Eric Scheske

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Religion

Illustrated Catechism

On June 28th, Pope Benedict presented a new "Compendium" of the catechism of the Catholic Church. It features fourteen full-color sacred images. Link [http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=35203&eng=y]. Excerpts: > As the pope has explained, the images are not there purely

Anglicans Slaughtering Goats

> In South Africa, so the Church Times article by Michael Bleby explains, some Christians like to involve their ancestors in worship, and, the argument goes, since blood is symbolic of life, Christian worshippers can come into communion with their ancestors through the fresh blood of a goat. . . > "

Rocket's Red Glaring Error?

Russell Moore at Mere Comments does a pretty good job of trying to parse our culture's flippant attitude toward funerals. Link [http://merecomments.typepad.com/merecomments/2005/07/fiery_minister_.html]. Excerpts: According to USA Today [http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-02-minister-fireworks_x.htm], a Lutheran pastor

Humanists, Atheists, and Secularists

> Humanists and atheists from East and West meet in Paris this week to forge a common platform against what they see as a growing threat from religions and religious politicians to secular states across the globe. . . > Their gathering, the World Humanist Congress running Monday to Thursday, is timed

Dawn Eden: RCCC

While we were on vacation last week, Dawn Eden at The Dawn Patrol announced that she's joining the Catholic Church. Here's her explanation. Link [http://www.dawneden.com/2005/06/how-i-became-catholic-i-wuzpart-1.html]. Excerpt: > C.S. Lewis wrote that those who find themselves in heaven will

More Vampires Coming

What's next? How-to-Make-Yourself a Priest for Dummies (it wouldn't be for anyone else)? > A French woman defied a threat of excommunication by the Roman Catholic Church and held a ceremony proclaiming herself a priest on Saturday. > In a small ceremony on a boat, Genevieve

Absalom

Absalom has one of the oddest deaths in the Encyclopedia Britannica. During a battle in the forest, he got his flowing hair caught in the branches of an oak tree, which allowed his enemy, Joab, to catch him and slay him. We'd never heard this story during all

One of Our Favorite Saintly Anecdotes

In 372, Valens' zealous Arian servant, Modestus (the “Count of the East”), came to Caesarea and summoned Basil. Basil–emaciated from his asceticism but mentally rigorous–came. Modestus shouted at him: “Basil, how dare you defy our great power? How dare you stand alone? Everyone else has yielded, and

Stupid Christians

Some apologetics for this week of off-beat fare: One of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's more clever and sinister characters (Peter Verkhovensky in The Demons) says of religion: The worse off a man is, the more downtrodden, the poorer–the more stubbornly he clings to the idea that it will all

Zossima's Love

Keeping with our off-beat fare this week, we thought we'd present one of favorite passages from Dostoyevsky's writing. It's found in the “Thoughts and Teachings of the Elder Zossima” of The Brothers Karamazov. Fr. Zossima, the revered elder of Alyosha Karamazov, is dying. He