow the evidence to know what we should do or what we should believe.  Will this vaccine work to stop the virus?  Wait for the scientific evidence, we are told.  Who should I vote for in the election?  Wait until you hear both sides of the debate, so you can make a fully informed decision, it is suggested.&nb...

Too many of us have experienced the heart wrenching loss of broken friendships.  People we thought we could trust prove capable of the greatest wounding, for only a friend elicits trust sufficient to betray us.  That word, “betrayal.”  It bites, doesn’t it?  And, afterward?  Loss of hope, loss of trust, loss of a positive view of the world.  Why?  Because our cre...