Pursuing Veritas

Reflections by Jacob J. Prahlow
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  • Book Review: Fields of Blood (Armstrong)

    For many people living in the West, an assumption exists that religion is inherently violent. After all, they say, just look at the evidence: religion has caused wars, the Crusades, terrorism, religion has made people hate and kill others for nothing more than the ideas that were in their heads. According to this view, religions…

  • Recommended Readings: February 14-20

    If you read one article this week, engage The Creator God of the New Testament by Wesley Hill. For those of you with a bit more time on your hands, consider reading the suggestions below from this week (and late last). As always, I hope that you find these article interesting, challenging, and stimulating to…

  • Ultimate Reality in Chinese Religion

    This post is part of an ongoing series reflecting on “Conceptions of the Ultimate”, the manner in which world religions understand the divine. Today’s reflection engages the perspective of Livia Kohn on ultimate reality in Chinese religion. While finding Kohn’s treatment of the complexities and uniqueness of Chinese religions insightful, I was again struck by…

  • ECA: Lee McDonald on Early Christian Scripture

    This post is part of our ongoing series examining Early Christian Authority. Over at Bible Odyssey, Lee Martin McDonald has offered a brief response to a question about when the writings of the New Testament became scripture: The New Testament (NT) writings were read in churches early on (Col 4:16), but were not generally called…

  • Reflections on the Institute for Creation Research

    The topic of “Creation versus Evolution,” at least in many circles, often elicits a good deal of debate, many times in rather a heated manner. The point of this post is not to provoke strong emotions in anyone, but only to offer a few thoughts about the Institute for Creation Research, an outspoken advocate of…

  • Engaging Pseudo-Dionysius

    The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite forms part of a treatise which belongs to a corpus of works said to have derived from Dionysus the Areopagite from Acts 17:34.[1] This writer of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy also wrote treatises on a Christian Celestial Hierarchy (dealing with realms of angels and angelic beings), the Divine Names…

  • Book Review: The Didache (O’Loughlin)

    “There are two ways: one is the Way of Life, the other is the Way of Death; and there is a mighty difference between these two ways.” (Didache 1.1) Thus begins the Didache, that early Christian text also called the “Teaching of the Lord Given to the Gentiles by the Twelve Apostles.” Since its rediscovery…

  • Recommended Readings: February 7-13

    If you engage one article this week, read Engaging John Together by Timothy George. For those of you with more reading time this St. Valentine’s Day (don’t read too much into that statement), check out some of the additional suggestions below. As always, if you think there’s something else I should be reading, please let…

  • Religious Secularity

    This post is part of an ongoing series investigating “Conceptions of the Ultimate”, the ways in which the world religious approach and understand the Divine. Today’s post engages a chapter of Mark C. Taylor’s work, After God. In this reflection, I want to focus on Taylor’s chapter “Religious Secularity,” specifically his discussion of the doctrine…

  • Reflections on Vatican II

    The Second Vatican Council (1962-5) stands apart as one of the single most important events of modern Church history, not only because of the number of Christians that the Church at Rome influences, but also because of the magnitude and depth of the canons of the council. While a thorough examination remains outside the parameters…